- Mass Market Paperback: 480 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc; Open market e. edition (31 Mar 1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0515090220
- ISBN-13: 978-0515090222
- Product Dimensions: 17.5 x 10.7 x 2.7 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 49,729 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Synopsis
Returning from the mine-laden fields of combat in the Far East, Paul T. Hanrahan is promoted to full colonel and assigned to command the U.S. Army Special Warfare School, where his men train for a new war on the beaches of Cuba. Reissue.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I have read most of the books by W.E.B. Griffin, he uses the acts of history and give you the reader a great series of books to enjoy.
I recommend them to you all.
I recommend them to you all.
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This is an old book and follows on the series The Brotherhood of War by W.E.B. Griffin. and is book 1v in the series.This volume deals with problems involving Cuba,. The inter-services politics surfaces throughout the book keep surfacing especially with the formation of the Army Aviation School; the Army Special Warfare School and the Green Berets. The major characters in the first three books are still to the forefront of the story including the irreverent Major Craig Lowell who seems to be in more scrapes than any other officer in the U.S. forces especially where females are concerned; general Bellman and his wife Marjorie who is the voice of reason. A very good read.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
17 reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
A Solid Mid-Series Book
6 Jun 2004
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Following a dozen major characters and twice that many supporting players through an eventful a quarter century is an impressive literary achievement. Griffin's "Brotherhood of War" series does just that: always competently, sometimes brilliantly. The flashes of brilliance are fewer and farther between in _The Colonels_ than they were in _The Lieutenants_ and _The Captains_, but they're definitely *there* in a way that they weren't in _The Majors_.
The action in _The Colonels_ takes place in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The central thread of the plot is the establishment of the Green Berets, and most of the book's best scenes revolve around the shaping of the Green Beret program. The book ends with the disastrous US-backed attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro by landing a force of Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs--an operation in which many of the characters play peripheral roles. Griffin keeps old plotlines in play, but also takes the time to service a number of characters who were in danger of slipping out of the story: notably Barbara Bellmon, Paul Jiggs, and Phil Parker IV.
Griffin's ear for soldiers' voices and his familiarity with military routine comes through in many individual scenes: several training exercises, an unauthorized visit to an aircraft graveyard, Mac Macmillan's chance encounter with a young lieutenant, and a running subplot about the Green Berets' distinctive headgear. The bureaucratic guerilla warfare that took up much of _The Majors_ is back, but it works better in _The Colonels_, perhaps because the outcome will affect the lives, not just the careers, of people we care about.
_The Colonels_ ultimately fails, however, to hit the same heights that _The Lieutentants_ and _The Captains_ reached. Part of the problem may be the time frame it covers. _The Lieutenants_ had the shift from WWII to the Cold War; _The Captains_ had Korea; _The Colonels_ has the Bay of Pigs, but not yet Vietnam. Especially when it strays from the "building the Green Berets" thread, it often feels like it's just marking time.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Understanding Viet Nam
3 Feb 2000
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I enjoyed all of Griffin's Brotherhood of War and Corps books; however, the first part of this one helped me to understand some of the build up to the Viet Nam conflict. I grew up during the pre-Viet Nam conflict era but wasn't old enough or interested enough at the time to pay attention to the causes. This book (along with Tom Dooley's [spelling?]) filled in a lot of the holes.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Creeping Toward War
29 May 2011
Format:Mass Market Paperback
The Colonels is the fourth in W.E.B. Griffin's series Brotherhood of War. it follows a group of colonels and other military personnel from December, 1958 until April 1961, the period during which the US military advisors were becoming more entrenched in Vietnam and the time when the famous Bay of Pigs debacle took place.
Griffin, who was a soldier has a degree of expertise regarding military matters and the ability to interest the reader in them through his plot and character development. While this is the fourth of the series, it can be read as a stand alone, because Griffin provides enough insight into the previous lives of the characters without clobbering the reader with facts and information from the other series books.
In The Colonels, one of the characters, Paul Hanrahan is running the training school for the Green Berets, another Craig Lowell is working on the development of rocket firing helicopters and a third, Sandy Lowell is a military advisor to the president. This is only a partial list of the characters in The Colonels and one of the drawbacks to Griffins style. He employs a large cast who are tied together through their back history and through the plot, but the story jumps quickly from one character and location to another. This style can be choppy and difficult for the reader to piece together. In the end, I found the story and characters intriguing enough to overcome the writing style.
I am planning on reading more of Griffin's Brotherhood of War series.
Griffin, who was a soldier has a degree of expertise regarding military matters and the ability to interest the reader in them through his plot and character development. While this is the fourth of the series, it can be read as a stand alone, because Griffin provides enough insight into the previous lives of the characters without clobbering the reader with facts and information from the other series books.
In The Colonels, one of the characters, Paul Hanrahan is running the training school for the Green Berets, another Craig Lowell is working on the development of rocket firing helicopters and a third, Sandy Lowell is a military advisor to the president. This is only a partial list of the characters in The Colonels and one of the drawbacks to Griffins style. He employs a large cast who are tied together through their back history and through the plot, but the story jumps quickly from one character and location to another. This style can be choppy and difficult for the reader to piece together. In the end, I found the story and characters intriguing enough to overcome the writing style.
I am planning on reading more of Griffin's Brotherhood of War series.
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