Andrew Carroll's intimate portrait of General Pershing, who led all of the American troops in Europe during World War I, is a revelation. The general surmounted enormous obstacles to build an army and ultimately command millions of U.S. soldiers. But Pershing himself - often perceived as a harsh, humourless, and wooden leader - concealed inner agony from those around him: almost two years before the United States entered the war, Pershing suffered a personal tragedy so catastrophic that he almost went insane with grief.