He has been called the greatest American general since U.S. Grant (by Sir Robert Thompson) and the world's champion tank commander (by Gen. George S. Patton, Jr.). Yet the general public knows relatively little about this man who, for more than four decades, in three wars and in peacetime, demonstrated the skill, courage, integrity, and compassion that made him a legend in his profession. In Thunderbolt, Lewis Sorley brings us the definitive biography of Gen. Creighton Abrams, the man who commanded U.S. forces in Vietnam during the withdrawal stage and for whom the Army's main battle tank is named. This new Brassey's Five-Star Paperback places the complex and sophisticated Abrams and his many achievements within the context of the Army he served and ultimately led, and of the national and international events in which he played a vital role. It is a stirring portrait of the quintessential soldier and of the transformation of the U.S. Army from the horse brigades of the 1930s to the high-tech military force that ultimately emerged victorious in the Gulf War.