Jim Proser

1st of all I love General Mattis. This book obviously wasn't written with his help. It's recycled stories and excerpts from various books by other authors, newspaper publications, military briefings, speeches, & second hand accounts by some people who served with Mattis. If you want real Mattis, read his own book "Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead" by Mattis & Bing West. Proser skips all around from 9/11 back to 2003 to 1991 and back to 2000, accounting for different battles and plans, it's confusing to follow. The books Proser took excerpts from (such as "One Bullet Away" by Fick, "Generation Kill" by Wright, "No True Glory" by West) are far better reads than this book.… (meer)

Okay, this wasn't a bad book, but as far as providing a readable biography of John Basilone, it just wasn't good.

I guess the biggest detraction was that is written in the first person, as though Basilone himself was telling, or had told his own story to others, even up to and including the assault on Iwo Jima. The authors spent a large amount of time delving into what Basilone was thinking about so many different aspects of his life and I wasn't sure if they were making it up or expanding greatly beyond what he may have spoken of himself to others.

The story jumps directly into the landing at Iwo Jima and then jumps back to his childhood. It goes back and forth several times, such that I was not sure if the story was a flash back or flash forward. After alternating a few times, it settled into a chronological stream of consciousness-type telling of his life, with much delving into his feelings.

I was just not impressed with the book. I began to skips parts paragraphs, especially when the authors were stringing us along too much talking about what he was thinking and feeling about things. I was often wondering "how did they know?" I almost put it down a time or two but managed to slog through to the end.

No maps and a few photos. Some were too small to easily distinguish what they were a picture of.

6/10 Okay for the bookshelf, won't encourage others to read.… (meer)

This was touted as a biography of the great general and Secretary of Defense James Mattis. And it was, to an extent. What I found most disappointing about the book was it really was a reenactment and descriptive action of the many battles and campaigns of the wars in the Middle East.

Proser touches very lightly on biographic material surrounding the general's upbringing and how he got to where he got. He spends an exorbitant amount of writing on the minute detail of the many battles and strategies linked to them.

Biographies generally delve into the very personal side and what makes these people tick. There is some of that here concerning General Mattis but it is mostly related to how he commands in the field. What is missing is what is going on away from the battle in how he conducted his life and his personal experiences. That is unfortunate because this man is certainly unique and deserving of the greatness bestowed upon him.… (meer)