The Patton Papers

Blumenson lets Patton speak for himself though a huge number of personal letters, lectures, papers and other materials. You can watch the young Patton grow through trial (being held back after his first year at West Point), and triumph (his heroic actions in combat during WWI), into the famous fighting general of WWII. Don't let the long length of the book put you off. I found it to be absolutely absorbing. By the end of the book you feel that you know Patton, his family and his friends and that you have some idea of what made him who he was.Blumenson obviously has deep respect for Patton but he also does not shy away from Patton's serious flaws in character and behavior. Even before the well known incidents of WWII, some of the things Patton wrote, did and said were really mean, crude and / or embarrassing. He was an accomplished brown noser and jealous of his peers to the point of paranoia at times. Its all here to see.Of course, I also highly recommend the second half of the story in the Patton Papers 1940 - 1945 by the same author.

No other work comes close to "The Patton Papers." Serious students of war cannot let the opportunity to read "The Patton Papers" slip away.

Think you know about Patton? "The Patton Papers" provides insight into what Patton was and how he became what he did. No other book comes close.

I have the original 2 volume Scribners edition of this book that is why I gave it 5 stars.I bought this edition because it is a excellent book and I thought this would be a nice edition to own. This edition despite its price ... is very poor quality.The words are not clear on the page,the pictures are blurry at best, and there's no dust jacket just a hard cover with a dark faded picture on front and back,but the price is clearly marked on the upper left back cover... PLEASE DO NOT BUY THIS EDITION OF THE PATTON PAPERS YOU'LL BE DISAPOINTED.I did and I was.Instead buy the older Scribners volumes at a second hand book store or the Da Capo paperback edition which is also very good.