Perspective

American Caesar by William Manchester is written in the third person point of view with the narrator being Manchester. The use of this method allows the author to provide the historical and background information that the reader needs to describe since so much of the book deals with World Wars I and II and events in the Philippines and Japan. Most readers need their memories refreshed of events that occurred during this period, especially those that occurred in other countries.

MacArthur is obviously the main character in the book since the book is his biography. There are many other characters in the book that are mentioned and the reader does not come to know them or their personalities, like Jean and Arthur, but this does not really affect the flow of the book. There is enough dialogue between characters so the reader can see how they interact.

William...