Customer Reviews

Heroes Never Die: Warriors and Warfare in World War II

5 star:		(0)
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3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Martin Blumenson's "Heroes Never Die" is a decent book, probably really quite good for a "newbie" to WWII history, but it will likely disappoint those more versed. This book is a compilation of essays Blumenson has written over a nearly 50 year period, most of which have been published before elsewhere (although not together). Blumenson's style is pretty good and he weaves a nice story, however he appears (from this book and the titles of his other books) to be very focused on limited topics of WWII. Now don't misread this comment, this is not all bad. Blumenson is certainly one of the world's expert biographers of G. Patton. But having said that much of "Heroes" is redundantly dedicated to Blumenson's personal favorites. When I say redundant here, this also should not be misunderstood - I do MEAN REDUNDANT! Redundant to the level of self-plagiarism. I read many passages, almost verbatim, at least three times sometimes more. Several chapters are dedicated to Patton but after the first two you read the rest provide little new, although 30-40 years separate the publishing of some. I can however say that despite the redundant nature of "Heroes" that there was enough "new" material here for me to walk away satisfied. Most of my WWII reads are centered between Berlin and the Channel and the Channel and Berlin, with a few stops in northern Africa. I had previously read little about the Italian campaigns, and this seems to be one of Blumenson's favored topics. Thus I was treated to ample new material (although again in a redundant fashion).

I gave "Heroes Never Die" three stars here but if it were slightly (even a few of the 40 plus chapters) less redundant in content it would have gotten 4. It's a solid, easily read book that I did enjoy. A bit pricey as a new book but certainly worth a used cost. If you're new to the genre this is a worthy book, even at full price.