General Mark W. Clark was one of the most successful - and controversial - US officers of World War II. Reprinted here for the first time in fifty years are his memoirs, which have been newly updated by his biographer, Martin Blumenson.

A 1917 graduate of West Point, Clark was wounded on his first day of combat while serving with the 5th Division in France in June 1918. In 1942, George Marshall sent Clark to England, where he so impressed Winston Churchill that the prime minister nicknamed him`the American Eagle'. Shortly after, he was appointed as Dwight D. Eisenshower's deputy supreme commander for the invasion of French North Africa.

Clark commanded the Fifth Army in Italy from 1942 to 1945. His appointment made him the youngest lieutenant general in the US Army; however, despite a well-earned reputation for bravery his command was not without criticism- in particular, that resulting from the costly assaults against the town of Monte Cassino.

Calculated Risk gives an unprecedented insight into this most complex commander and his campaigns.