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BOOK REVIEW
Name of the Book My American Journey Colin Powell Author Colin Powell Joseph E. Persico Publisher A Ballantine Book Published by The Random House Publishing Group Copyright 1995 by Collin L. Powell Afterword Copyright 1996 by Collin L. Powell
Year of Publication 1996 Edition 1st Paperback Edition Date of Submission Feb. 22, 2011
Submitted to Md. Sarika Tomar
Submitted by Shoaib Ahmed Syed Sec C Roll no. - 2010126
Colin Powell is the embodiment of the American dream. He was born in Harlem to immigrant parents from Jamaica. He knew the rough life of the streets. He overcame a barely average start at school. Then he joined the Army. The rest is history -- but a history that until now has been known only on the surface. Here, for the first time, he himself tells us how it happened, in a memoir distinguished by a heartfelt love of country and family, warm good humour, and a soldier's directness. He writes of the anxieties and missteps as well as the triumphs that marked his rise to four-star general, National Security Advisor, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, mastermind of Desert Storm, and now (1995) the man the country would most like to draft as President just as it drafted General Eisenhower before him in 1952. The book traces his long and distinguished career through the ranks, starting from his joining the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC), gaining a commission in the US Army, and his slow and steady rise, first as National Security Advisor and then to the highest possible position in the US military, i.e. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in which position he masterminded Operation Desert Storm during the Gulf War. I am reproducing a few of the remarkable incidents and episodes that the book if full of:
On working his way through college: All work is honourable. Always do your best, because some is watching. On his parents: My parents did not recognize their own strengths. It was nothing they ever said that taught us. It was the way they lived their lives. If the values seem correct or relevant, the children will follow the values. I had been shaped not by preaching, but by example, by morals. About the attitude of the army towards marriage in his younger days: If we had wanted you to have a wife, we would have issued you one. On his experiences at the US Army Command and Staff College, Fort Leavenworth: Leavenworth was my introduction to a more cosmopolitan world. Other nations sent the cream of their officer corps to the USA. We studied together, ate together, and played together. Here was the first opportunity to get to know men with whom we might (and later did) plan combined military operations. The My Lai Massacre: The massacre of 128 civilians by Lt Calley and his platoon in 1968, which was initially covered up, is attributed by Gen. Powell to the fact that the Vietnam war had dragged on so long that young men who were not officer material were being commissioned and being sent into combat situations for which they were ill-prepared or ill-suited. The kill-or-be- killed nature of combat tends to dull fine perceptions of right and wrong.
About the draft system during the Vietnam War. I particularly condemn the way our political leaders supplied the manpower for that war. The policies determining who would be drafted and who would be deferred, who would serve and who would escape, who would die and who would live - were an antidemocratic disgrace. On his impressions during a visit to a Chinese village: In the village where the wrinkled old chief spoke to us, he explained how he and his people had burrowed through a rock practically with their bare hands to reach fertile soil on the other side. They had then lugged broken stones up the mountain to build terraces to hold the soil in place. Just as they had finished, the rains came and washed away all they had accomplished. But, armed with the thought of Chairman Mao and the quotations from his little red book, they started over again, until they had built this beautiful community. About the need to encourage new ideas and initiative: 'One thing I had learned in the Army: you don't step on enthusiasm.' About when to go to war: No one starts a war, or rather no one in his right senses should do so. The people must support a war. Since they supply the treasure and the sons, and today the daughters too, they must be convinced that the sacrifice is justified.
On raising his three children: I never believed that possessions could buy love, popularity, respect or accomplishment. Consequently, I have always been careful about giving them money. They wanted for nothing, but they were taught not to want too much. On the importance of good commanders: The battalions that did best were those with the best commanders. A good commander could motivate his men to excel under any conditions, we never lost sight of the reality that people, particularly gifted commanders, are what make units succeed. The way I like to put it, leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible. On loyalty: When we are debating an issue, loyalty means giving me your honest opinion, whether you think I will like it or not. Disagreement at this stage stimulates me. But once a decision has been made, the debate ends. On why the Iranian Hostages rescue mission, Desert One,
failed: Weaknesses in the chain of command, communications, weather forecasting, and security further contributed to the failure. There can be no question of the bravery of the men who headed into the Iranian desert. But more than bravery was required. On the importance of optimism: Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.
On the famous Reagan ranch in California where he went to brief the President: I was surprised at the modesty of the ranch house, small and lacking even central heating. I entered and found President Reagan in a plaid shirt, jeans, and boots, a man clearly in his element. On Reagan's leadership qualities: Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who cut through argument, debate and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand ... that description fit Ronald Reagan. On becoming Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: I wanted a congenial atmosphere in the chairman's office. I favour a light touch with my associates, which you can achieve only with those in whom you have absolute trust and who do not mistake an easy going style for lax standards. I like staff members who take their work seriously, but not themselves. I like people who work hard and play hard. I long ago concluded that organization charts and fancy titles count for nothing. I told my staff that they should go in and out of my office without exaggerated ceremony. General Powell's Army career as chronicled here shows him to be typical of the best officers of his generation. The book is noteworthy for what it does not say as well as for what it does. The narrative is easy to read embellished with warmth and honesty, and gives an insight into the inner workings of the US Army, the turf wars between the
Services, and the politics that take place at the highest levels of government. He gives some idea of the mind and thoughts of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush with whom he worked closely. Throughout the book, his love for the country of his birth, and the Army that provided him an opportunity to hack it in a White man's world, oozes through. A book that is much like its subject--articulate, confident, impressive, but unpretentious and witty. . . . Whether you are a political junkie, a military buff, or just interested in a good story, MY AMERICAN JOURNEY is a book well worth reading.
