Book description
" With a foreword by Stephen Ambrose and a preface by Franklin
D. Anderson Forrest Pogue (1912-1996) was undoubtedly one of the
greatest World War II combat historians. Born and educated in
Kentucky, he is perhaps best known for his definitive four-volume
biography of General George C. Marshall. But, as Pogue's War makes
clear, he was also a pioneer in the development of oral history in the
twentieth century, as well as an impressive interviewer with an
ability to relate to people at all levels, from the private in the
trenches to the general carrying four stars. Pogue's War is drawn from
Forrest Pogue's handwritten pocket notebooks, carried with him
throughout the war, long regarded as unreadable because of his often
atrocious handwriting. Pogue himself began expanding the diaries a few
short years after the war, with the intent of eventual publication. At
last this work is being published. Supplemented with carefully
deciphered and transcribed selections from his diaries, the heart of
the book is straight from the field. Much of the material has never
before seen print. From D-Day to VE-Day, Pogue experienced and
documented combat on the front lines, describing action on Omaha
Beach, in the Huertgen Forest, and on other infamous fields of
conflict. He not only graphically -- yet also often poetically --
recounts the extreme circumstances of battle, but he also notes his
fellow soldiers' innermost thoughts, feelings, opinions, and attitudes
about the cruelty of war. As a trained historian, Pogue describes how
he went about his work and how the Army's history program functioned
in the European Theater of Operations. His entries from his time at
the history headquarters in Paris show the city in the early days
after the liberation in a unique light. Pogue's War has an immediacy
that much official history lacks, and is a remarkable addition to any
World War II bookshelf. Franklin D. Anderson, Forrest Pogue's nephew
by marriage, is a longtime educator. He lives in Princeton, Kentucky.
"Pogue's descriptions of life for the combat soldiers are
among the finest in military literature." -- Washington Post Book World
