The Generals [Hardcover]

W.E.B. Griffin (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: JOVE Books (1986)
• ASIN: B000RMUIUS
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,471,850 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

W.E.B. Griffin is the author of more than thirty epic novels in five series, all of which have been listed on The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly and other best-seller lists. More than forty million of his books are in print in more than ten languages, including Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese, and Hungarian. Mr. Griffin grew up in the suburbs of New York City and Philadelphia. He enlisted in the United States Army in 1946. After basic training, he received counter-intelligence training at Fort Holabird, Maryland. He was assigned to the Army of Occupation in Germany, and ultimately to the staff of then-Major General I.D. White, commander of the U.S. Constabulary. In 1951, Mr. Griffin was recalled to active duty for the Korean War, interrupting his education at Phillips University, Marburg an der Lahn, Germany. In Korea he earned the Combat Infantry Badge as a combat correspondent and later served as acting X Corps (Group) information officer under Lieutenant General White. On his release from active duty in 1953, Mr. Griffin was appointed Chief of the Publications Division of the U.S. Army Signal Aviation Test & Support Activity at Fort Rucker, Alabama. Mr. Griffin is a member of the Special Operations Association, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, the Army Aviation Association, and the Armor Association. He was the 1991 recipient of the Brigadier General Robert L. Dening Memorial Distinguished Service Award of the U.S. Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association, and the August 1999 recipient of the Veterans of Foreign Wars News Media Award, presented at the 100th National Convention in Kansas City. He has been vested into the Order of St. George of the U.S. Armor Association, and the Order of St. Andrew of the U.S. Army Aviation Association, and been awarded Honorary Doctoral degrees by Norwich University, the nation's first and oldest private military college, and by Troy State University (Ala.). He was the graduation dinner speaker for the class of 1988 at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He has been awarded honorary membership in the Special Forces Association; the Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association; the Marine Raiders Association; and the U.S. Army Otter & Caribou Association. He is the co-founder, with historian Colonel Carlo D'Este, of the William E. Colby Seminar on Intelligence, Military, and Diplomatic Affairs. Mr. Griffin's novels, known for their historical accuracy, have been praised by The Philadelphia Inquirer for their "fierce, stop-for-nothing scenes." "Nothing honors me more than a serviceman, veteran, or cop telling me he enjoys reading my books," Mr. Griffin says. Mr. Griffin divides his time between the Gulf Coast and Buenos Aires.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Why???, January 25, 2005

By 

R. Brzezinski - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Generals (Brotherhood of War, Book 6) (Paperback)

I am an unabashed W.E.B. Griffin fan, having read all of the Corps series as well as some of his other novels. I finally took the plunge a couple of months ago and bought the entire Brotherhood of War series. I am the first to admit that the themes Griffin tends to use are predictable--obscenely rich characters who manage to enjoy all of the finer things in life while still being "regular guys" to all of their comrades, officers who are grossly disrespected or mistreated by others in the military until they are "put in their place" by superiors, etc.--but I enjoy the books nonetheless. As another reviewed has alluded, they are probably more aptly described as historically-based soap operas than "war novels."

All that being said, I have in the past few months made a substantial investment of time in reading through the Brotherhood of War series, and was enjoying the journey. Reaching the end of "The Generals" yesterday was, however, one of the two or three most unsatisfactory, disappointing, and even depressing literary moments I have ever experienced.

To begin with, the book ends abruptly, with the briefest of epilogues that winds up the lives of all of the main characters in a paragraph or two. These are characters, mind you, that the reader has come to know intimately and love or hate over the last six books and 2,400-odd pages. To have the last ten or more years of their lives suddenly abridged into a few sentences is incredibly unacceptable.

Moreover, there are distressing conflicts that are left completely unresolved. Just before the final scenes in the book, which take place in Vietnam, the main character of the entire series is involved in a scandal that results in EVERY one of his closest friends essentially terminating their relationship with him. That conflict is never alluded to in the final scenes of the book, never addressed in the epilogue, and is simply left hanging in the air for the reader to guess at. I can analogize it to having a terminal spat with a best friend and then having that person die before there is any ability to reconciliation. It is extremely unfair for anyone who has pored over these books for weeks or months.

Last, this book--number six in the series of nine--is apparently the last book, chronologically. I say "apparently" because I am so darned mad about the ending that I have not read books 7 - 9. I have, however, skimmed them, and it is pretty clear from the dates in those books that they are actually PREQUELS to this book. What kind of a numbering system is that? Now that I've read the last book, chronologically speaking, in the series and know what happens to every character for the rest of their lives, whether they live or die, not to mention about the horrible unresolved conflict that this book ends with, why in the world would I want to go back and read about events that took place earlier in their lives?

This book should either be renumbered as the last in the series or labeled with a warning that the reader ought to consider reading books 7 - 9 before tackling it, and should also have the ending either rewritten in more detail or have another warning stating that the reader is likely to be left incredibly angry after turning the last page...

Did I mention that I am unhappy with this book?

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Abrupt ending is a real let-down, August 12, 2000

By 

"carolina_chemo" (North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Generals (Brotherhood of War, Book 6) (Paperback)

This book was a nice ride -- right up until the sudden ending. I enjoyed the book completely, but you get the impression at the end of the book that Mr. Griffin simply wanted to end the series.

The book ends with a multi-page epilogue that discusses what happens to the main players in later years (hint: the "New Breed" is a "prequel" to this book). I can't tell you how let down I was to see the series come to an abrupt end like this. I've really enjoyed the series and I'd looked forward to seeing players who'd become old friends move onto higher and higher levels of rank in the military.

Enjoy the book, but be prepared for the sudden end. It's like a cold splash in the face.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the best book in the series., June 22, 2007

By 

Keith Blodgett "Hawk" (Palm Bay, Florida USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Generals (Brotherhood of War, Book 6) (Paperback)

This book is the beginning of the disappointment in the Brotherhood of War series... In 'Part 1' which seems to have been written at a different time and mind set than 'Part 2' a senior officer demands to know why Colonel Lowell was not given a command position in the new Air Cavalry they've developed. He is apparently given one but that's ALL we get to hear on the subject except for in... 'Part 2' which feels altogether different from the first part. We hear a couple sentence rumor of Lowell's exploits in 'nam where he's supposedly insulted a superior and challenged him to court martial him. That's it. Lowell's service as a commander (something he's good at. Something we're told repeatedly throughout the story that's he's good at) is concluded in less than a paragraph and will now and forever be left a mystery. I sort of feel that by now in the series that Craig Lowell would have learned not to have affairs with married women seeing the trouble it's gotten him into in the past but this brilliant, intelligent, rich man once again is written into the stupidity of sleeping not only with a married woman but a fellow officer's wife. This foil got old several novels ago and it was disappointing to see it raised again as a plot device. We also finally see the return of Lowell's son who's in and out of the novel in a short time. He's grown up to be not a very nice person. The ending, as others have stated is abrupt, confusing and very disappointing. The mission in 'Part 2' is interesting (if not historically accurate) and well done but sadly kills off a long time character for no apparent reason. This book begins the decline of the series and should have been the last as it was planned to be. Worth reading but not as good as past novels in the series. Long time readers will be disappointed.