The Building

A Biography of the Pentagon

David Alexander

• Publisher: Zenith Press
• Year: 2008
• Print ISBN: 9780760320877
• eBook ISBN: 9781616739584
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

The Pentagon has been called many things by many people, but to those who work there, directing the defense of the United States, it is simply "the Building." Monumental in its five-pointed symmetry, the massive five-sided, five-story structure encompasses over six million square feet of floor space and covers twenty-nine acres of formerly swampy ground.

There has always been much more to the Pentagon than concrete, limestone and steel. In The Pentagon, veteran defense writer and novelist David Alexander delivers the inside story on the people who have brought the Building to life, from army chief of staff General George Marshall and Secretary of War Henry Stimson, charged with creating a force that could defeat Germany and Japan, to the "whiz kids" brought to the Pentagon by Kennedy's Secretary of Defense Robert MacNamara. Alexander's look down the corridors of power unfolds the modern history of the American defense establishment, its personalities and politics, and the evolving role that the Pentagon has played in our national security.

From its initial design to its restoration after the attack of 9/11, this book tells the story of the Pentagon as it is inextricably linked to the story of American power and strength.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Book One: A Rendezvous with Destiny: The American Military Establishment Between World Wars
• Book Two: Millions for Defense: The Pentagon and Its Postwar Role
• Book Three: An Axis of Evil: The First Wars of the Twenty-First Century
• Appendix A: Timeline of Critical Events in This Book
• Appendix B: Secretaries of Defense and Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
• Appendix C: The Pentagon on the Pentagon
• Select Source Materials
• Index
• Copyright Page
• Footnotes