Jonathan Yardley, the book critic for the Washington Post (and a really good guy), wrote this review of Dole's new book.
ONE SOLDIER'S STORY
A Memoir
By Bob Dole
HarperCollins. 287 pp. $25.95
Bob Dole has spent the nearly nine years since his not entirely voluntary retirement from political office busily, even frantically, cashing in. What seemed like only minutes after his defeat by Bill Clinton in the 1996 presidential election, Dole rushed off in any direction where a dollar beckoned. He did so many commercials it was difficult to keep track: Visa, Target, Dunkin' Donuts, Pepsi, Air France and, most notoriously, Viagra. Never mind that at least some of his haul was donated to charity; the overall impression was of someone turning a public career into a springboard for private gain in ways that brought no credit to that career, or to the many Americans who placed their faith in Dole.
Now he's come forth with a book, the product of many ghostly hands. "One Soldier's Story" is an account of Dole's boyhood in Kansas during the 1920s and the Depression, his service in World War II, the terrible wounds he suffered in combat in the European war's final weeks and his long, hard, determined and courageous recovery. To say that it is a familiar story is understatement; during nearly half a century in politics, Dole and his acolytes told it over and over and over again, not so much ennobling Dole as trivializing a very human and very powerful story.
Precisely what is served by telling it once again in book form is difficult to determine. Certainly it is self-serving for Dole to thank his publisher "for recognizing that my story represents an entire generation of heroes who endured World War II, and for seeing the need to pass on a legacy to the next generation." In truth, Dole's story can be said to "represent" only the stories of soldiers who were traumatically wounded yet managed, through their own steadfastness and the selfless help of others, to achieve some measure of healing. Dole's phrasing, though, suggests that he is trying to climb aboard the highly lucrative "Greatest Generation" bandwagon, putting himself forth as its emblematic and heroic figure.
Continued at
http://tinyurl.com/6es87