In Command Culture, Joerg Muth examines how the United States Army and the German Armed Forces selected, educated, and promoted their officers in the crucial time before World War II. German officers came from a closed authoritarian society but received an extremely open minded military education, whereas American officers came from one of the most democratic societies but received an outdated military education that harnessed their minds and limited their initiative. Command Culture clearly explains the lack of audacity of many high ranking American officers during World War II. Those American officers who became outstanding leaders in World War II did so not so much because of their military education, but despite it.