Devil Dog: The Amazing True Story of the Man Who Saved America (Pulp History) by David Talbot

Devil Dog: The Amazing True Story of the Man Who Saved America (Pulp History) Reviews

• 
  Bill

  Sharply written, vividly illustrated with newspaper clippings and occasionally NSFW comic pages and wearing it's opinion on it's sleeve, this is a beautiful little biography of one of America's forgotten heroes. Smedley Butler was a two-time Medal of Honor winner and Marine General who served in the Spanish American War, the Boxer Rebellion, the banana wars of the early 20th Century and finally World War I. After the war, he came to regret a lot of what he'd done:
  
  "I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class thug for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902–1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents"
  
  
• 
  Bill reilly

  Smedley Butler joined the Marines at sixteen and was first sent to Cuba at the end of that war. Next up was China where a coat button saved his life from a bullet near his heart. Teddy Roosevelt believed in expansion and traded barbs with Mark Twain. Of imperial adventures, Twain wryly observed, leaving her “soul full of meanness, her pocket full of boodle, and her mouth full of pious hypocrisies.” Nothing new as I write this in 2024.
  The rape of Peking was , in fact, exactly that, as American, French, British and Russian troop looted as much as they could carry and sexually assaulted Chinese girls along the way. Butler would never be the same after this experience. He dreamed of the River Styx and his death.
  The "banana wars" were next for Butler as he led troops to overthrow the governments of Nicaragua in order to hand over control to the Brown Brothers bankers, and now we have "General Raytheon,"Lloyd Austin, funding a genocide.
  In 1915, the New York Times insisted that American troops would bring peace and prosperity to Haiti but Butler saw through the PR bullshit. National City Bank of New York gained control of the lucrative imports export fees; same old, same old. After being awarded the Medal of Valor, Butler became the defacto president of the country. In 1921, Senate hearings revealed that an officer ordered prisoners to dig their own graves before shooting them and that girls as young as eight were raped by American Marines.
  After running a camp of 70,000 soldiers during WWI, Butler was promoted to general at the age of thirty-seven. In in 1924, he was appointed director of public safety in Philadelphia. Bootlegging was at level which astounded the man and after shaking one too many feathers of the wealthy, he was fired.
  In 1932, Butler was visited by men who claimed that they wished to save American democracy from FDR. They were backed by J.P. Morgan and the DuPont's, who had made millions on munitions, including funding Hitler in the 1930's. The cabal were intent on having the retired war hero lead a throng of fellow soldiers in a coup to overthrow the president. He exposed the plot and was largely ignored for his heroism. I will close with a paragraph from the book.
  After a lifetime of service to his country, he left behind an estate totaling $2,000, which shows why a man’s value can never be measured by his wealth.
• 
  Peggy

  Devil Dog is the opening salvo in a new series called “pulp history,” where author Talbot and illustrator Spain Rodriguez use a myriad of techiniques to tell the story of a forgotten historical figure, in this case Smedley Darlington Butler one of the most highly decorated Marines ever.
  
  It's a fascinating story, covering the Boxer Rebellion, wars in Nicaragua and Haiti and World War I. Butler was a gung-ho Marine, but he was also an intelligent man who questioned the reasons behind his assignments and later used his fame to assist returned veterans being shabbily treated by our government and even to foil a plot against the President.
  
  Great story, and an interesting format.
• 
  Walter Burton

  This the amazing story of Marine General Smedley Butler, a two time winner of the Medal of Hour who served in combat actions beginning with the Boxer Rebellion in China to World War I. His greatest contribution to his count however occurs long after he retires from the Marine Corp with plot to remove a standing president and set up fascist state in America.
  
  Don't let the book's format fool you, with graphics by Spain Rodriquez and side bar of short supporting material is is swell researched piece of work. I highly recommend it.
• 
  Fredrick Danysh

  Smedley Butler was a Marine Corps legend serving during the Spanish-American War, the Boxer Rebellion, the Banana Wars of Central America. and World War I in Europe. Following his retirement from the Corps, he became the head of the Philiphia Police Department. The author constantly confuses Marines and soldiers and the illustrator has included many drawings of nude or semi-nude women., otherwise this would be a good book for teens.
• 
  Bill

  The stranger-than-fiction story of Smedley Butler, a Quaker turned Marine--yes, really--who took on the military-industrial complex back when they were still called robber barons. I wish there were some evidence for some of the claims in this book--or better citations of the references used, anyway--but this is still a fascinating read. Illustrations by Spain "Trashman" Rodriguez, a first-generation underground cartoonist.
• 
  James

  "Devil Dog" is a sort of graphic novel and short biography of Smedley Butler, one of the most decorated US soldiers in history who came to question his service as not one of spreading freedom and democracy, but furthering the interests of ultra-rich megacorporations. Raised in an old money Quaker family in the Philadelphia region, he joined the Marines just in time to be shipped off to fight in the invasion of Cuba, the long war against Filipino independence fighters, and apart of the force sent to China to crush the Boxer Rebellion. 
  
