Book Review - "Killing Patton"

BOOK REVIEW - “Killing Patton” – Bill O’Reilly & Martin Dugard - 353 pages – Henry Holt & Company - Reviewed by Jeb Ladouceur

This is the fourth book in the highly successful “Killing” series under the Bill O’Reilly banner … the other works detail the murders of Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and Jesus Christ. “Killing Patton” is the best of the exquisite quartet.

As one who considers O’Reilly of Fox News an interesting entertainer, and because I have been a frequent (if not constant) viewer of the man and his guests in the 8:00 PM weeknight time slot, I feel qualified to make a couple of observations.

First: The book does not sound as though it was written by the self-declared “Independent,” who is, in reality, a staunch Conservative. That is not to disparage his Conservatism … nor is it to say that Bill O’Reilly is a lesser writer than “Killing Patton’s” real author—his collaborator, Martin Dugard. It simply means that the overall tone of this particular work does not smack of the Fox News kingpin … the style is different. After years of watching O’Reilly’s taunts and tirades … innuendo and invective … and, yes, his wit and humor … it is a conclusion easily drawn.

Secondly: Bill O’Reilly is an openly vain man (a characteristic largely forgivable in wealthy entertainers whose fame is widespread). That probably accounts for the fact that he neglects publicly to credit Dugard with at least equal billing for the authorship of this remarkably well-researched, beautifully written memoir. O’Reilly shields himself from potential accusations of downplaying Mr. Dugard’s contribution to “Killing Patton” by calling him, “…the best researcher I have ever known,” thus assigning him a subservient … almost clerical role in the creation of this powerful book.

Circumstances surrounding the actual death of General George Patton are analyzed in perhaps a dozen pages of this handsome, well-illustrated volume, so the title, though plenty provocative, is misleading at best. Provocation, however, is appropriate to a volume emblazoned with the Bill O’Reilly name. Sensationalism peppered with controversy, after all, is what the man is all about. And the same (parenthetically) was true of Patton himself.

But that is not nearly the sum of this man whose place in history will always be entwined with the four men whose likenesses appear with his on “Killing Patton’s” cover. Along with Hitler, Stalin, Churchill, and FDR, the rough-and-ready commander of America’s Third Army was easily one of the most driven, headstrong personalities to emerge from the World War II era. Hitler feared him, Stalin despised him, Churchill envied him, and Franklin Roosevelt, though he admired Patton, ultimately distrusted him. But no one disregarded him.

Envied by the vacillating Englishman, field marshal Bernard Montgomery, and handled with kid gloves by his own boss, Dwight Eisenhower, Patton’s brusque style was not unlike that of the often profane Harry Truman … who, as an artillery commander, had actually fought beside Patton in World War I.

It was a fact of which the General was unaware when, after FDR’s death, he wrote critically in his diary that the new Commander-in Chief was “…intended neither [by] the party nor by the Lord to be president.” Patton would never have disparaged one of his former comrades in arms that way had he known of Truman’s service. It was not in the man’s DNA.

“Killing Patton” is filled with hundreds of such vignettes … indeed they adorn every page … as do details concerning the marital infidelities of Eisenhower, Roosevelt, and yes, Patton himself. Author Dugard’s interpretation of history seems to imply that such is but one of the inevitable costs of war.

In this valuable biographical memoir, young people unfamiliar with specifics surrounding the terms, “Battle of the Bulge” … “Auschwitz” … “Stalingrad” … and a thousand others, have an ideal opportunity to see them brought to life through the lens of a perceptive historian—Martin Dugard—a man who is far more than a top notch researcher. With Bill O’Reilly, he is the point man on a team worthy of their #1 position on the New York Times best-selling chart.

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Award-winning writer, Jeb Ladouceur is the author of nine novels, and his theater and book reviews appear in several major L.I. publications. In his newest thriller, HARVEST, an American military doctor is seized by a sinister gang of organ traffickers in The Balkans, and ordered to perform illegal surgeries.

Comments

[Cindi Sansone-Braff]

Jeb always amazes me with his book reviews.
He is fair in his evaluations, and yet he has the
courage to speak the truth. He is one of the best book
reviewers I have ever read.

Cindi Sansone-Braff

[.]

Jeb, I liked your review and agree totally that O'Reilly takes all the credit.
I thought the battle descriptions were extremely good.I felt I was there and was thankful that, at the time, I was too young.
I wasn't convinced that Patton was executed in a conspiracy but otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Hank Scheinberg

[Elise Pearlman]

Another one of Jeb Ladouceur's tantalizing reviews that just make you want to go out and get that book! Informative, insightful and so well-written. Bravo!!