that tells a compelling story and offers for the rest of his career, including a tour the reader a window into the surprising in Vietnam. life of an American success story. As formative as those early years were, As Marble highlights, Shali, as it was his service as a general officer that he preferred to be called, was a reserved, commends Shali to history. As the deputy self-effacing consensus-builder who liked commander of U.S. Army Europe in to avoid conflict and enjoyed giving others 1990, Shalikashvili was responsible for credit for actions he clearly set in motion. moving VII U.S. Corps from Germany He shied away from publicity, albeit while to Saudi Arabia to provide General H. making history. He twice told Secretary Norman Schwartzkopf with enough of Defense Les Aspin and President Bill combat power to eject the Iraqi army Clinton that he did not want to be the from Kuwait, an immense multinational Chairman of the . logistical undertaking. Immediately after Shali was not the sort of man nor had the the Persian , Shali’s greatest type of military career that normally pro- achievement came as the commander duces great biography. After , of Operation Provide Comfort, the few Chairman have risen to any level of 30,000-strong multinational relief effort historical prominence. Still, from the to save 500,000 Kurds who had fled Iraqi opening pages of Boy on the Bridge, the forces into the high desert mountains and reader will be surprised by Shali’s life and were dying by the thousands from harsh all he achieved. Indeed, his life reflects the conditions, malnutrition, and disease. intermingling of society, culture, and war Shali organized forces from 13 countries th Boy on the Bridge: The that was so prevalent in the 20 century. and over 50 international and nongovern- Story of John Shalikashvili’s His maternal grandfather served mental organizations to establish supply American Success in the high command of Russia’s Tsar routes and basic infrastructure across an Nicholas II. His father, Dimitri, fought area of 83,000 square miles. Later, as By Andrew Marble in World War I on the Russian side but Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, University Press of Kentucky, 2019 returned to Georgia after the Bolshevik he traveled throughout Eastern Europe 416 pp. $36.95 Revolution. After the war, Dimitri moved encouraging newly independent nations ISBN: 978-0813178028 to Poland, where he married Shali’s and calming Russian fears. Finally, as Reviewed by Bryon Greenwald mother, Maria “Missy” Rudiger. When Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from Germany attacked Poland in September 1993 to 1997, General Shali oversaw the 1939, Dimitri fought with the Poles, and deployment of forces to Somalia, Haiti, iographies are frequently hit or in a twist of geopolitics, served at the end and Bosnia and provided a steady hand miss and often tell linear, one- of the war as a member of the Georgian during the reduction in forces following B dimensional stories. The value of Legion supporting the Germans in the end of the Cold War. He died in 2011 a biography as a contribution to a larger Normandy and Italy before ending the from complications following a stroke. history depends on how broad an intel- war supporting Italian partisans against Marble’s fine biography offers much lectual swath the author cuts and how the communists in northern Italy. As a to the military reader. Beyond his sig- extensive and probing the research. The child, Shali witnessed the starvation and nificant accomplishments, General Shali wider the cut, the greater the chance privation of Polish Jews in before is best known and remembered for his the reader will learn not only about fleeing with his mother, brother, and sis- patience, empathy, and calm demeanor. the subject but also about the greater ter to Germany to escape the oncoming In a world of Type A officers and leaders, social, cultural, political, and techno- Soviet Army. There, on April 24, 1945, he was a competent and capable Type logical aspects of the subject’s lifetime. in Pappenheim, Germany, 8-year-old B who treated everyone with dignity The deeper the research, the more one John Shalikashvili met his first Americans, and respect, who set high standards and learns both about the subject and the members of the 86th Infantry Division looked after those with whom he served, key events during his or her career. Boy that had chased German SS troops out and who rose from extremely desperate on the Bridge: The Story of John Sha- of the small town. In 1952, Shali im- beginnings to become the most senior likashvili’s American Success, Andrew migrated to America and went to high man in the American military. JFQ Marble’s thoroughly researched and school in Peoria, Illinois. He attended exquisitely crafted biography of former college and entered the Army through Army general and Chairman of the Officer Candidate School, served in the Dr. Bryon Greenwald is a Professor of History in the Joint Advanced Warfighting School, Joint Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili, Artillery and Air Defense when it was a Forces Staff College, at the National Defense is an excellent example of a biography single branch, and then in the Artillery University.

110 Book Reviews JFQ 97, 2nd Quarter 2020