The Past Has Another Pattern: Memoirs (Paperback)

by Ball W George (Author) "Autobiography," wrote Lord Vansittart, "would be easier had we all eccentric parents..." (more)
Key Phrases: new skipper, multilateral force, evaluation board, United States, State Department, Soviet Union (more...)

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc. (October 17, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393301427
• ISBN-13: 978-0393301427
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #686,189 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An fascinating epic, December 15, 2005

By	ct reader "logos.hfd" (ct) - See all my reviews

This is a lucid, firsthand account by an instrumental post WW2 player. His was a generation that dealt with how the world would be put back together after the most devastating war in history. His service includes questioning Nazi prisoners as part of the US Strategic Bombing Survey (with his friend JK Galbraith), encouraging the formation of the Common Market (Jean Monnet), and guidance in the most contentious periods of the Cold War.

The author's anecdotes are invaluable. An accomplished man, he recounts intimate views of luminaries in years of service matched only by his own admirable accomplishment. The latter included early principled opposition (and resignation) over the Vietnam War.

This memoir is a pleasure to read: the author is a genuine American hero.

4.0 out of 5 stars A voice in the wilderness, November 30, 2008

By	Calochortus "aroid" (San Luis Obispo, CA) - See all my reviews

I got this because George Ball was the only person in the Kennedy Administration with access to JFK to oppose involvement in Vietnam. No one listened of course, and that ignorant hawk, Walt Rostow, whom Ball calls an amateur tactitian, prevailed with JFK and especially with LBJ. The early life of Ball is interesting, though his account is fairly bland, and the parts leading up to Vietnam and JFK are a scrapbook of minor issues in US history, except for a few pages on Speer. Ball has none of the eloquence of George Kennan, but he sure was right about Vietnam; his descriptions of JFK and then LBJ are worth the price of the book. He seems to be a wonderfully sensible, intelligent man, with a sound grasp of both the big picture and myriad details. He has no use for John Foster Dulles, and thought Ike was sagacious to stay out of Asia. His portrait of LBJ is nuanced and brief, makes a fine addition to the file on that strange man.