Bob Dole served in the U.S. Senate for twenty-seven years and was the Republican Leader for twelve years. He was the Chairman of the Republican National Committee under the Presidency of Richard Nixon, the 1976 Republican nominee for Vice President with Gerald Ford, and the 1996 Republican nominee for President. He was also the Chairman of the National World War II Memorial.
In April 1945, three weeks before Germany surrendered in World War II, 21-year-old Lt. Robert Dole suffered near-fatal wounds to his shoulder and spinal cord from German machine-gun fire as he tried to pull his radioman to safety. In this often moving book, based on the 300 letters Dole exchanged with his family, he tells the story of his three-year ordeal to relearn how to walk and use his arms. In addition, he describes his childhood in Russell, KS, and his years as a three-sport athlete at Kansas University. While being treated at Percy Jones Army Medical Hospital in Michigan, he began lifelong friendships with fellow war heroes Phillip Hart and Daniel Inouye, who would become fellow senators as well. Dole largely attributes his remarkable recovery, which included two near-death infections and nine operations, to his faith, the values instilled by his parents, and his sense of humor. He concludes with his poignant tribute to the World War II generation at the 2004 dedication of the World War II Memorial in Washington, DC. Writing without the anger about inferior medical care for veterans that distinguishes Ron Kovic's Vietnam memoir, Born on the Fourth of July, Dole has produced a journal of hope and recovery that will resonate with its readers. Highly recommended for public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 12/04.]-Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
This affecting memoir chronicles the Republican senator's arduous coming of age through the early 1950s. After a poor but for him idyllic childhood in Russell, Kans., Dole arrived at college and then the army during World War II a sunny, callow young man; his letters home-many reprinted here-are preoccupied with Mom's cooking, college sports and fraternity hijinks. The story darkens and deepens when he is sent to Italy and, near the end of the war, gravely wounded by a German shell blast that leaves him all but paralyzed with spinal cord damage and a maimed shoulder. The bulk of the book is taken up with Dole's agonizing three-year convalescence. His restrained but poignant account details his painfully slow struggle to regain the use of his legs and arms, the strain put on his family by his physical helplessness and his reluctant coming to terms with the ruin of his once handsome and athletic body. The book is very much a political autobiography, full of tributes to faith, family and hard work, but the harrowing experiences that put these ideals to the test elevate Dole's memoir above mere boilerplate. Photos. (Apr. 12) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
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