A fascinating read. Pershing comes across as diplomatically and politically astute—a far more nuanced officer than one gets from his standard biographers.
~Timothy K. Nenninger, editor of The Way of Duty, Honor, Country: The Memoir of General Charles Pelot Summerall
A significant contribution to American military history. Pershing had a remarkable memory, and this memoir details his life from his childhood in a small Missouri town to his arrival at West Point and his military assignments across the globe. Greenwood's scholarship is excellent.
~Edward M. Coffman, author of The War to End All Wars: The American Military Experience in World War I
It would be difficult to overestimate the impact that Pershing had on American military history. The man served as model and mentor to the generation of military minds that brought the nation through World War II. His memoirs deserve to be read and appreciated, but they require the carefully crafted context that Greenwood has provided.
~On Point
So many who achieve great things become fixed in stone as monuments. My Life before the War is a reminder that John J. Pershing was a real, living, breathing man who lived through and shaped extraordinary times. For any with an interest in either the man or the times, this book is highly recommended.
~The Journal of Military History
Historian John T. Greenwood has done commendable work to bring us My Life before the World War, 1960-1917, the memoir of Gen. John J. Pershing that has never before been available.
~Army Magazine
[...] What distinguishes My Life Before the World War is the author's sense of service. It is not about Pershing the man but Pershing the public servant.
~The Historian
This book is an invaluable resource for soldiers and civilians because it highlights the astonishing scope of one man's life experience, from Civil War partisan atrocities to the command of two million troops in France in 1918. [...] [T]he most important lesson of My Life Before the World War derives from appreciating Pershing's disappointments, losses, and things he did not complete. Even more than success, it is failure and loss that marks our humanity.
~Army History
