Patton: The Man Behind the Legend, 1885-1945
by Martin Blumenson
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Book Summary Information
Author: Martin BlumensonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1994-11-29
ISBN: 0688137954
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Book Reviews of Patton: The Man Behind the Legend, 1885-1945
Book Review: Bigger than life - for sure!
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently caught a few minutes of one of my favorite movies, `Patton' staring George C. Scott and wondered if he was really that great of a general and that much bigger than life. What made him tick? What drove him?
`Patton: The Man Behind the Legend, 1885-1945' by Martin Blumenson gave these questions a pretty good shot. Yes, Patton was that much bigger than life, one of the greatest soldiers of the 20th century or any other century, and was held in awe by his troops as well as the enemy. Yes, George C. Scott faithfully portrayed Patton, even down to some of his speeches that seemed word-for-word as recorded in the book. He approached war religiously, studied it, thought it, taught it, acted it, ate it, and slept it. He actually did get depressed at the thought the War would end before he could make his mark. He was the world's foremost expert on the use of tanks (from WWI experiences). His Third Army was the best force in WWII, disciplined and relentlessly fast and effective, covering more ground quicker than anyone else. They captured an amazing 400,000 enemy soldiers, and could probably have won the war if Ike had let Patton continue on to Berlin with his great breakout after Normandy. The enemy conceded after the War that they always had to know where Patton was - he was their main focus.
What drove Patton? He would tell you that his genes were replete with highly successful military types on both sides of his forebears, and that he was therefore destined to be great. Higher society in those days (and maybe today too) thought that their success in any given field was mainly due to better genes. Also, he was raised by very loving, well-to-do parents who pulled all the available strings to support him in his military career. By the way, I somehow didn't picture Patton, who could be ruthless, as having very loving parents, but I was wrong!
Patton was a great believer in esprit-de-corps (that was surprising too) and the men who served under him were proud to be doing so. He would tell them that they were the best army ever and they acted like it! Ike, in Patton's view, looked at the men as pieces of the organization chart.
The battle descriptions were probably a little too concise, but that didn't bother me since I just wanted the overall flow of events but a greater sense of the man. The author undoubtedly had command of the subject from the amount of detail on each page. The book flap said that he served under Patton and spent his career writing about it in various papers and books. He was able to `short-hand' the battles.
The book reminded me a little of the book`American Caesar', which was about Doug MacArthur, Patton's counterpart in the Pacific, who brilliantly island-hopped to hold off the Japanese; and he did this with a much smaller force until the war in Europe was over. Like Patton, he also felt the call of destiny for his greatness. He was also an actor like Patton, putting on a persona for the troops and the public every day. Interestingly, Patton even asked to serve with MacArthur after the war in Europe had been won, but Ike knew that two gigantic egos could not work together.
It's true: there was nobody like Patton - except maybe MacArthur.
Summary of Patton: The Man Behind the Legend, 1885-1945
This magnificent biography by the world's foremost expert on the life of George S. Patton portrays the many faces of the general with uncompromising insight: the gruff, demanding public front known (and feared) by millions; the sensitive, intellectual visage shown to intimates; and the self-conscious, emotional, religious man only a handful of people ever met. Martin Blumenson deftly explores the life of this American hero, a paradoxical man who inspired others to greatness but who sometimes questioned the greatness within himself.
Illustrated with 64 photographs, many from the Patton family archives, Patton: The Man Behind the Legend, 1885-1945 is a dramatic and memorable portrait of a complex American hero, a man called "the greatest combat general of modern times."
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