Book Review- Patton: The Pursuit of Destiny by Agostino Von Hassell and Ed Breslin

A new release from Thomas Nelson's "The Generals" series, Von Hassell and Breslin's book provides a brief overview of the complicated life of General George S. Patton. Less than 200 pages in length, this book provides the reader with a nice synopsis of the some of the main points and events in Patton's life. However, I found the book lacking in several areas. Rather than an historical biography, the book reads as though it were written by members of a Patton fan club.

First, the authors go to great lengths in the prologue to denigrate General Omar Bradley when compared to General Patton. The reasoning for this is unclear.

Secondly, Patton is portrayed as possibly one of the great cavalrymen in the history of the United States Army as well as one of the Army's all-time great strategists, tacticians, teachers and trainers, tank unit commanders and so on. While he may have had great strengths in these areas, no man is the best-ever in each of these disciplines.

Thirdly, though the back cover states that the book is written "without varnishing over his shortcomings", the authors make a great effort to explain the reasoning behind many of the "shortcomings" of Patton, from his excessive and unnecessary profanity to his slapping of two WWII soldiers, calling them "cowards" because he was afraid that anyone would accuse him of cowardice. Little is noted of Patton's womanizing, alcohol abuse and depression.

Finally, while the authors include a bibliography of 11 items, there are no notes given throughout the text. In fact, only periodically do the authors refer to previous works by other historians.

To get a sense of the major points in Patton's life, this book is effective in its ability to highlight those events that shaped the general's impact. However, its presentation is too uneven in its pro-Patton nature as to be objective.

I reviewed this book in conjunction with Thomas Nelson's BookSneeze program, was not compensated for this review and the opinions expressed are solely mine.