General Patton: A Soldier's Life

Stanley Hirshson

Harper Collins, Aug 5, 2003 - Biography & Autobiography - 864 pages

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 military manoeuvres but also of inspiring his troops with fiery speeches that resulted in horrendous acts, such as the massacres of Italian civilians. It explains Patton's belief in a soldier's Valhalla, connects the family's wealth to one of America's bitterest labour strikes, and disputes the usual interpretation of Patton's relief from command of the Third Army. In investigating this complex man, Hirshson has uncovered surprising material about a series of civilian massacres in Sicily, about the two slapping incidents, about attempts to exploit Patton's diary after his death, and about Patton's relations with top Allied generals. Patton emerges as a soldier of great imagination and courage, and his military campaigns make for edge–of–the–seat reading. All the drama of Patton's life comes alive in this meticulously documented volume.

Contents

• Sicily July 12 1943 to July 14 1943 Glassells and Herefords: 1
• Wilsons and Pattons with Some Account of the Dyslexia Myth: 5
• A Day as a Lion: 49
• Pershing in Mexico: 75
• The Suicide Club: 90
• SaintMihiel Salient September 1918: 121
• MeuseArgonne September 1918: 128
• Leavenworth and All That: 133
• The Warrior Soul: 174
• 1918 Minds All: 213
• Field of Honor: 256
• Operation Torch November 1942 284: 266
• Not Much of a War: 296
• Sicily on My Mind: 340
• Atrocities Amid the Triumphs: 363
• Lower Than Whale Tracks: 407
• Whither Destiny?: 435
• Invasion Blues: 466
• Patton and the Normandy Breakout: 498
• Hurry Up and Wait: 502
• Stumbling into the Bulge: 536
• Hits and Errors: 573
• The Bulge December 1944: 576
• Nearing the End March 1945: 614
• Havent You Learned Not to Take: 617
• Headlong Toward Disaster: 651
• A Diary and a Movie: 681
• A Brief Assessment: 700

About the author

Stanley P. Hirshson is professor of history at Queens College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. The author of biographies of Brigham Young and General William T. Sherman, he worked on General Patton for eleven years.

Bibliographic information

• Title: General Patton: A Soldier's Life
• Author: Stanley Hirshson
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Harper Collins, 2003
• ISBN: 0060009837, 9780060009830
• Length: 864 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Historical; History / United States / 20th Century; History / Wars & Conflicts / World War II / General