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Patton: A Genius for War. By Carlo D'Este. New York: Harper Collins, 1995. Maps. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. xiii, 978. $35.00.
Works about General George S. Patton, Jr., would fill a substantial bookshelf. In this most recent addition to the Patton literature, Carlo D'Este cites in his bibliography more than two dozen Patton biographies and battle studies. Adding something new and valuable to that body of work was a daunting challenge, one D'Este has met admirably.
Some years ago, Patton's brother-in-law, Fred Ayer, wrote a book about Patton with the wonderful title Before the Colors Fade. D'Este has now given us a work in which those colors are vibrantly brought back to life, made perhaps even more vivid by the richness of detail contained in his lengthy manuscript. Some colors are brilliant, some gaudy, some even muted, and D'Este includes them all.
The result is a biography in which Patton is...