Donald Smythe

2817 Guerrilla Warrior: The Early Life of John J. Pershing, by Donald Smythe (read 1 Jan 1996) This book does an adequate job telling of Pershing's life, but the author is not a great writer and the book seems kind of patched together. Pershing was at West Point 1882-1886, then in New Mexico and in South Dakota. In 1891 he was professor of military science at Nebraska U., where he did very well. Then he was in Montana, and in 1897 he was tactical officer at West Point, where he was considered a martinet and cordially hated. He was in Cuba for the Spanish-American War and had three tours of duty in the Philippines. His most famous time was in 1916, chasing Villa in Mexico--where he earned the fame that gave him the big chance. This was well worth reading and I am looking forward to the second volume.… (mehr)