No Greater Valor - By Jerome Corsi

No Greater Valor:  The Siege of Bastogne And the Miracle That Sealed Allied Victory by Jerome Corsi deals with the surprise attack by Nazi forces against the Americans in Belgium that hinged upon the capturing/holding the town of Bastogne.  It is a very detailed account, almost too detailed for my taste, for instance, there are intricate accounts of the weapons used, what kinds they were, how many…etc.  Which just didn't capture my interest, but it makes absolute sense to have that type of info in a book about war.  And many probably prefer such attention to detail.  There are many maps in the book as well, illustrating what was happening, and many photographs from that time too. 

The thing I really didn’t like about this book was that, though trying to have a Christian aspect to it, it didn't really succeed in anything but showing that many of the allied forces were theists.  One of the main persons focused upon is a Catholic Priest rather than a protestant pastor.  I found the parts that dealt with him and his actions during the war, though obviously meant to be inspiring, were actually quite disheartening because the man was not teaching or promoting the Gospel of Christ but rather a works based salvation which will not save.  Corsi also tries to demonstrate that Patton was a devout Christian, but I didn't get that impression from all of Corsi's arguments, rather it seemed that Patton viewed God as more of a tool to be utilized rather than a God to be worshiped because He is what life is all about.  I just didn't get the idea that Patton was a very godly man.  Also, as this book was published by Thomas Nelson and supposed to be from a more Christian perspective(and is in Christian bookstores), I was quite shocked that there is a quotation with Christ's name being taken in vain while swear words are cut out and replaced with: [expletive].  Why didn't they take out the vain reference to Christ's name and put: [blasphemy] instead?  I mean, I find Christ's name being taken in vain more offensive than references to Hell, especially as it goes against the third commandment.  

Anyway, the book seemed to be written with more of a theistic perspective than a Christian one.  But again, if you like detailed books about war/battles, you'd probably like this one. There are a lot of references to other books about the siege of Bastogne and personal accounts of various people who were involved, so if you just want more of the history, overview/summary, this would probably be a good one to get.  I just wasn't thrilled personally.

I received a free review copy of this book from the Booklook blogger program in exchange for my review which did not have to be favorable.