ROMANCE

The Liberator: One World War II Soldier's 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau

by Alex Kershaw
Crown. Nov. 2012. c.448p. ISBN 9780307887993. $28. HIST
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Like many of his generation, Felix Sparks did not seek glory on the battlefield but dutifully accepted the responsibilities of being a soldier. Kershaw (The Longest Winter) details Sparks's service in the 157th Infantry Regiment of the 45th Division of the U.S. Army as he rose from second lieutenant to colonel in the European theater from Sicily to the liberation of German concentration camp Dachau. But Kershaw is not writing a biography so much as a regimental history, although Sparks's legacy deserves fuller attention. After the war, he served Colorado as a state supreme court justice and became a gun-control advocate. Kershaw could have gone on to use the war as a backdrop for how Sparks handled further challenges.
VERDICT As historical narratives, Rick Atkinson's The Day of Battle and Michael Hirsch's The Liberators offer better understanding of the Italian campaign and the liberation of the concentration camps, respectively, but general readers may consider this as well.
Reviewed by JS , Nov 15, 2012
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