Warriors

by: Max Hastings

Published by: Vintage

Reviewed by Jeff Foster

(A historical mystery biography)

Ever wonder how heroes are made? Max Hastings' new book Warriors offers you fifteen individual concise biographies of war heroes from the Napoleonic wars through the Yom Kippur War.

The fourteen men and one women included in this book are the personalities from which Hollywood has drawn hundreds of leading characters over the last seventy years. One man, Audie Murphy, did in fact play himself in the biographical portrayal of his experiences in the Second World War.

Hastings has compiled a list that not all historians may agree with, mostly in the fact that some notable unique personalities have been left out. Those that come to mind would be Charles "Chinese" Gordon of Khartoum fame, Confederate Cavalryman Nathan Bedford Forest and Sergeant Alvin C. York, but then with these men it would be just another historical biography.

In Warriors I was pleasantly surprised to meet characters I knew little about, and to have few resources to expand my knowledge. With few exceptions, Warriors tends to cover English and American heroes. The explanation for this is these people provided insight into their lives by leaving memoirs that provided insight into the events and personal experiences of each person.

I loved how the chapter is titled by the nickname each person acquired during their experiences. It creates a bit of mystery when you open the table of contents, and I will be honest, it enticed me to read the entire book. I was unaware that the subjects were "also know by" these names.

The stories are encapsulated versions of what could have been long drawn out and exceedingly dull biographies (which those of us that love the genre have come to expect). Each chapter provides well-detailed background on that person, where they were born, when they were enlisted and what they did to achieve the status many sought and some thought undeserved.

Hastings hits the highlights in such a way as to prompt continuous page turning. The chapters seem to be relatively the same length--perfect for a person to catch a good short read and be quite satisfied.

Armchair Interviews Says: The perfect book for the warrior, the Armchair warrior, that is.