Customer Reviews

Unrepentant Sinner: The Autobiography Of Col. Charles Askins

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Col. Askins is a man of a different era. His opinions on race, war, violence, and politics may offend you. If you can get past the anachronisms, you will find an exciting story of a man who embodies the ideal of the rugged American individualist. Askins is truly a "sinner" who never repents, even when he is confronted (in his later years) by a world with which he had no truck. He is also a very good writer who can spin a tale with great wit and insight. In an age when people conceal their unpleasant values and beliefs for the sake of remaining socially acceptable, Askins is a reminder that the law of the jungle remains intact.

There is a tendancy in reading this book to judge Charles Askins on the basis of current political and cultural standards. This, I believe is a mistake and also unfair. Askins grew up in South Texas in the shadow of the old west. Gunfights were still not uncommon and crime was dealt with in a different way.

Askins knowledge of guns, his skill in their use, and his experience in using them is something that you will not encounter in people of this era. His writing is not half-bad for a man of limited education and often quite colorful. The stories are fascinating.

For all of his liabilites, upon reading this book, one often feels the world would be a better (and safer) place if men like Mr. Askins were still around and it is often worrisome, in this world of political correctness, how this nation would fare in a war of major proportions with a populace that is indocrinated against guns and violence and where boys are made to behave like girls.

An interesting read. It is the memoir of a man of action from a time when we, as a nation and as individuals, were more certain of our character and the rightness of our cause.

For all of the author's complaining about editors, this book surely could have used one, or at the very least, a competent proofreader. The fact that Paladin Press published the book is an indicator of its less than professional literary quality as well as its rejection by mainstream publishers.

The prose is often Victorian and the vagaries of age and memory are obvious at times. There is some redundancy in the book and it has been accused of being self-serving. The accusations of the book as self-serving should be taken cautiously. The book is admittedly the author's recollections and contain his viewpoints on race, bureaucracy, hunting, guns, and people. His style is not in vogue with the current obsession with victim and oppression memoirs. Men like Charles Askins scare the panties off of the effeminate, effete intellectuals of the publishing world.

The amount of detailed information regarding caliber, rounds fired, names and relationships is astounding. Keep in mind that this memoir was written when Charley was in his seventies.

Charles Askins was the product of the early years of the twentieth century and the place in which he was raised. The standards by which men were measured in those times were quite different from the feminized version of masculinity now upon us. Charles Askins, in many ways, was representative of the western male from that bygone time.

Charley's father was an extraordinary man and seems to have failed in some ways to pass along some of his qualities to Charley. The relationship between father and son was one of friendship rather than parental. Charley suffered for it. He was egotistical, incapable of accepting criticism from anyone other than himself, and lacked discipline in some ways.

For all of the bravado in his book, especially about his military career, he was not a ground soldier. He was a staff weenie and seemed to exhibit an extraordinary disregard for military discipline. His observation that paratroopers were a cut above regular army troops was an accurate observation, but he himself was not a leader of elite combat troops.

His obvious racism towards blacks, Mexicans, Indians, Arabs and the Vietnamese is a product of experience with these groups but he had high praise for the Montagnards and the Nungs in Viet Nam His opinions of Muslims today would be interesting to hear.

He often presented conflicting views. He could not abide suffering in animals, and yet he was obsessed with killing them, often simply as a means of testing the effectiveness of a particular caliber. I found his allowing wounded animals to escape to be particularly offensive. His casual, and seemingly admiring recounting of the accomplishments of several African professional game hunters that had individually killed over one thousand rhinos and other animals was a disappointment.

With the exception of George Parker, he seemed to place his loyalty on money rather than on persons or employers. He was self-centered and he did not tolerate fools or laggards. He was frustrated with the incompetent morons that seem to make up a disproportionate amount of the bureaucrats running business, politics and the military. It is interesting to read that the same sort of idiots making laws and running things then were as corrupt and incompetent as they are now. In today's age of blame, victimization and moral relativism, he was a man of conviction.

I appreciated his willingness to admit to poor performance in the field or in making poor shots. He was devoted to guns, dogs, horses and hunting. He was a tough hombre in the field and probably would have been a buffalo hunter in an earlier time.

Charles Askins was not afraid of controversy, and he stood up for his beliefs. He was not the sort of man everyone would like, but was certainly worthy of respect. Our culture would be a bit rougher if we had more like him, and we would be stronger and certainly our moral compass would be more stable.

I would have enjoyed sitting and talking with Charles Askins. When crisis situations arise and the enemy is at the gate, I would rather have Charles Askins at my side than the hand wringing social do-gooders that so despise all men of action, but who also depend upon them to guard the night.

Col.Charles Askins was an excellant writer and his book was really fast paced. He was a very colorful person and I had the pleasure of meeting him and listening to some of his adventures. His life was full and he made the most of every moment until his death in March 1999.

Not great literature by any means, but not a bad read if you are interested in Askins. If the material contained within offends some of you that badly, perhaps you should just remember not to venture so far out from under you mother's skirt. Askins for all of his "issues" is represenative of an older age of American masculinity, before the average white male became as sissified as he is today. You have to honestly ask yourself, if trouble was on the horizon, would you rather have Askins at your side or some of the emasculated posters reviewing this book?

From the first page to the last, Askins spins a tale of a salty and sometimes distasteful life as a long ago Policeman and Soldier. The book is of special interest to shooters as it highlights Askins competetive background and his developements in the area's of handguns.

This is a great book. It was not written by a
contemperary. It was written by a member of a
generation that has passed on. If some of the
attitudes offend, keep in mind that Col Askins
was of a world that's foreign to the one we live
in today. And the world we inhabit today, will
be foreign to the world just one generation in the
future.

This book is a slice of history, a history that's
exciting and interesting. The pictures it brings
to mind are graphic and often humorous, and sometimes
tragic. It's almost always entertaining, and has
the honesty of a document that has not been sanitized
by political correctness. It's important to understand
how our antecedents felt, to widen our historical perspective.
The Colonel's attitudes were very much those of the
generation of my parents. I'm naturally curious to find
out why they had those kinds of prejudices, and also
curious to look at contemperary 'tudes to see what might
go by the wayside.

It's been years since I've read this book, but I keep it
on the bookshelf because it's one book I'll read again.

Charles Askins is nothing short of a legend. This book is about a guy who LOVED to hunt and LOVED to get into gunfights. The style in which this is written is like my Grand-dad (passed away) was telling a story. He uses idioms that only a grand-dad from a different era would use. Definitely politically incorrect with racial overtones, Askins was from a different time and the book gives a great glimpse into the mind of an American from the early 20th century. A facinating book, full of gunfights and great hunts. Once he was out hunting in Vietnam (before we had combat troops in country) and shot some Viet Cong with his hunting rifle. This guy was always looking for trouble and was good at finding it. I can't say enough good things about this book. If you get offended by racial epithets, then don't get this book. If you're a truly tolerant person, then check this out. It's a GREAT book!

Col. Askins tells it like it was. Great stories of his adventures around the world.

You don't come across an Askins book on accident. He is exactly what you expect and more. He knew what he was and made no apologies about it.