Total Page : 272
Publisher : Wiley
Publication Date : 2010 01 07
>> Disappointing book
The author spends more time finding fault with and comparing other source material than telling the story of this marine hero Rather than clarifying the author merely confuses The story he tells could have been half as long and to the point
>> Enlightening new look at a forgotten hero
Mr Brady s Hero of the Pacific sheds some well deserved light upon a Marine hero John Basilone for those of us who might never heard of his actions in WWII It was great to read about Basilone s life prior to WWII in small town America floundering in life until he committed to military service While reading Hero I couldn t help feel like I was a kid again hanging out with my grandfather at my local American Legion/VFW listening in on their tales of life prior to The War and their time in service Those stories like Basilone s prior two biographies in hindsight were undoubtedly embellished by family and comrades in arms People s stories of friends and loved ones who ve passed tend to do this In Basilone s case as with countless combat vets his heroism truly didn t need embellishment I was happily surprised that Mr Brady took a critical look albeit sometimes petty at the previous biographies and the government s desire to create super heroes and not being content with just regular everyday heroes like Basilone
A few of the other reviews have accused Mr Brady of shoddy writing in this book because of his critical tone of the two prior biographies helmed by Basilone s sister and nephew but I found this to be a logical approach and not done with any intended spite Gunny Basilone wasn t exactly a prolific writer thus any Basilone biographer is heavily reliant upon the prior entries as well as other Basilone family members and acquaintances Brady s biography wasn t flawless but I feel that it does a good job at trying to separate the man and the myth of a long gone American hero Manila John Basilone
>> John Basilone spelled H E R O
I generally liked the book My one criticism is why the author found it necessary to rebuke the stories of other authors Basilone s family members I think when he himself was drawing on second hand or hearsay information he should have avoided criticizing their stories What happened to literary license
I think the fact that Brady was a former marine he could not resist by his criticism the fact that he knew firsthand what the average reader or authors didn t know about the subject of military tactics Ex Basilone was a machine gunner he would not have carried or used hand grenades on Iwo
I did not have to read the book or any other book about GY Sgt John Basilone to see him as a hero I kept on asking myself why would a marine who had proven himself and awarded the nation s highest medal want to go back into battle when didn t have to What did he have to prove I say it was that he truly loved his country and his fellow marines
