The Other Side of Time: A Combat Surgeon In World War II [Paperback]

Phibbs (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Phibbs, now a retired Arizona cardiologist, used the "flaming tedium" and sleepless nights of WW II to record the events and impressions that comprise this engrossing, splendidly written memoir. He recounts a year spent as surgeon for a 3000-man combat command, which fought its way from Lorraine to the Bavarian Alps via newly liberated, typhus-ravaged Dachau. Both as participant and observer, his evocations of battles and the men who fought them and of the endless stream of wounded are extraordinarily vivid. He chronicles achievements, friendships and heroic acts along with terror, pain and the stupidity of bureaucracies of all kinds, treating with contempt comfort-loving chaplains, French collaborators and the arrogance of certain generals. Phibbs's compassion, appreciation of life and sense of humor make palatable the horrors he recreates.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Personal memoirs of U.S. Army medics are not common, and this one is among the best. These frank and highly anecdotal reminiscences of a cardiologist-surgeon who served with an armored division in the European theater tell relatively little of the history of the Army's Medical Service, but a great deal about the author. The effect is like listening to the war stories of a crusty yet still idealistic uncle whose idealism and anguish shine through his skepticism about the human animal. Recommended for general collections.Raymond L. Puffer, U.S. Air Force History Prog., Los Angeles
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Pocket (March 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067166574X
• ISBN-13: 978-0671665746
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,886,418 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shows you the heroism of the Greatest Generation, December 6, 2001

By 

W. H. Jamison, Jr. (Burien, Washington United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Other Side of Time: A Combat Surgeon In World War II (Paperback)

The Other Side of Time, is, along with Paul Fussell's Wartime, one of the best books ever written about World War II. Brendan Phibbs was a combat surgeon drafted into the Army in 1942 who saw service in Europe later in the war. The book is written from the diaries he kept at the time and re-read years later. Some of the passages in this book are incredibly beautiful, the first
story, about the burial of an ordinary soldier named Wally is
fantastic. The book pulls no punches, Phibbs talks about the anti-semitism of his fellow doctors, the incompetence of many US military officers, the evil of the Germans and the stupidity of our Department of State in repatriating Russian POWs and displaced persons back to Stalinist Russia after the war. These stories make it hard to read, you want to weep when you read about the indifference of American medical authorities to the suffering of death camp inmates and gnash your teeth at the incompetence of our officers who sent inferior American tanks into head to head battles with the superior German panzers, only to see them destroyed. But despite these stories the heroism of the soldiers that Phibbs served with shines through. I really wish that they would reprint this book, or that HBO would do a series based on it as they did on Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truth is stranger than fiction!, September 3, 2000

By 

David Hutton "occasional reviewer" (Bedford, NH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Other Side of Time: A Combat Surgeon In World War II (Paperback)

This book deserves the accolades all of the reviews to date have given it. It is simply a great book, and no review can do justice to Phibbs' story and the way he tells it. This is a different take on war, from a surgeon who was 'there' but not fighting, at the end, as the Allies raced across Europe to cross the Rhine and end the bloody mess. Phibbs was like a fly on the wall in the command tents, and the things this fly saw were truly amazing. A poignant and beautifully told memoir of the horror of it all.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read this book., February 13, 2000

By 

Terry A. Reeves (Scottsdale, Arizona, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Other Side of Time: A Combat Surgeon in World War II (Hardcover)

This book should be required reading for every human being on the planet. The author not only paints pictures with words, he makes you feel the emotion of the moment in your own heart. Wait until you read about the girl playing the piano and you will know what I mean.

Enough said.