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General Patton: A Soldier's Life
General George S. Patton Jr, an inspirational leader and outstanding tactician, has intrigued and confounded his biographers. Utilising untapped archival materials in both the USA and UK, government documents, family papers, and oral histories, Hirshson creates the most balanced portrait of Patton ever written. It reveals Patton as a complex soldier capable of brilliant mi
...morePaperback, 826 pages
Published
August 1st 2003
by Harper Perennial
(first published August 1st 2002)
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For my Memorial Day Weekend, I read this biography of Gen. George Patton. Ever since I saw "Patton" with George C. Scott at the movies, I've wondered if the screen version was faithful to the real man. Hirshson's biography is well-documented and very detailed. He takes the reader from Patton's West Point days to his death in Germany. I am not familiar with all the military commanders and units of the European theatre, so it was a bit tedious at times, but I can say that the man was ...more
It gets four stars because of the depth of research and the 11 years Hirshson spent writing the book. The writing and editing, however, deserves only three stars. I just can't give 3 1/2 stars in this format, though. There is much in this book that is not needed to paint a picture of the great field commander but often abrasive and permanently anti-Semitic rich guy from California. Better editing would have caught some repetition and inserted better punctuation where necessary.
historically detailed and an interesting read, but I did not appreciate the authors critique of General Pattton regarding either the slapping incident or his alleged culpability for the killing of captured enemy soldiers. Until the author has benn in the position of watching fellow soldiers be cut down by the enemy, and/or witnessed enemy atrocities, he should keep the editorializing to himself. History judges Patton as an exceptional and brilliantly agressive tanker, and his instillation of t...more
This was good reading but not as well detailed in respect to the personal thoughts as Omar Bradleys book A GENERAL'S LIFE
Unnamed individuals have insinuated that I hate General Patton. This is of course not the case. This biography on the other hand has reduced one of the most adventure filled lives of the twentieth century in to a dry over-analyzed historiography. Where analysis is called for (the invasions of Morocco, Sicily or De-Nazification) it is fleeting. Where it is not (weather Eisenwer revived Bradly's phone call or Deaves' letter first) it is executive. This tremendously well researched book is not...more
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A little wordy, and has some fact contradictions, but a good book.
Just deathly boring. Watch the movie.
Douglas Koehne
marked it as to-read
Rodney Ulyate
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Tolu Gbadebo
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Marc
marked it as holding-tank
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