"Herschler, Mildred Barger".:The Darkest Corner.
- Taschenbuch 2001, ISBN: 9781886910546
Gebundene Ausgabe
Harper Perennial. Very Good. 128 x 197mm. Paperback. 1996. 992 pages. <br>Patton: A Genius for War is a full-fledged portrai t of an extraordinary American that reveals the complex … Mehr…
Harper Perennial. Very Good. 128 x 197mm. Paperback. 1996. 992 pages. <br>Patton: A Genius for War is a full-fledged portrai t of an extraordinary American that reveals the complex and contr adictory personality that lay behind the swashbuckling and brash facade. According to Publishers Weekly, the result is a major bio graphy of a major American military figure. This massive work i s biography at its very best. Literate and meaty, incisive and ba lanced, detailed without being pedantic. Mr. D'Este's Patton take s its rightful place as the definitive biography of this American warrior. --Calvin L. Christman, Dallas Morning News D'Este tell s 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 Editorial Reviews From Publishers Weekly Perhaps the most renowned and controvers ial American general of the 20th century, George Patton (1885-194 5) remains a subject of intense interest. D'Este (Decision in Nor mandy) provides new information from family archives and other so urces about Patton's ancestry, childhood and pre-WWII military ca reer. This includes his student years at West Point, his experien ce as a tank officer in WWI and various interwar staff assignment s. The author emphasizes Patton's lifelong study and preparation for war and his conviction that God not only chose him specifical ly to lead an army but also stood ready to intervene to assure hi m battlefield victories. D'Este has much to say about Patton's im pulsiveness, impatience and tactlessness, showing how these quali ties often got him in trouble with the public as well as with his superiors. The account of Patton's campaigns from North Africa t hrough Sicily, Normandy and the Ardennes enables the reader to un derstand why the general is regarded as one of the great military leaders. This is a major biography of a major American military figure. Illustrations. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable editio n of this title. Review This is revisionism at its very best . . . -- The New York Times Book Review, Alistair Horne --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From the Publisher Fifty years after his death, General George C. Patton Jr. remains one of the most colorful, charismatic, misund erstood and controversial figures ever to set foot on the battlef ields of World War II. And the image of the man has been not a li ttle influenced by the 1970 film Patton, starring George C. Scott , in which he is portrayed as a swashbuckling, brash, profane, im petuous general who wore ivory-handled pistols into battle and sl apped two hospitalized soldiers in Sicily. It is one of the ach ievements of this riveting biography that it reveals the complex and contradictory personality that lay behind the facade. With fu ll access to Patton's private and public papers, and the cooperat ion of the general's family, Carlo D'Este shows us not only the e xtrovert Patton of public perception, but also the intensely priv ate Patton -- the devoted student of history, the poet, the humbl e man very unsure of his own abilities -- who could burst into te ars, 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. D'Este describes Patt on's patrician background with its strong military heritage in th e Civil War on the Confederate side; his struggle to overcome dys lexia to get through West Point; his lifelong doubts about his ow n courage that forced him to take reckless chances; and the endur ing and sometimes troubled marriage to his childhood sweetheart, Beatrice Ayer, daughter of a wealthy Boston family, who proved to be a tower of strength and devotion to a soldier husband who was miserable in peacetime. This book also covers Patton's militar y career from his dramatic role in the 1916 campaign against Panc ho Villa in northern Mexico to his service in France in World War I, where he organized and led the first U.S. tank corps at Saint -Mihiel and in the Meuse-Argonne offensive (where he was seriousl y wounded), to his frequently brilliant and occasionally very con troversial roles during World War II in the fighting in North Afr ica, Sicily, France and Germany, where he earned the reputation o f being the allied general the Germans most feared and respected. Patton: A Genius for War is a full-fledged portrait of an extr aordinary American. --This text refers to an out of print or unav ailable edition of this title. About the Author Carlo D'Este is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and a highly regarded mili tary 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: Anzi o 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 1 974, and an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Norwich in 1992. Born in Oakland, California, D'Este now lives in Cape Cod , Massachusetts. --This text refers to an out of print or unavail able edition of this title. ., Harper Perennial, 1996, 3, Front Street, 30-Oct-00. First Edition, Ex-Library. Hardcover. Very Good. Mild shelf wear on dj, lightly aged pages, libray stamps on edge & endpages. From Publishers Weekly: The Civil Rights movement makes its way to small-town Mississippi in this well-researched but ultimately disappointing novel, Herschler's first for young adults. Teddy, the narrator, is nine when she stumbles upon the lynching of her best friend's father: """"He was swinging back and forth as if a wind had caught him, and there stood my daddy, my very own daddy, clothed in a bedsheet near a bunch of other men, watching him swing."""" The aftermath is briefly documented, and the narrative skips ahead (""""Time flew, and the memory settled deep down in my heart a memory that never lost its pain, never lost its spurt of guilt, never lost its power over me"""") to other seminal moments in Teddy's coming of age. Against her father's orders, Teddy gets progressively more involved in the Civil Rights struggle, leading up to the summer of the Freedom Riders. Tensions multiply and violence in Teddy's community escalates, but Herschler never quite manages to create an immediate sense of menace, even when describing Klan attacks. Teddy, seen over a period of five years, doesn't seem to change much. This sometimes poignant portrayal of a friendship that survives through turbulent times is overshadowed by the historical background, which takes in such events as Eldridge Cleaver's assassination, lunch counter sit-ins and the Selma-Montgomery Freedom March. These historical milestones ultimately remain more compelling than the story line. Ages 12-up. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. From School Library Journal: Gr 6-8-In the early 1960s, Theodora Sanders, a white girl from a small town in Mississippi, finds her """"town is in an uproar, ain't nobody safe."""" Teddy's world is held together by her loving relationship with Lizzie, the family housekeeper, but that world begins to shatter after she views a cross burning and then sees her best friend's father hanging from a tree. As African Americans become more forceful in their push for equality, Teddy's family relationships and her parents' marriage become increasingly strained. Her father, the president of the local bank and a respected pillar of the community, is a vociferous reactionary and member of the Klan. Ostracized by her white peers, the girl is drawn closer to her black friends Stella and Tommy and joins in Civil Rights protests. Teddy's is a strong and eloquent voice that filters the bitter, tumultuous divisions of the period through the confusion of adolescence. However, while the depth of the author's extensive historical research is readily apparent, the overly eventful plot leaves important issues unresolved. Stella's father's lynching, her mother's rape, the brutal beating of Tommy and of Lizzie's two sons, and Teddy's father's threatening nocturnal visits to her occur as isolated episodes without significant consequences. While this briskly paced story provides a panoramic view of the Civil Rights Movement, its broad sweep comes at the expense of plot and character development.-Patricia B. McGee, Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc., Front Street, 30-Oct-00, 3<