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Rating: 
Summary: The war years and after
Review: Another well researched and fair evaluation of one of WWII's most notorious charcters. Otto Skorzeny once again had a certain amount of influence over the content, giving his last interview before his death from a war wound in 1976. The book provides an entertaining and intriguing perspective on the development of German special forces, as well as Skorzeny's own colourful personal life. Whilst Charles Foley's book 'Commando Extraordinary' goes into the German commando exploits of the war in far greater detail, this book reviews most of Skorzeny's postwar activites, a field previously not written about. Not only does it reveal several key examples of allied treachery and wrongdoing towards the end of the war years, but also a slightly lighter and poignant side to Skorzeny, demonstrating his loyalty to his country and comrades, not it's regime. Essential for anyone interested in the man himself, but not one to start with.
Rating: 
Summary: Terribly Written, Edited
Review: I'm really surprised that such a terribly written and edited book could make it past an editor or publisher and into print. Much of the information and history presented was interesting, I'll grant, but the prose are terrible, awkward and disjointed and I found myself getting angry at the author for his constant blunders. For instance, one is constantly forced to reread sentances to figure out who is saying what. I even found myself rearranging paragraphs in my head that seem presented in the wrong order or out of place. Whiting also seems as though he has never read any other history authors as he ignores standard conventions. A fan of WWII history and biographies is accustomed to certain standards in translations of certain words, phrases and the like. So, a given general in conversation with Hitler will of course have his sentance translated into english for the reader, but the author will leave the "..., mein Fuhrer" untranslated at the end. Whiting tediously ends the translations instead with phrasing such as "..., my Leader" or "The Leader", instead of the usual Der Fuhrer. However, he is inconsistant in almost every other way, using German or English ranks interchangeably; writing Gruppenfuhrer or major general for the same person at different places. Whiting also misses a great deal of the drama in his subject matter. A good author can take a few facts and subtly draw out some of the passions or motives of the people he's talking about. Whiting just states simple facts in a colorless way. He leaves interesting tidbits unexplored. He doesnt follow up some of his themes so we know what happens to interesting characters. I really should stop writing. I could go on and on. I would steer readers away from anything this author has written. This book reads like a long junior high school history essay; clunky and distracting. Horrible
Rating:
Summary: Terribly Written, Edited
Review: I'm really surprised that such a terribly written and edited book could make it past an editor or publisher and into print. Much of the information and history presented was interesting, I'll grant, but the prose are terrible, awkward and disjointed and I found myself getting angry at the author for his constant blunders. For instance, one is constantly forced to reread sentances to figure out who is saying what. I even found myself rearranging paragraphs in my head that seem presented in the wrong order or out of place. Whiting also seems as though he has never read any other history authors as he ignores standard conventions. A fan of WWII history and biographies is accustomed to certain standards in translations of certain words, phrases and the like. So, a given general in conversation with Hitler will of course have his sentance translated into english for the reader, but the author will leave the "..., mein Fuhrer" untranslated at the end. Whiting tediously ends the translations instead with phrasing such as "..., my Leader" or "The Leader", instead of the usual Der Fuhrer. However, he is inconsistant in almost every other way, using German or English ranks interchangeably; writing Gruppenfuhrer or major general for the same person at different places. Whiting also misses a great deal of the drama in his subject matter. A good author can take a few facts and subtly draw out some of the passions or motives of the people he's talking about. Whiting just states simple facts in a colorless way. He leaves interesting tidbits unexplored. He doesnt follow up some of his themes so we know what happens to interesting characters. I really should stop writing. I could go on and on. I would steer readers away from anything this author has written. This book reads like a long junior high school history essay; clunky and distracting. Horrible
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