Hans Schmidt's engaging writing style carries the reader along on the odyssey of a young life that repeatedly came close to being over almost before it began. It's a great pity that there are not more voices like his left today. Our search for historical perspective would be easier if there were.

People must not forget that we were "Allied" with the most brutal dictatorship the world has ever known, Communist Russia. The same Communist Russsia that we kept propt up for nearly 50 years after the war and spent billions of dollars defending against. Mr. Schmidt writes candidly with conviction and I believe honesty. His views may not be popular but they can be historically documented. Would Mr. Eisenhower have been hung at Nuremburg as a War Criminal for his treatment (Well Documented, but rarely published) of POW's? Mr. Schmidts comments on the sorry state of affairs in today's "Democratic" Germany should be alarming to every American who cherishes the First Amendment. A person can't question anything regarding the "Holocaust" and must assume that everything the Allies have written or stated about the Third Reich is absolutely true. If not..Go to Jail. He has first hand knowledge of this fact. This in itself should make people want to read the "Other" side of the story.

Many books have recently been written that confirm Allied attrocities against German Soldiers, armed and un-armed, especially elite Waffen-SS Soldiers. And yes, sadly, some of these Allied soldiers were Americans. So Mr. Schmidts story should not be discounted. Also numerous stories have been told by Ex-German Soldiers of how they surrendered willing, sometimes at great peril, to American or British forces just like Mr. Schmidt. They knew first hand of the attrocities committed by the Red Savages unleashed on Europe.
Mr. Schmidts book should be read by anyone with an open mind.

It's somewhat ironic that someone as plain-spoken and hard-headed as Old Gimlet Eye would have a book written about him by an intellectual like Dr. Schmidt, but it says a lot about the relevance of Butler, his life in the Marines and in politics.

The book displays how Butler served as both a Marine in endless campaigns for the United States, and how he later came, not to renounce the military or the Marines, but the use of US Military forces overseas as, what he believed them to be, tools of Big Business, and not serving in either the interest of the United States Constitution or its citizens.

This book lead me to Butler's own small book "War is a Racket," which was highly influential in my own opinions about use of military force outside our country's borders. Butler would never consider himself an intellectual, but he had heaps of common sense - a quality which is sometimes lacking from those with sky-high IQs. Marines are sworn to the duty of protecting the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic, and they take this duty to heart. Once Butler realized that some of his fighting may not have served this interest, he became a very politically charged and controversial figure and speaker. How the hell could the former Commandant of the United States Marine Corps declare himself against war? Well, he didn't go against war, but advocated the prudent use of our military strength in the defense of the homeland. Sometimes he went a little far in supporting his points, but his intentions - to look out for both our country and those who serve it - are admirable traits in any career politician or general (there's little difference between the two once someone picks up that first star).

The other things you'll pick up from this book are that Butler was one tough son-of-a-gun. He's one of the most fearless fighting men this country has ever had. I hope they kept some DNA from this guy so we can clone him enough times to fill the manpower requirements of at least one Marine Expeditionary Unit.

I get the feeling that the author admired Butler's political career more than his military one. But, he successfully shows how Butler's intellect benefits from civilian life. In Butler's own book he said that, as a military man, he didn't have the capacity to question the ethics or motivations of his missions overseas. This is true, as the military's communal, self-sufficient environment isn't good for expanding one's intellectual sphere. Anyway, this is a good book about an American legend.

-- JJ Timmins