Historical Figures - Fiction, War & Military Fiction, Historical Fiction

Born of War

Name: Born of War
Author: Thomas Taylor
ISBN: 9780070631922

by Thomas Taylor

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About the Author, Thomas Taylor

Thomas Taylor

The translator of this work, Thomas Taylor, is known for his authoritative translations of the Platonists; he was practically the sole source of Neo-Platonic thought in the transcendentalist movement of New England. Iamblichus' Life of Pythagoras was a constant source of inspiration to the transcendentalists and a major influence on their writings throughout the Nineteenth Century. Taylor's work was enthusiastically acclaimed by Emerson, who referred to the translator as "a Greek born out of his time, and dropped on the ridicule of a blind and frivolous age."

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The eccentric Maj. Gen. Orde Wingate, defiant of his British superiors, oddly dressed in a pith helmet and munching onions as if they were snacks, developed an impressive record as a champion of the underdog. A captain in Palestine in the 1930s, he helped Jewish settlers organize to protect themselves. Together with Emperor Haile Selassie, he marched into Addis Ababa to liberate Ethiopia from the Italians; while in Burma, he organized a guerrilla force that struck from the jungle to harass the Japanese. He was killed in mid-1944, when Britain began turning the tide against the Japanese in the Pacific theater. Taylor (A Piece of This Country) is clearly enamored of Wingate and has chosen to fictionalize his life in what he calls a docudrama, combining fiction with photos, maps and selections from actual diaries. These added details, however, don't make up for Taylor's exaggeration of Wingate's confrontations with his rivals in the British army, his poor dramatization of Wingate's travails or his mechanical dialogue. Wingate's story is still another fascinating account to emerge from World War II; Taylor's book is most interesting when he sticks to the narration of Wingate's campaigns. (March)

Library Journal

Orde Wingate was one of the most colorful and adored generals of World War II. He created and led a guerilla army that forced the Italians out of most of Ethiopia, and in Burma created a long-range penetration force to operate behind Japanese lines. He was greatly admired by Churchill, less so by his British army superiors. This biographical novel (or as Taylor describes it, ``docudrama'') covers Wingate's life from his 1930s exploits in Palestine to his death in Burma in 1944. It concentrates heavily on Wingate's mystical and religious beliefs and the psychological bases behind his distressingly high casualty rates. Good historical background in a variety of settings, and smoothly written, but too long.Edwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army TRALINET Ctr., Fort Monroe, Va.