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Rating: 
Summary: A Real American Hero...
Review: Anyone who is a Patton fan; please start from the beginning. I think that it is terribly important to understand the history behind what made the man who he was. WWII was the medium in which Patton manifested the gernerally known "Patton" ... the result of all life experience leading up to that one period in history. There is much more revealed in this first volume that one can learn and I highly recommend it. It is a great read, at times funny, others very graphic, it will make you feel as if you knew the man and were a part of the history. In fact, I liked it so much (the paperback), I located a set of Houghton Mifflin, FIRST PRINTING, Patton Papers in mint condition for my collection. They read wonderfully, unlike the poor HB reprints. One must pay a small fortune though.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing insight into a very complex man
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Worth waiting for
Review: For anyone interested in Patton, whether as military leader or fascinating character study, Blumenson's work is a gold mine.
As might be expected, some of the elements of the famous personality are visible from the earliest days: the perfectionism and capacity for unstinting labor, the startling arrogance and brutal political opinions, (more Caesarian than American); the uncanny sense of destiny; the unrivalled expertise. The calculated bluster and profanity, the cultivated "war face", and other actorish features of the public persona are less apparent, simply because they were less likely to be committed to paper. (Patton often seemed to be writing for posterity, even in family letters.)
Patton's own words and Blumenson's expert annotation and editing clearly reveal a man dedicated to his profession, and determined to succeed; by hard-earned skill and knowledge, but also by shameless politicking and worldclass brownnosing.
Patton's 1940-45 papers are available from Da Capo in a companion work.
(The "score" rating is an unfortunately ineradicable feature of the page. This reviewer does not "score" books.)
Rating:
Summary: Poor Quality Edition of a GREAT BOOK
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Preferring Patton's UNcesured Papers
Review: It has material SELECTED in order that we, the future students of history,not have a clue as to what really happened during that historical period. The "Selectivity"just accidently left out the period 1940-45. Can't let that information get out! Others may begin suspecting censureship elsewhere!
Rating:
Summary: Preferring Patton's UNcesured Papers
Review: It has material SELECTED in order that we, the future students of history,not have a clue as to what really happened during that historical period. The "Selectivity"just accidently left out the period 1940-45. Can't let that information get out! Others may begin suspecting censureship elsewhere!
Rating:
Summary: Volume I of the Greatest Work on Patton
Review: No other work comes close to "The Patton Papers." Serious students of war cannot let the opportunity to read "The Patton Papers" slip away.
Rating: 
Summary: Read BOTH volumes!
Review: Not a big history buff, but I had to read this for a class.
Very interesting! Blumenson actually served with Patton in the Third Army HQ in Europe and also in Korea. But don't stop at this volume - The Patton Papers 1940-1945 finishes Patton's unique story. These years weren't forgotten as another reviewer said, just in another book.
Rating:
Summary: Volume 2 of the Greatest Work on Patton
Review: 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.
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