Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Wow, just finished this book and have never been more disappointed in a book. Ever. Pre-ordered this months ago and eagerly awaited its arrival. Proser’s intro promises to provide insight as to why the American people have put their faith in Mattis. Unfortunately the author fails miserably in this task. The issues are too numerous to succinctly document, but here are a few of my biggest problems with the book. First, the book ends in 2004, there are three pages documenting his time as Secretary if Defense in the Epilogue, more than two pages of which are a transcript of a speech to West Point. Nothing about how he decided to take the job, decisions he’s made, anything. Also, zero discussion of his time as the Commander of Central Command. Second, there is very little primary research, no interviews with Mattis, Generals Joe Dunford and John Kelly, or any of the influential figures around him now. Proser quotes Bing West and Thomas Ricks extensively, just pick up their books instead. Finally, the factual errors are too numerous to overcome. Some errors were minor, like calling Mattis a Brigadier General in 2003 when he was a Major General. Some were blatantly wrong and noticeable for those with any military background or knowledge, such as saying C-17s were aboard the USS PELILIU to deliver light armored vehicles to Mattis’ forces in Afghanistan (C-17s cannot fly off of ships...period). Some were convoluted and inconceivably messy, such as saying that Major General Patraeus took over US forces in Iraq in 2004 as the Sunni Awakening was growing, the surge was happening, and US forces hunted and killed Uday and Qusay Hussein. Actually, Patraeus took over Multi-National Forces-Iraq in 2007. He was a full General at the time. Surge was also 2007. Sunni Awakening was 2006-7. Uday and Qusay were killed in 2003. Those errors were in just two paragraphs of writing! Secretary Mattis is a phenomenally interesting personality who will be the subject of a great biography. Unfortunately this is not that book. Please avoid, save yourself the $28 and buy almost anything else you can find about the Iraq War. Or really any other subject for that matter.