Montgomery: A Biography

by Alan Moorehead

A biography. With photographies, illustrations and a map . 8vo pp. 256 Rilegato tela, sovracoperta (cloth, dust jacket) Firma di appartenenza all'occhiello (Owner's name on the half-title). Copertina con mancanze (Lacks to cover) Molto buono (Very Good)

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History

262 pages, Hardcover

First published December 31, 1967

About the author

Alan Moorehead was lionised as the literary man of action: the most celebrated war correspondent of World War II; author of award winning books; star travel writer of The New Yorker; pioneer publicist of wildlife conservation. At the height of his success, his writing suddenly stopped and when, 17 years later, his death was announced, he seemed a heroic figure from the past. His fame as a writer gave him the friendship of Ernest Hemingway, George Bernard Shaw and Field Marshall Montgomery and the courtship and marriage of his beautiful wife Lucy Milner.

After 1945, he turned to writing books, including Eclipse, Gallipoli (for which he won the Duff Cooper Prize), The White Nile, The Blue Nile, and finally, A Late Education. He was awarded an OBE in 1946, and died in 1983.

Reviews

[Robin Braysher · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cracking, short, single volume account of Montgomery's life up to 1958, by the Australian journalist, Alan Moorehead, who actually got to see the man and witness his battles. It gives you a good sense of the man and the controversies that surrounded him but, notwithstanding his abrasive and opinionated personality, he gets my vote!

[Sysrq210 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I own a rare copy. I love it.

[David Highton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A contemporaneous biography published in 1946 by a war correspondent who shadowed Monty through much of 1942-45

[Erik Empson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Moorehead’s Montgomery is resolute, decisive, fastidious, contemplative, pious, fair but superior, hard but caring, uncompromising, judicious, ruthless. His military method is to boost morale, and make the enemy sing one’s own song.
There could have been more about the various battles in this book, but Moorehead focuses more on how his personality intersects with those around him. He was untreated unfairly by the American generals, although Patton is barely mentioned at all.
At times Montgomery’s arrogance is disagreeable but his successes speak for themselves.