• Primary Sourcesarrow

    Marshall, George C.
    Memoirs of My Services in the World War, 1917–1918.

    Edited by James L. Collins, Jr. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976.
    Marshall drafted this manuscript while he was in Washington, D.C., between 1919 and 1924 as aide-de-camp to General of the Armies John J. Pershing. Given the growing bitterness of the “memoirs wars” of the period, however, he decided against publication, and the draft sat unused until the 1970s when Marshall’s step-daughter and her husband decided to publish it.

    Marshall, George C.
    George C. Marshall Interviews and Reminiscences

    for Forrest C. Pogue; Edited by Larry I. Bland. 3d ed., Lexington, Va.: George C. Marshall Foundation, 1996.
    The edited transcripts of Forrest Pogue’s tape-recorded interviews and his notes on unrecorded interviews, this is a key source for understanding Marshall. Pogue contributed a seventeen-page Introduction on the background to the interviews.

    Marshall, George C.
    The Papers of George Catlett Marshall

    Edited by Larry I. Bland and Sharon Ritenour Stevens. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1981– .
    These include selected and annotated documents, mainly by Marshall. Six of the seven volumes in the series have been published, covering the period 1880 through 1949, and the final volume is expected out in 2015.

    Marshall, Katherine Tupper
    Together: Annals of an Army Wife.

    New York: Tupper and Love, 1946.
    Mrs. Marshall’s autobiography, which covers the years 1930 to 1945, was begun after the General departed for his mission to China in late 1945 and completed after she joined him there. General Marshall edited the manuscript in China, and in some instances reduced her defense of his actions. The book was widely reprinted in the late-1940s, and there are several editions.

  • Authorized Biographiesarrow

    Pogue, Forrest C.
    George C. Marshall

    4 vols., New York: Viking, 1963–87.
    This is the standard against which all work on Marshall is judged. The series includes: Education of a General, 1880–1939; Ordeal and Hope, 1939–1942; Organizer of Victory, 1943–1945; and Statesman, 1945–1959.

  • Generalarrow

    Cray, Ed
    General of the Army: George C. Marshall, Soldier and Statesman

    New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1990.
    Another excellent single-volume biography, it is much longer than Stoler’s and was aimed at a general trade audience.

    Faber, Harold
    Soldier and Statesman: General George C. Marshall

    New York: Ariel Books, 1964.

    Frye, William
    Marshall: Citizen Soldier

    Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1947.

    Moseley, Leonard
    Marshall: Hero for Our Times

    New York: Hearst Books, 1982.

    Payne, Robert
    The Marshall Story: A Biography

    New York: Prentice-Hall, 1951.

    Roll, David L.

    George Marshall: Defender of the Republic


    New York: Dutton Caliber, 2019.
    Aimed at general audiences, research for the latest single-volume biography was conducted at the Marshall Foundation archives and is available at major bookstores.

    Stoler, Mark A.
    American Century

    Boston: Twayne, 1989.
    This is one of the best of the single-volume biographies. It was intended as a collateral reading in college undergraduate courses, and a paperback edition is still in print.

  • Juvenile and Young Adultarrow

    Lubetkin, Wendy
    George Marshall

    New York: Chelsea House, 1989. A volume in the World Leaders Past and Present series.

    Saunders, Alan
    George C. Marshall: A General for Peace

    New York: Facts on File, 1996. A volume in the Makers of America series.

    Skutt, Mary Sutton
    Growing Up, by George: George C. Marshall’s Early Years

    Uniontown, Pennsylvania—Lexington, Virginia, 1880–1901.
    Lexington, Va.: News-Gazette, 1997.

    Skutt, Mary Sutton
    George C. Marshall, Reporting for Duty

    Lexington, Va.: Blue Valley Books, 2001.
    This volume covers Marshall’s career between 1901 (graduation from VMI) and 1945 (retirement as U.S. Army Chief of Staff). A third volume is in preparation covering the years between 1946 and 1959.

  • Other Worksarrow

    Baker, Kevin
    America’s Finest General

    Read Kevin Baker’s article, “America’s Finest General,” published by Military History magazine, September 2011.   Article is reprinted with the permission of Weider History Group.   Copyright © 2011.

    Beal, John Robinson
    Marshall in China
    Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Co., 1970.

    Beal, a newspaper reporter, was hired in the spring of 1946 by the Chinese government as advisor on press and public relations. Marshall suggested the role as a method of keeping the Nationalist regime from generating bad publicity in the United States.

    Bland, Larry I.
    George C. Marshall’s Mediation Mission to China, December 1945–January 1947

    Lexington, Va.: George C. Marshall Foundation, 1998.
    A collection of essays by various authors.

    Brower, Charles
    George C. Marshall: Servant of the American Nation

    New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, 2011.
    Charles F. Brower has compiled key essays from a symposium held at the Virginia Military Institute, the general’s alma mater, on the 50th anniversary of Marshall’s death. This is a significant work because it provides a balanced assessment of the general’s notable achievements, offers multi-faceted insight into his personality, and suggests that his life remains a model for public service.

    Ferrell, Robert H.
    George C. Marshall as Secretary of State, 1947–1949

    New York: Cooper Square, 1966. Volume fifteen in the American Secretaries of State and Their Diplomacy series.

    McCarthy, Joseph R.
    America’s Retreat from Victory: The Story of General George Marshall

    New York: Devin-Adair, 1951.
    A ghost-written right-wing diatribe by the infamous junior senator from Wisconsin in which he asserts that Marshall was a Communist dupe and thus to blame for much of what was wrong in the world.

    Parrish, Thomas
    Roosevelt and Marshall: Partners in Politics and War, The Personal Story

    New York: William Morrow & Co., 1989.

  • Documentary Filmsarrow

    George Marshall and the American Century

    Produced by Great Projects Film Company for PBS, 1994.
    88 minutes. Directed by Kenneth Mandel and Ken Levis. Narrated by E. G. Marshall.

    George C. Marshall: Soldier and Statesman

    Produced by Lou Reda Productions. for A&E Television Network, 1998.
    47 minutes. Directed by Don Horan.

    Motion and Still Pictures Online in the Marshall Film Archives
    A Guide to George C. Marshall Motion Pictures.

    2000. Compiled by Sharon Ritenour Stevens.
    List of Marshall-related motion pictures and newsreels. Photographs are available by clicking on the images.

    Marshall Plan Filmography.

    2002. Compiled by Linda R. Christenson.
    Descriptive list of films about the Marshall Plan