PARATROOPER: The Life of Gen. James M. Gavin

The first comprehensive biography of James M. Gavin profiles the heroic general who led the famous 82nd Airborne Division during World War II and who later worked at the Pentagon and served as ambassador to France under President Kennedy. 20,000 first printing.

"Jumpin' Jim" Gavin (1909-1990) is best remembered as the intrepid commander of the 82nd Airborne Divison during WW II. In postwar years he served as Army deputy chief of staff until his retirement in 1959, then became an executive at the consulting firm, Arthur D. Little, and served as John F. Kennedy's ambassador to France. In this engaging, smoothly written biography of America's most famous paratrooper, the authors trace Gavin's early years in Pennsylvania coal country, where life in a foster home became so intolerable that he ran away, won an appointment to West Point and found his natural home in the United States Army. Much of the narrative concentrates on Gavin's wartime command in Sicily, Italy, France and Germany, and his rivalry with General Maxwell Taylor, commander of the 101st Airborne Division. Booth, a freelance writer, and Spencer, a columnist for the congressional newspaper Roll Call , draw on Gavin's unpublished autobiography for revealing comments about his two marriages and his affairs with journalist Martha Gellhorn and actress Marlene Dietrich. Photos.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A first-rate narrative take on the life and times of Lt. Gen. James Maurice Gavin, one of the US Army's few great WW II heroes to stand his last post without a full-dress biography or autobiography. Drawing mainly on their subject's personal papers (including an unpublished memoir), Booth and Spencer offer a sympathetic, albeit tough-minded, appraisal of a complex career officer whose combat record remains a legend in the American military. A foundling, Gavin was raised by foster parents in western Pennsylvania's coal country. Leaving his hardscrabble home as a teenager, he enlisted and soon earned an appointment to West Point. Graduating in 1929, Gavin was well prepared for senior command when the US entered WW II. A prot‚g‚ of Matthew Ridgeway, Gavin made an enduring name for himself as the 82nd Airborne Division's up-front leader in its nonstop campaigns on Europe's bloodiest killing grounds. The unhappily married paratrooper made love as well as war; his conquests included the high-profile likes of Marlene Dietrich and journalist Martha Gellhorn. When the guns fell silent, America's youngest general since Custer never quite regained his stride. With little prospect of earning a fourth star, let alone becoming Chief of Staff (owing to his vocal critiques of Pentagon policy), Gavin resigned from the Army in 1957 at the age of 50. Contentedly ensconced in a successful second marriage, the former soldier went on to head Arthur D. Little, a world-class consultancy whose revenues increased almost tenfold during his 20-year stewardship. Gavin (who gave JFK the idea for what became the Peace Corps) took time out to serve as US ambassador to France and otherwise kept active in public affairs, e.g., opposing LBJ's commitment of American forces in Vietnam. Stricken with Parkinson's disease, he died quietly in 1990. A balanced account of a storied fighting man's achievements on and off the battlefield. (16 pages of b&w photos--not seen) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

This excellent biography augments Gavin's own On to Berlin (1978) in making accessible one of the unsung but outstanding American soldiers of the century. An illegitimate child fostered in an abusive home in the Pennsylvania coal fields, Gavin gained appointment to West Point after enlisting in the army. He subsequently had a distinguished career with the 82d Airborne Division during World War II, eventually rising to its command. After the war, he rose further, to the rank of lieutenant general, before resigning in disagreement with the 1950s policy of massive retaliation. Thereafter, he served as JFK's ambassador to France and under Johnson as a military critic of the war in Vietnam. The clearly written, thoroughly researched book admirably presents a man of both moral and physical courage, high intelligence, and great charm. A superior addition to the military biography shelf. Roland Green

Historian Booth and journalist Spencer have written a thought-provoking biography of an often unsung, though brilliant and tormented figure. Gavin, who died in 1990, was the youngest U.S. general since Custer; his name is inextricably linked with one of the most formidable fighting forces in 20th-century military history, the 82nd Airborne Division. Gavin developed and led airborne forces during World War II, served in the postwar Pentagon as well as in private industry, and was an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War. A fruitless search for an Irish mother who gave him up for adoption led Gavin to idolize women ("they are my solace"), resulting in two marriages and many affairs--the most famous with Marlene Dietrich. The many exciting vignettes of combat in Europe and of the deadly new talents of the paratrooper add to the book's appeal. Recommended for public libraries.
- Thomas G. Anton, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.