Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

By Walter Isaacson. Simon & Schuster, 2003. ISBN 0-684-80761-0.

Some people think of Benjamin Franklin only as the man who flew a kite in a lightning storm. Others think of him just as a face on a hundred-dollar bill However, author Walter Isaacson knows Franklin to be much more.

This is the second biography of Franklin in the last two years, following Edmund Morgan’s Benjamin Franklin (Yale University Press, 2002). Isaacson’s biography of Franklin is more detailed and lively than Morgan’s book, and provides highbrow entertainment and savvy insight into the man Isaacson calls colonial “America’s best scientist, inventor, writer, diplomat, [and] business strategist.”

Isaacson is a former managing editor of Time magazine and ceo of cnn. He has written two other books, including an excellent biography, Kissinger (Simon & Schuster, 1992). Here he offers a colorful portrait of the man who invented bifocal eyeglasses, was known by the ladies as a good kisser, and was the only man to sign all four of America’s founding documents.

Isaacson describes Franklin’s early days as a candle maker and printer, how he wrote bad poetry that sold well, and how he became a publishing tycoon whose newspapers thrived on gossip, advice, and scandal. Franklin loved to write sarcastic, pointed essays using such pen names as Silence Dogood and Anthony Afterwit. As a champion of the middle class, he poked fun at and criticized politicians and the wealthy elite.

Isaacson also describes Franklin’s many scientific inquiries. Most famous are Franklin’s experiments with electricity; however he also invented a clean-burning stove, studied the nature of the Gulf Stream, and examined the saltiness of the ocean.

Although known as a ladies’ man, Franklin remained married to the same woman for 44 years. He was shamelessly flirtatious (and he did father one illegitimate son), but Isaacson says reports of his romantic escapades are greatly exaggerated.

Best is Isaacson’s portrayal of Franklin as a shrewd diplomat and patriot during the years before, during, and after the American Revolution. He reveals some startling facts about Franklin’s hopes for reconciliation with King George III, his feud with John Adams, his strange diplomatic mission to France during the war, and his clever manipulation of allies in the peace process.

Storm on the Horizon: Khafji—The Battle that Changed the Course of the Gulf War

By David J. Morris. Free Press, 2004. ISBN 0-7432-3557-6.

The battle of Khafji should not have happened, and it was not expected, but once joined, it revealed much about the nature of the Gulf War in 1991.

Storm on the Horizon is author David Morris’ first book. A freelance writer and former Marine infantry officer, Morris portrays combat in the Gulf War with vivid imagery and dramatic narrative.

With this effort, Morris tells two parallel stories of modern desert warfare. One story is about the Iraqi diversionary attacks on the Saudi Arabia-Kuwait outpost line Jan. 29–30, 1991. The other is about the Iraqi main effort, the invasion of Saudi Arabia and the battle for the Saudi coastal town of Khafji Jan. 30–31.

These actions occurred about a month before the major coalition ground operation, but despite some solid intelligence indicators, the Iraqi attacks were a complete surprise to higher headquarters.

Told with typical Marine candor, these stories are filled with examples of combat action, heroism, indecision, incompetence, resourcefulness, profanity, black humor, sound and weak leadership, good and bad luck, and stark battlefield realism.

Morris begins his tale along the thinly held outpost line on the Saudi-Kuwait border. The Marine reconnaissance teams and light armored vehicle companies act as a recon and screening force, to forewarn of Iraqi movements, to “see, scream, and scram.” The night of Jan. 29 finds the Marines under attack from strong Iraqi armor and mechanized infantry units, creating a confusing nighttime melee that results in two well-publicized friendly fire incidents. The fights reveal many flaws in battlefield preparation, communications, and command-and-control measures.

But the Iraqi main effort was farther to the east: an invasion of Saudi Arabia using three armored and mechanized divisions, down the coastal road from Kuwait to the Saudi town of Khafji. As Morris relates, the town had been evacuated and was occupied only by scattered Marine recon teams. When the Iraqis attacked and captured Khafji, two Marine recon teams remained behind, surrounded in the town, tenuously secure in hide positions.

Morris relates the harrowing adventures of these two teams as they call in air strikes on the Iraqis while trying to remain hidden. He also describes the skills of the Marine Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company personnel who coordinate fire support for the recon teams and the Arab Coalition Forces assigned to recapture the town.

Morris says the coalition effort to recapture Khafji was a near disaster, because the Arab forces (Saudi and Qatari) attacked with no proper reconnaissance, no fire support preparation, no tactical imagination, and little interest in a stand-up fight with the feared Iraqi military. One Marine sergeant observed, “We never knew if they were gonna fight or run.”

Morris concludes that the battle of Khafji ushered in new technology and revealed weaknesses in both Iraqi and Arab coalition force capabilities and resolve, but small-unit tactics, leadership, initiative, and guts always will be the deciding factors in a ground fight. Despite frequent use of inappropriate slang, several glaring errors of fact, and some poor editing, this is a riveting story of courage amid the fog of war.

— Reviews by William D. Bushnell

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