The Seven Lives of Colonel Patterson : How an Irish Lion Hunter Led the Jewish Legion to Victory

In this first-ever biography of Colonel John Patterson, Denis Brianreveals his subject to be a diverse composite of identities. An Irishbornsoldier, lion hunter, bridge builder, East African game warden,author, and Zionist, Patterson’s life is a fascinating story, and Brian’swell-researched account gives a revealing look into the ebb andflow of circumstances that produced such a colorful character.Brian begins the narrative with Patterson’s assignment in EastAfrica,where lion attacks are terrorizing workers on a railroad project.With a storyteller’s breathtaking tone, he details accounts ofPatterson quelling the rebellion and killing the lions himself. Thecolonel’s indomitable energy and courage become a consistenttheme in the book as the author traces Patterson’s life from his daysas a British socialite to his recruitment of the Jewish Legion of volunteerswho helped drive the Turks out of Palestine.Patterson spent most of his later years as an ardent Zionist,workingfor the creation of a Jewish homeland until his death in 1947, a yearbefore the birth of the state of Israel. Drawing on an impressive rangeof sources, Brian’s biography of this “Righteous Gentile” is an incisiveportrait of a key figure in both Israeli and colonial British history.