A Genius for War. A Life of General George S. Patton by Carlo D'Este
Patton: A Genius for War is a full-fledged portrait of an extraordinary American that reveals the complex and contradictory personality that lay behind the swashbuckling and brash facade. According to Publishers Weekly, the result is a major biography of a major American military figure. This massive work is biography at its very best. Literate and meaty, incisive and balanced, detailed without being pedantic. Mr. D'Este's Patton takes its rightful place as the definitive biography of this American warrior. --Calvin L. Christman, Dallas Morning News D'Este tells this story well, and gives us a new understanding of this great and troubled man.-The Wall Street Journal An instant classic. --Douglas Brinkley, director, Eisenhower Center Editorial Reviews From Publishers Weekly Perhaps the most renowned and controversial American general of the 20th century, George Patton (1885-1945) remains a subject of intense interest. D'Este (Decision in Normandy) provides new information from family archives and other sources about Patton's ancestry, childhood and pre-WWII military career. This includes his student years at West Point, his experience as a tank officer in WWI and various interwar staff assignments. The author emphasizes Patton's lifelong study and preparation for war and his conviction that God not only chose him specifically to lead an army but also stood ready to intervene to assure him battlefield victories. D'Este has much to say about Patton's impulsiveness, impatience and tactlessness, showing how these qualities often got him in trouble with the public as well as with his superiors. The account of Patton's campaigns from North Africa through Sicily, Normandy and the Ardennes enables the reader to understand why the general is regarded as one of the great military leaders. This is a major biography of a major American military figure. Illustrations. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Review This is revisionism at its very best . . . -- The New York Times Book Review, Alistair Horne --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From the Publisher Fifty years after his death, General George C. Patton Jr. remains one of the most colorful, charismatic, misunderstood and controversial figures ever to set foot on the battlefields of World War II. And the image of the man has been not a little influenced by the 1970 film Patton, starring George C. Scott, in which he is portrayed as a swashbuckling, brash, profane, impetuous general who wore ivory-handled pistols into battle and slapped two hospitalized soldiers in Sicily. It is one of the achievements of this riveting biography that it reveals the complex and contradictory personality that lay behind the facade. With full access to Patton's private and public papers, and the cooperation of the general's family, Carlo D'Este shows us not only the extrovert Patton of public perception, but also the intensely private Patton -- the devoted student of history, the poet, the humble man very unsure of his own abilities -- who could burst into tears, be charming or insulting quite unexpectedly, and the Patton who trained himself for greatness with a determination matched by no other general in the twentieth century. D'Este describes Patton's patrician background with its strong military heritage in the Civil War on the Confederate side; his struggle to overcome dyslexia to get through West Point; his lifelong doubts about his own courage that forced him to take reckless chances; and the enduring and sometimes troubled marriage to his childhood sweetheart, Beatrice Ayer, daughter of a wealthy Boston family, who proved to be a tower of strength and devotion to a soldier husband who was miserable in peacetime. This book also covers Patton's military career from his dramatic role in the 1916 campaign against Pancho Villa in northern Mexico to his service in France in World War I, where he organized and led the first U.S. tank corps at Saint-Mihiel and in the Meuse-Argonne offensive (where he was seriously wounded), to his frequently brilliant and occasionally very controversial roles during World War II in the fighting in North Africa, Sicily, France and Germany, where he earned the reputation of being the allied general the Germans most feared and respected. Patton: A Genius for War is a full-fledged portrait of an extraordinary American. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. About the Author Carlo D'Este is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and a highly regarded military historian. He is the author of four books about World War II -- Decision in Normandy, Bitter Victory: The Battle for Sicily, 1943, World War II in the Mediterranean, and Fatal Decision: Anzio and the Battle for Rome. D'Este received his B.A. from Norwich University in 1958, an M.A. from the University of Richmond in 1974, and an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Norwich in 1992. Born in Oakland, California, D'Este now lives in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Overview
Title: A Genius for War. A Life of General George S. Patton by Carlo D'Este
Author: Carlo D'Este
Book Cover Type:
Pages: 992
Language: ENG- English
Condition
Publisher
Publishers: Harper Perennial
Location:
Year: 1996
Pages:
Illustrators
Edition
Dimensions
128 x 197mm
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