And Quite A Story It Is
I've always liked Bob Dole. As Kansas senator, he seemed a little too honest for politics—which is to say that he knew what he was supposed to do, the rituals in which he was supposed to partake, but somehow he just couldn't bring himself to fake it. He cared about the process of legislation, about making the Senate function well, about minimizing the amount of puffery and claptrap in public life. That's one reason, I suppose, why he made such a lousy presidential candidate. When he thought something was bogus, he couldn't hide his feelings.
Now Dole has written a new book,
"One Soldier's Story," that tells of his Kansan childhood and his experience in wartime. From the
Times review of it, the story of what happened to him in World War II is horrifying and inspiring at the same time. Trying to rescue a wounded man while taking fire from German soldiers hidden inside a French farmhouse.... Dole still sounds terse and stoic about his heroism and his injuries. In a culture where Donald Trump is a modern-day hero, there's something admirable about that. I hope "A Soldier's Story" is a big hit.
