Soldier: The Life of Colin Powell
by Karen DeYoung
Published by Vintage Books
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Reviewed by Laura V. Hilton
Colin L. Powell is probably one of the most admired men in recent American history. A military general and serving a tenure as U.S. Secretary of State, Powell also had a brief run for the White House which he bowed out from early due to threats made to his family.
Soldier takes you on a trip to Powell’s Bronx childhood days, as the child of Jamaican immigrants, and follows him as he grows up, enters the military, serving in Desert Storm, and then later serves as Secretary of Sate.
Ms. DeYoung is associate editor at The Washington Post, and this shows in the book. Written in a straightforward, report-the-news style, she introduces us to the man so many of us admired, without a lot of flowery prose. The bad thing is that the whole story is told to us, and as a mostly fiction reader, that mean that I was able to put the book down a lot. That is the only reason I’m giving it 4 stars (out of 5). Otherwise, it was excellently told, very well-written, and very informative, including pages and pages of notes so if you doubted anything the author said and cared to research it, you could find the author’s source with ease.
I learned a lot about Colin Powell that I didn’t know, and a lot about my country I didn’t know—for instance, there is a War College to study war, both how to fight and how to avoid.
The book is flattering to Powell, presenting him as a soldier, forever more, and is comprehensively researched.
Armchair Interviews says: Recommended as excellent biography for students of history and to learn about this much-admired man.