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Stavridis, James G. The Accidental Admiral: A Sailor Takes Command at NATO. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 2014. 288pp. $32.95
In the early days of the Second World War, General Eisenhower, the first Supreme Allied Commander of Europe, struggled to keep the alliance together. One of the more interesting anecdotes about this struggle is when he almost fired a member of his staff because the officer was, shall we say, culturally insensitive. The story goes that an American officer, a colonel on Eisenhower's staff, insulted a British officer by calling him a British bastard. Ike wasn't pleased. Ike threatened to bust him down to private. Being a bastard, he said, was not a national characteristic. All were equal in the eyes of the allies. But admittedly, handling NATO has not gotten any easier over the years. Secretary Gates, prior to his departure, had some choice words for the alliance, urging more NATO members to meet the required 2 percent of their GDP on defense spending. America, he noted, continues to pick up the slack-from Afghanistan to Libya. Yet the alliance remains.
Admiral James Stavridis, USN (Ret.), most recently Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) and commander of U.S. European Command (EUCOM), and unofficially,...