Book Review - Killing Patton

Posted by Robbie53024 9 years, 3 months ago to Books
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In one sentence, this book would have been better titled "General Patton in WWII." There is little that actually deals with the death of Gen. Patton, in fact it is less than 30 pages. That said, it is a well written and researched description of the Second World War from the perspective of George S. Patton. There are mildly interesting and nowadays not very salacious descriptions of the philandering of the various notables of WWII. There are riveting descriptions of battles, most notably Fort Driant, and the political machinations of the likes of FDR, Churchill, and Stalin.

All in all a good read, and presents a rational argument that the death of Patton may have been something other than a mere auto accident. But not a compelling argument that there was a conspiracy or definitive proof as to who might have been in the conspiracy.

While this is in the O'Reilly line of "Killing ..." books, it is less substantive of the actual cause of the death than his other two books (so far).


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  • Posted by hillcountry 9 years, 3 months ago
    He definitely would have sided with MacArthur during the Korean War and arrested "That son of a bitch" for treason. Would have been interesting for sure. My Dad served under MacArthur and said it was true that he did threaten Truman with arrest.
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  • Posted by fivedollargold 9 years, 3 months ago
    Despite his vanity, Patton was an excellent general. MacArthur, who $5Au is ashamed to be related to, was a pompous ass and a terrible general. He was caught napping by the Japanese and TWICE in Korea.
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  • Posted by $ jlc 9 years, 3 months ago
    My father termed both Patton and McArthur "goddamnwestpointers"*. He further referred to them with his worst epithet: tank commanders. (That was far worse than 'bomber pilot', which was what we got called if we did something clumsy like spilling food off our plate from a buffet.) He said that they were both spit-and-polish sorts who were more interested in looking good than in winning wars.

    Jan
    * I thought this was a single word until I was in High School.
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    • Posted by 9 years, 3 months ago
      He had a point regarding MacArthur (although a weak one, as even Mac was a hard charger). But Patton, no way. He was a warrior through and through. His one vanity was his pearl handled revolvers. And they were part of his warrior persona.
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