Killing Patton by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard was the only book in their “Killing Series” that I hadn’t read. I wanted to, especially when I saw that my husband purchased it shortly after it came out. But he mailed it off to his friend, Evangelist Tim Green, before I could get my hands on it. I finally broke down and borrowed the library’s copy.

It took me a while to get into this one. I don’t know much about warfare, which exposed a huge gap in my education. I know about certain battles, and the victors of those battles, but I don’t know much “battle lingo”, like names of weapons. (It took me half the book to figure out that a panzer was the name of a German tank.) I also discovered that I didn’t know much about the geography of Germany or the names of many Nazi leaders. But, the fact that I was ignorant was probably a good reason to read the book. I now feel more knowledgeable, and even more interested in WWII and the Battle of the Bulge, in particular.

The actual killing of Patton was only a few pages of the whole 368. There is a wealth of information on Eisenhower, Roosevelt, Churchill, Hitler (and those around him), and a few details on Truman, Marshall, Bradley, Montgomery and MacArthur. If anything, this book made me want to read a bio of Patton, and a few of the others.

There was a lot of information which was painful, if you’re a sympathetic reader. I could have done without some of the descriptions of battle injuries and the murders of Jews. Those pages ripped my heart out. However, I believe it was factual, and even though history is horrible, it is history, and should not be forgotten.

Please note that there is mention of romantic liaisons that you may not want a child to read about. But, if you want to know more about the Battle of the Bulge then this is the book for you! I believe I could use the book to recreate the battle in a diorama. If you’re interested in Patton or WWII, I think you’ll enjoy reading Killing Patton.

On a side note, I wonder if there will be a “Killing McKinley” or  a “Killing Garfield”?