DescriptionBrian Sobel's The Fighting Pattons is an extraordinary history of one American family's love of war. It includes the exploits of Hugh Mercer, a famous Revolutionary War general who married in the Patton line, and Colonel Waller Tazewell Patton, who was mortally wounded at Gettysburg while taking part in Pickett's Charge. But the primary focus is on the careers of the 20th-century Pattons: World War II legend General George S. Patton, Jr., and his lesser-known namesake and son, Major General George S. Patton, who fought in Korea and Vietnam and now lives quietly on the family farm in Hamilton, Massachusetts. The life and thoughts of Major General Patton - an interesting figure in his own right - give us insights into his more famous father that can only come from a son forced to live and work in a great man's shadow.
DescriptionRobert E. Lee, one of the most famous figures in American history, vanished after his dramatic surrender at Appomattox. In fact, he lived only another five years, during which time he did more than any other American to heal the wounds between North and South during the tempestuous postwar period. This is a moving and intimate account of those years filled with the warmth of family ties and enduring friendships set against the harsh realities of Reconstruction. Though Lee is best remembered for his military campaigns, this was his finest hour, the great forgotten chapter of an extraordinary life.
DescriptionTo be mystical and intensely practical, to dream greatly and to do greatly, is not, says Agnes Savill, "given to many men; it is this combination which gives Alexander his place apart in history. Aristotle had taught him that man's highest good lay in right activity of mind and body both. [Alexander]...gives a strangely vivid impression of one whose body was his servant." He was trained by Aristotle in every branch of human learning, conquered much of Asia, and was one of the greatest leaders in the history of the world. He was unquestionably one of the most brilliant and commanding generals of all time. He greatly influenced the spread of Hellenism and is responsible for profound changes in the course of world development. Agnes Savill gives us a vivid account of the life, personality, failures, and accomplishments of one of history's largest characters.
DescriptionRobert E. Lee was a brilliant general, a complex soul, and a Southerner to the core. Tapped by Abraham Lincoln to lead the Union Army in the Civil War, his Virginian roots led him to command the Confederates instead. A charismatic though reluctant leader, his military audacity and tactical genius were combined with a genuine and sorrowful solicitude for his men, as ragged and outnumbered as they were by the end of the war. Roy Blount, Jr., one of America's canniest writers, goes beyond the haunted contradictions of Lee's character and legendary strategic prowess to explore Lee's quirky sense of humor, his illustrious but scandal-clouded ancestry, and his paradoxical humility. Every reader curious about the makeup of a man born to be a myth will love this audiobook.
DescriptionIn paying final tribute to his Third Army commander, General Eisenhower said: "He was one of those men born to be a soldier...whose gallantry and dramatic personality inspired all he commanded to great deeds of valor." This detailed and persuasive study by the author of The Patton Papers was described by Patton's daughter Ruth as "an extraordinary book". It is widely considered the best biography ever written of the General, an American hero as compelling as he was complex.
