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CD 's Reviews > Brute: The Life of Victor Krulak, U.S. Marine
Brute: The Life of Victor Krulak, U.S. Marine
by
by
A one star review of book about a three star United States Marine Corps General. They both should have had 4 stars.
The life of Brute Krulak is fascinating and his role in the making of the modern Marine Corps is unquestioned. His son became commandant of the same and that alone could be viewed as a monumental contribution.
Unfortunately the author produced a well written cross between a journalistic/biographical hit piece and hagiography. It is all over the place. The subject is tough but that's the role of the biographer in finishing a work of this type. The flaws are all the authors and a worthy topic for reading is damaged.
The book at times is nothing more than precise faint damning praise. Love him or hate him because he was just another REMF that did what they do to a generation of soldiers, Krulak deserves a lot better. That he cared for the Marines, his command, and was about getting the job done is never questioned. How he achieved much that he did is brought in to question by Coram in a particularly unpleasant way.
Coram takes pot shots at every one from Presidents of the US, to the average Marine as being an obsessed sadistic killer, to out and out accusing some of the finest journalist in history of making up stories and lying on one page, and then on the next kissing up to some other group of the same type of characters.
I wanted to give this book no stars, but that does not figure in to the overall calculations of rating so I gave it one to lower the rating. Yes, it is that poor of a work. Deceptive at best and out and out cruel and unneeded on average.
The list of references are probably the truest thing in the book though I wonder how accurately they were used by the author.
The life of Brute Krulak is fascinating and his role in the making of the modern Marine Corps is unquestioned. His son became commandant of the same and that alone could be viewed as a monumental contribution.
Unfortunately the author produced a well written cross between a journalistic/biographical hit piece and hagiography. It is all over the place. The subject is tough but that's the role of the biographer in finishing a work of this type. The flaws are all the authors and a worthy topic for reading is damaged.
The book at times is nothing more than precise faint damning praise. Love him or hate him because he was just another REMF that did what they do to a generation of soldiers, Krulak deserves a lot better. That he cared for the Marines, his command, and was about getting the job done is never questioned. How he achieved much that he did is brought in to question by Coram in a particularly unpleasant way.
Coram takes pot shots at every one from Presidents of the US, to the average Marine as being an obsessed sadistic killer, to out and out accusing some of the finest journalist in history of making up stories and lying on one page, and then on the next kissing up to some other group of the same type of characters.
I wanted to give this book no stars, but that does not figure in to the overall calculations of rating so I gave it one to lower the rating. Yes, it is that poor of a work. Deceptive at best and out and out cruel and unneeded on average.
The list of references are probably the truest thing in the book though I wonder how accurately they were used by the author.
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Reading Progress
March 6, 2011
– Shelved
May 28, 2011
–
Started Reading
June 3, 2011
–
Finished Reading
August 1, 2011
– Shelved as:
biography
August 1, 2011
– Shelved as:
millitary-history
