Synopses & Reviews
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
Synopsis
A comprehensive biography of General George Patton draws on hitherto unavailable letters, diaries, and memoirs, uncovering many new facts to create an insightful and definitive portrait of an American military hero.
An instant classic. --Douglas Brinkley
Fifty years after his death, General George S. 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, 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.
Synopsis
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. --Dallas Morning News
A comprehensive biography of General George Patton draws on hitherto unavailable letters, diaries, and memoirs, uncovering many new facts to create an insightful and definitive portrait of an American military hero.
Fifty years after his death, General George S. 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, 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.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [935]-949) and index.
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.