De Bruhl, Marshall 1935- (A. Marshall De Bruhl)

PERSONAL:

Born November 3, 1935, in Woodfin, NC; son of Arthur Marvin and Janie Myra De Bruhl. Education: Duke University, A.B., 1958.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Ashville, NC. E-mail—dres1945@aol.com.

CAREER:

University of Pennsylvania Press, editor, 1963-64; Crowell-Collier Macmillan, member of editorial staff, 1964-67; Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, NY, editor, 1967-85; Anchor Press, New York, NY, executive editor, 1986-88; HarperCollins, New York, NY, consulting editor, 1988-91; Henry Holt, New York, NY, consulting editor, 1992-94. Military service: U.S. Naval Reserve, 1959-62.

MEMBER:

PEN, Authors Guild, Century Association.

WRITINGS:

Sword of San Jacinto: A Life of Sam Houston, Random House (New York, NY), 1993.

Firestorm: Allied Airpower and the Destruction of Dresden, Random House (New York, NY), 2006.

Editor of and contributor to Dictionary of American History and Dictionary of American Biography, both Charles Scribner's Sons.

SIDELIGHTS:

Marshall De Bruhl worked as an editor and an executive with several major publishing houses, where he specialized in biography and history. His first book as an author is Sword of San Jacinto: A Life of Sam Houston, published in honor of his subject's two-hundredth birthday. Houston (1793-1863), the father of Texas, was not without flaws as a person, but as a Publishers Weekly contributor noted, De Bruhl "tends to deflate or minimize them." For example, much has been written about Houston's failed brief first marriage, but as the reviewer pointed out, De Bruhl speculates that Houston's wife may have found his war wounds repulsive.

Firestorm: Allied Airpower and the Destruction of Dresden is De Bruhl's study of the controversial bombing of Dresden in 1945. Dresden was a beautiful city and a cultural center, with its architecture, music, museums, churches, and porcelain manufacturing, but it was also the home of highly concentrated Nazi efforts against the Allies, including arms factories. Drawing on archives and published sources, De Bruhl analyzes the appropriateness of strategic (which De Bruhl favors) versus blanket bombing and the costs of establishing air superiority, which the Allies eventually accomplished. "De Bruhl puts his experience as a book editor to good use in this narrative," commented a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Library Journal reviewer Edwin B. Burgess found the history valuable for De Bruhl's "treatment of the aftermath of the war and the debates that arose among the participants."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American History Illustrated, July 1, 1993, review of Sword of San Jacinto: A Life of Sam Houston, p. 20.

Booklist, January 15, 1993, Gilbert Taylor, review of Sword of San Jacinto, p. 875; October 15, 2006, Gilbert Taylor, review of Firestorm: Allied Airpower and the Destruction of Dresden, p. 18.

Book World, January 28, 2007, "Rains of Ruin: Arguing over the World War II Bombings of Dresden and London," p. 11.

Choice, September 1, 1993, W.T. Eagan, review of Sword of San Jacinto, p. 200.

Historian, September 22, 1993, review of Sword of San Jacinto, p. 156.

Journal of American History, June 1, 1994, Andreas Reichstein, review of Sword of San Jacinto, p. 272.

Journal of the Early Republic, spring 1994, Walter L. Buenger, review of Sword of San Jacinto.

Library Journal, February 15, 1993, Stephen H. Peters, review of Sword of San Jacinto, p. 172; December 1, 2006, Edwin B. Burgess, review of Firestorm, p. 138.

New Republic, April 19, 1993, James M. McPherson, review of Sword of San Jacinto, p. 38.

Publishers Weekly, January 11, 1993, review of Sword of San Jacinto, p. 46; October 9, 2006, review of Firestorm, p. 48.

Southwestern Historical Quarterly, October 1, 1993, Gregg Cantrell, review of Sword of San Jacinto, p. 345.

Virginia Quarterly Review, September 22, 1993, review of Sword of San Jacinto, p. 124.

Washington Post Book World, January 28, 2007, Mark Lewis, review of Firestorm, p. 11.

World War II, June 1, 2007, Richard B. Frank, review of Firestorm, p. 72.