Customer Reviews

At Belleau Wood

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These famous words uttered by a Marine Corps Major sum up the fighting spirit of the United States Marine Corps. And "At Belleau Wood" is a fabulous glimpse into the "Old Corps." Rarely does a book so technically sound, and painstakingly researched, captivate the reader so fully. Appropriate for both the "armchair general" and the military scholar. If you are interested in either the origins of our nations "Premier Fight Force," or in the brutal combat of the Great War, this book is for you.

Update: Robert Asprey died January 26, 2009. He left a major portion of his estate to New College of Florida. I knew him, wrote for and with him, and called him my mentor for over 35 years.

Robert Asprey has emerged as the consummate military historian. His recent works, which include War in the Shadows, The German High Command, and the two volumes on Napoleon, have brought him critical praise for their detail and keen insights into the minds of military professionals. To understand how Aprey arrived at where he now stands in the world of military historians, one must read this book, one of his earliers forays into writing. The budding historians would be well served by reading this book because it neatly folds details-analytical and precise-with sparse dramatization while giving the reader keen insights in the demeanor of the military mind at war. At Belleau Wood remains a masterful narrative and more importantly, the book has lost none of its relevance. Why? If the reader substitutes the situation in which the American Expeditionary Force found itself at Belleau Wood with the situation in which it now finds itself in Afghanistan, the relevance becomes all too clear: extended presence in an unfamiliar nation, stagnant combined-arms training, aviation limited by horrible weather conditions, and erstwhile allied support. The University of North Texas Press has done the military a great service by reprinting this book because the lessons learned can't come quickly enough as they gear up for a very, very, long war.

I listened to an unabridged recording of this book, and found it distant and uninvolving. Asprey seems to rely heavily on the official records rather than first-hand accounts. Indeed, the first-hand accounts are fairly few and far between. I was never tempted to quit listening; Asprey keeps things moving at a pretty quick pace. But he seems to assume that the reader knows what is going on in trench warfare and in actual combat. There was little of visceral, jarring descriptions of fighting to which we've become accustomed today, and which really drives home the horror and the fear of it. Asprey keeps things at a official-sounding, abstract level for most of the book.

The book was supposedly mailed on 5/12. It is now 6/16 and I have not received the book.What's the problem??? Where's my book!!!! Gerald Hein