Warriors: Portraits from the Battlefield | Max Hastings

Warriors: Portraits from the Battlefield | Max Hastings | A Study of the Warrior Psyche

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Warriors: Portrait...

	Warriors: Portraits from the Battlefield Max Hastings Vintage, 2007 - 400 pages average customer review:based on 15 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Heroism in battle has been celebrated throughout history, yet it is one of the least understood virtues. What makes some men and women perform extraordinary deeds on the battlefield? What makes them risk their lives in the pursuit of victory?

Max Hastings, one of our foremost military historians, has seen combat up close and written about it for decades. In Warriors, he brings us the experiences of fourteen soldiers who fought in the wars of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. From an exuberant cavalry officer in Napoleon?s army to an abused orphan who in World War II became America?s youngest general since Custer, to an Israeli officer who recovered from a devastating injury to save his country, each portrait depicts a unique and remarkable story. A tribute to soldierly valor and a deeply insightful study of combat, this is an essential book for anyone who wishes to understand what it means to be at war.

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Fascinating

(A historical mystery biography)

Ever wonder how heroes are made? Max Hastings' new book Warriors offers you fifteen individual concise biographies of war heroes from the Napoleonic wars through the Yom Kippur War.

The fourteen men and one women included in this book are the personalities from which Hollywood has drawn hundreds of leading characters over the last seventy years. One man, Audie Murphy, did in fact play himself in the biographical portrayal of his experiences in the Second World War.

Hastings has compiled a list that not all historians may agree with, mostly in the fact that some notable unique personalities have been left out. Those that come to mind would be Charles "Chinese" Gordon of Khartoum fame, Confederate Cavalryman Nathan Bedford Forest and Sergeant Alvin C. York, but then with these men it would be just another historical biography.

In Warriors I was pleasantly surprised to meet characters I knew little about, and to have few resources to expand my knowledge. With few exceptions, Warriors tends to cover English and American heroes. The explanation for this is these people provided insight into their lives by leaving memoirs that provided insight into the events and personal experiences of each person.

I loved how the chapter is titled by the nickname each person acquired during their experiences. It creates a bit of mystery when you open the table of contents, and I will be honest, it enticed me to read the entire book. I was unaware that the subjects were "also know by" these names.

The stories are encapsulated versions of what could have been long drawn out and exceedingly dull biographies (which those of us that love the genre have come to expect). Each chapter provides well-detailed background on that person, where they were born, when they were enlisted and what they did to achieve the status many sought and some thought undeserved.

Hastings hits the highlights in such a way as to prompt continuous page turning. The chapters seem to be relatively the same length--perfect for a person to catch a good short read and be quite satisfied.

Armchair Interviews Says: The perfect book for the warrior, the Armchair warrior, that is.

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A Study of the Warrior Psyche

This is the first Max Hastings book I have read. I enjoyed his writing style, his British figures of speech, and his humor.

With time, war heroes grow into legends. Hastings, however, views war heroes with a journalist's detachment. He analyzes their weaknesses along with their strengths.

I definitely recommend the book.

brad

This is a great book by a great authoe. If you are interested in military history, this is a must!!!

Warriors

With his customary eloquence, Max Hastings prevents the unvarnished tales of war "heroes" from many countries over the past two centuries. A genius for creating a lively scene, he lends verve and striking detail to his narratives and does not spare us the warts of these sometimes deeply unpleasant and troubled individuals. An exciting and informative read.

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Worthwhile but erratic

I found myself alternately enthusing over this book and despairing of it. Perhaps the author's most telling observation is that in popular culture, Americans and Europeans are increasingly unable to distinguish between heroism and mere celebrity. In fact, some dictionaries actually define "hero" as someone who is well known. Hastings' heroes are all genuinely heroic, though (as he demonstrates) for varying reasons.

However....his chapter titled "The Killer" (about Edward Rickenbacker) contains so many egregious errors that there's no point cataloging them here. For unfathomable reasons, Hastings accepts a WW I psychologist's report that ace pilots were either "impulsives, paranoids, or psychopaths." Hastings further concludes, "It is fair to say few aces were sympathetic human beings."

I've known perhaps 200 aces from half a dozen countries, and my conclusions vary drastically from Hastings'. Clearly he has no acquaintance of the breed, which contains more than its share of egomaniacs, but that's a long-long way from psychopathic, unsatisfactory humans.

Hastings does well when he sticks to what he knows. Unfortunately, this book demonstrates that he knows nothing about aerial combat.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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