Talk:William Manchester

Untitled

Why would Manchester expect to serve in Europe if he joined the Marines? AaronCBurke 23:47, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

Because the Marines had been among the first US troops to fight in Europe in WWI. Among those WWI Marines was Manchester's father, who was badly wounded (so badly, according to Manchester, that the wounds contributed to his father's premature death long after the war). As it happened, US Marines fought only in the Pacific in WWII, but Manchester would have had no way of knowing that at the time.

Well actually there were a bunch of marine Oss operatives that droped into france, that were quickly captured 27th infantry

This obit, from Wesleyan University, with which Manchester was associated, would seem to contradict the last paragraph of the narrative portion of the article. According to the obit, "Manchester... died... less than two weeks after his publisher announced that an agreement had been reached to help him finish the final volume in his biography of Winston Churchill: The Last Lion, Volume III." -- Jmabel 16:56, Jun 10, 2004 (UTC)

You should note this phrase from the article linked above: Joseph Lynch, Manchester's attorney for many years, said Tuesday that the historian’s death is not expected to interfere with completion of the book. Obviously we're gonna see volume III! --85.74.191.117 7 July 2005 16:15 (UTC)

This NYT article, demonstrates the complexity of the issue. While Manchester agreed to his friend Mr. Paul F.Reid finishing the book, it is absolutely clear that he lacked the capacity to complete the third volume himself, and he announced as much. The most heartbreaking quote from the article: "My wife is gone, and I can no longer write," Mr. Manchester said. "If I believed in the power of prayer, I would pray every day that he carry me away." Infosquawk 3/2/2005.

Internal inconsistency

The publishing date of 'Death of a President' is listed as both 1965 and 1967.

Guadalcanal

The entry states this: "Manchester uses some personal anecdotes from his service on Okinawa in his descriptions of battles on Guadalcanal and Saipan...However, without this additional reading at the end of his memoir, to honor those he loved, many would mistakenly believe that Manchester served in three different campaigns."

While I don't have a copy of Goodbye Darkness in front of me, I'm fairly certain that Manchester did serve on Guadalcanal. He states this explicitly in the book, I believe, saying that he served toward the tail end of the campaign. Thus, it is perhaps misleading to keep the passage above in the way it is written. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Isoruku (talk • contribs) 17:26, 3 February 2013 (UTC)

He says he was present on Guadalcanal, but from references throughout the book it's after the battle, when it was used for training. The end note clearly states that his first experience in the combat zone was in 1945 on Okinawa, where he served for two months. While his statement about being on Guadalcanal is true as far as it goes, the frequent use of the word "we" and his anecdotes about digging foxholes there, as well as an odd statement that he wasn't on the Goettege Patrol (of course he wasn't, he was Stateside at the time) can be very confusing when it comes to sorting out his personal experiences in the war. It's worth mentioning the length of his service, as (judging by the Amazon reviews) many people are baffled by his record and unsure of when he actually saw combat. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 221.201.49.33 (talk) 02:29, 15 July 2013 (UTC)

He explains himself fairly clearly in "Goodbye Darkness" - "Although I spent seven months on Guadalcanal, I arrived after the Japanese hegira and saw no fighting there." Manchester's personal anecdote of combat in the chapter on Guadalcanal makes it clear that they were on "on the open ground below Yaetake" (page 199) - which is a mountain on Motobu, Okinawa. Manchester states in the end "Author's note" that he is drawing "on that bank of experience for flash-forwards ... introducing each episode at a point where it seems fitting." (page 398). Manchester does the same in the chapter "Les Braves Gens", on Tarawa, which he illustrates by beginning "my seawall was on Oroku" (page 232). Fiachra10003 (talk) 21:06, 4 March 2016 (UTC)

William Manchester was an enlisted marine in the 29th Marine Regiment. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/29th_Marine_Regiment_(United_States) . That regiment was brought to full strength on Guadalcanal in September 1944 and was assigned to the 6th Marine Division. See Manchester's dedication to the 29th Marines in the front of American Caesar. --SSW9389 (talk) 18:31, 26 February 2020 (UTC)

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Criticism?

In the opinion of this hopefully anonymous editor he is a terrible author. Goodbye Darkness is full of purple prose and humblebrags about how smart he is, how famous he is, and how big his genitalia is. I don't mean that euphemistically, he says one of his nicknames was tripod. It is inconceivable that his work was not criticized by his peers but other than mentioning a falling out with the Kennedys there isn't anything about a critical response to his work.74.96.220.27 (talk) 18:20, 16 August 2018 (UTC)

It might be that few read his book at the time of its release, allowing it to fly under the radar and be overshadowed by his other exploits- what is known about its sales or reception? It could very well be a case of fortunate timing for him.

After some time has accrued, people looking back on his output or exploits just see that he'd once written a WW2 memoir/novel, and since nobody cared about it at the time, it postfacto becomes something people care about without having read it because they have regard for something else he wrote or something else he'd done afterward. It becomes a feather in his cap - at that point nobody stops to observe the lone feather.

It's possible the intended audience for the entire book is other PTO veterans - whether to brag or to commiserate, perhaps that kind of stuff landed better with them. At any rate, excerpts from the book are insightful - particularly his time on Okinawa. It'd be nice if ANY of it actually happened but if not, I'll still commend him for trying to broach the concept of the "combat jack" to a civilian public of the 1980's. I think he got a little too influenced by "Dispatches."

I treat Goodbye, Darkness like the Naked and the Dead - trim all the fat, save the good bits, and move on. 73.194.204.218 (talk) 08:15, 3 February 2024 (UTC)