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The Fate of the Generals
MacArthur, Wainwright, and the Epic Battle for the Philippines
Table of Contents
About The Book
In the tradition of Hampton Sides’s bestseller Ghost Soldiers comes a World War II story of bravery, survival, and sacrifice—the vow Douglas MacArthur made to return to the Philippines and the oath his fellow general Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright made to stay with his men there whatever the cost.
For the doomed stand American forces made in the Philippines at the start of World War II, two generals received their country’s highest military award, the Medal of Honor. One was the charismatic and controversial Douglas MacArthur, whose orders forced him to leave his soldiers on the islands to starvation and surrender but whose vow to return echoed around the globe. The other was the gritty Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright, who became a hero to the troops whose fate he insisted on sharing even when it meant becoming the highest-ranking American prisoner of the Japanese.
In The Fate of the Generals, bestselling author Jonathan Horn brings together the story of two men who received the same medal but found honor on very different paths. MacArthur’s journey would require a daring escape with his wife and young child to Australia and then years of fighting over the thousands of miles needed to make it back to the Philippines, where he would fulfill his famous vow only to see the city he called home burn. Wainwright’s journey would take him from the Philippines to Taiwan and Manchuria as his captors tortured him in prisons and left him to wonder whether his countrymen would ever understand the choice he had made to surrender for the sake of his men.
A story of war made personal based on meticulous research into diaries and letters including boxes of previously unexplored papers, The Fate of the Generals is a vivid account that raises timely questions about how we define honor and how we choose our heroes, and is destined to become a classic of World War II history.
For the doomed stand American forces made in the Philippines at the start of World War II, two generals received their country’s highest military award, the Medal of Honor. One was the charismatic and controversial Douglas MacArthur, whose orders forced him to leave his soldiers on the islands to starvation and surrender but whose vow to return echoed around the globe. The other was the gritty Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright, who became a hero to the troops whose fate he insisted on sharing even when it meant becoming the highest-ranking American prisoner of the Japanese.
In The Fate of the Generals, bestselling author Jonathan Horn brings together the story of two men who received the same medal but found honor on very different paths. MacArthur’s journey would require a daring escape with his wife and young child to Australia and then years of fighting over the thousands of miles needed to make it back to the Philippines, where he would fulfill his famous vow only to see the city he called home burn. Wainwright’s journey would take him from the Philippines to Taiwan and Manchuria as his captors tortured him in prisons and left him to wonder whether his countrymen would ever understand the choice he had made to surrender for the sake of his men.
A story of war made personal based on meticulous research into diaries and letters including boxes of previously unexplored papers, The Fate of the Generals is a vivid account that raises timely questions about how we define honor and how we choose our heroes, and is destined to become a classic of World War II history.
About The Author
© Eli Turner
Jonathan Horn is an author and former White House presidential speechwriter whose books include Washington’s End and the Robert E. Lee biography The Man Who Would Not Be Washington, which was a Washington Post bestseller. He has written for outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times Disunion series, New York Post, The Daily Beast, National Review, and POLITICO, and has appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and PBS NewsHour. A graduate of Yale, he lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with his wife, two children, and dog.
Product Details
- Publisher: Scribner (April 15, 2025)
- Length: 448 pages
- ISBN13: 9781668010099
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Raves and Reviews
“It's a cruel trick of life that we cannot see honor; we sense it, we know its presence. Honor does not announce self; honor is. It’s the most abstract of notions but which is embodied by the most brutal and physical trials, brought about by enduring what must be endured. Egotism, self-dealing, why, these states of being are plain as day; and you could see General Douglas MacArthur coming from a mile away during his monumental career. Unearthing new records and documents, Jonathan Horn recasts the battle of Philippines in startling light, unsealing the story of General Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright, who is the real hero of this book, while, out habit and perception, MacArthur has remained a war hero. Horn adds, corrects, sharpens this portrait of these two generals war in perfect prose, built on the footings of massive research. In Horn’s hands, the psychological portraits of these two are simply fascinating. Fans of Unbroken will love this book; fans of all that we are capable of in our finest, our darkest, and most desperate and necessary hours, will love this book." —Doug Stanton, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Horse Soldiers
"In any discussion of World War II in the Philippines, the names Douglas MacArthur and Jonathan Wainwright come up faster than most any others. Jonathan Horn deftly explores the men’s relationship in all its facets. He also illuminates the war’s personal impact on both men, which is much deeper than often appreciated. This is an outstanding tribute to, and portrayal of, two important leaders of World War II in the Pacific." —Christopher L. Kolakowski, author of Last Stand on Bataan and former director of the MacArthur Memorial
"One of the very best World War II books in many years! In The Fate of the Generals, Jonathan Horn weaves together brilliantly the story of two senior generals faced with excruciatingly difficult decisions that no American commander should ever have to make. Distinguished by spellbinding prose and exceptional research, The Fate of the Generals restores Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright to his proper place in history beside Douglas MacArthur. A great read!" —General David Petraeus, US Army (Ret.), former Commander of the Surge in Iraq, US Central Command, and Coalition Forces in Afghanistan; former Director of the CIA; co-author of the bestselling book Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Gaza
"History at its best. Jonathan Horn has used a treasure trove of new information to shine a powerful spotlight on the sublime heroism of a hitherto under-appreciated and almost forgotten figure, Jonathan Wainwright, while simultaneously investigating the self-centred wiliness but undoubted charisma of Douglas MacArthur." —Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny
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