  Butler quickly rose through the ranks and gained a reputation as someone who fought hard for the average soldier. As someone who identified with the regular soldier, he quickly found himself butting heads with people above him, and fairly quickly realized that extended into who he was fighting on the battlefields of the "Banana Wars", or the long series of US invasions to back corporate-friendly governments from Haiti, Nicaragua, Honduras, Panama, and Mexico. He saw himself as a thug sent by the government to back Standard Oil and United Fruit's interests more than anything else. Finally, he is deployed to the battlefields of Europe, where he cuts through bureaucratic tape to organize a well run camp for the rank and file American soldiers in France.
  In 1924, he took leave from the Marine Corps to take control of Philadelphia's police force in an effort to clean up crime that had riddled the streets after Prohibition. He only lasted 2 years on the job, because he quickly made enemies by launching major raids on the Union League club of the wealthy as well as working class speakeasies. He quickly realized the rich didn't expect Prohibition to apply to them, and openly flouted the law, so Butler more and more went after them as opposed to street hooch peddlers. As such, he was quickly fired after 2 tumultuous years and returned to his duties as a general in the Marine Corps, where he carried out a mission in China.
  
  In 1931, as he was gaining in popularity as the voice of the everyday person in the worsening depression, he caused a diplomatic incident when he accused Italian dictator Mussolini of casually running over a little girl while showing off Italy to an American journalist. The Italian government pressured President Hoover to court martial him, and he was arrested, though the court martial was quietly dropped after it turned out the charge was true. From here, he speaks to the Bonus Army before Douglas MacArthuer flattened their camp and more and more believed that corporate america was behind the destruction of democracies, at home and abroad. By 1935, he became the center of the Business Plot, which involved Prescott Bush, the Dupont family, JP Morgan, and a host of other big industrialists in a plot to mobilize veterans in an army that would overthrow President Roosevelt and set up a fascist dictatorship. He played along for a little while, but then exposed them to the press and Congress. Afterwards, he was the subject of a massive discrediting campaign by big media sources, and when he died in 1940 at age 58, his politics were scarcely mentioned and his war record was instead emphasized. 
  
  This is a fascinating read that mixes comics with narrative. The art is very good, though sometimes it is a little off in where it's placed from where the narrative is. Definitely worth a good primer on someone who went to the depths of hell for the American military and came out with the conclusion that it was all for imperial dollar might.
• 
  Rick

  Don't judge a book by its cover is truly applicable here. The true story of a great American hero and patriot that our school history books conveniently left out should be a must read for all Americans. Twice winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor, this USMC General saved American from itself during FDR's presidency.
• 
  Greg

  I get the idea of celebrating him heroically but I got a bit tired of that nearing the end. Thankfully the last chapter was just in the nick of time: the fascist plot to overthrow FDR by Wall Street using Smedley Butler as a popular war hero to March half a million veterans on Washington and do a fucking coup! Who knew!
• 
  C

  What an incredible tale, and all of it true, AND incredibly parallel to today. A nice quick read of what every American should know about our history in the last 100+ years. I never heard a hint of this in high school or college, got only hints of it from Soldier of Fortune articles longing for the "good ol' days" of American imperialism, and a quick blip on the Daily Show. If you don't want to read this fun blended media version, their are many more books about the plot against FDR and how the grandfathers of today's GOP were behind it. Rest in Peace, Smedley Darlington Butler. You truly deserve it.
• 
  Garrett

  The life of Marine Corps General Smedley D. Butler would be an impressive story wherever one found it, but this adaptation of his life somehow robs its characters of life and personality - you can't make the argument that this comicization makes the material more accessible for young readers, b/c nothing about this is intended for them. One wonders if Butler would have liked having a comic book about him, and whether, ultimately, this works. I enjoyed it, but...something's missing or wrong with this particular volume.
• 
  Matthew

  Fascinating history in a great format (part DK Eyewitness, part graphic novel, part Men's Adventure novel). Textbook publishers who are destroying a whole generation's love of history could take a page (or better a chapter)from Pulp History!
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  Michael

  Interesting "fun and quick" read. A pulp history that brings to light the actions of Smedley Butler, the most decorated Marine in history, his actions while in the Corps, as police chief in Philadelphia, and his part in keeping democracy honest during the time of FDR. Not a heavy read.
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  Lenny

  Amazing story of the life of Marine Corps General Smedley Butler and what he did for his country. Fighting battles across seas and at home. Exposing a plot to overthrow the president.
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  Jeremy Bingham

  The Corps needs more officers like this.