Patton's Madness: The Dark Side of a Battlefield Genius

Description

Dwight Eisenhower called General George S. Patton “mentally unbalanced” and “just like a time bomb,” and indeed, the egotistical, mercurial, aggressive Patton is perhaps as well known for his daring battlefield exploits as for his questionable behavior and eccentric beliefs. In a brief but probing assessment of Patton’s life based on strong research in primary sources and knowledge of psychology, Jim Sudmeier considers the mind of Patton: what made this military genius tick? To what extent was Patton’s boldness and brilliance as a general, his willingness to welcome risk and danger, connected to his unstable personality? Sudmeier presents a myth-shattering reconsideration of one of military history’s most famous commanders. Review Impressively comprehensive. . . . This portrait is neither a hagiography nor a hit job—the author does give Patton his due for all of his many virtues as a soldier, but he also punctures the mystique of invincibility that’s often seen in fawning biographies of the man. . . . A radical new biography that should interest historians, military strategists, and psychologists. , Kirkus About the Author Jim Sudmeier is a scientist and writer originally from Minneapolis. He holds degrees from Carleton College and Princeton University, has taught at UCLA and UC Riverside, has held a National Institutes of Health fellowship at Oxford, and for twenty-eight years before his retirement was senior lecturer at Tufts Medical School. In 2006, he won a first-place award at the Houston Film Festival for screenwriting Patton’s Secret Mission. Publisher: Stackpole Books (December 15, 2019)