I'm new to the forum, so if this has been discussed before, I apologize.
Does anyone else think that the character of Bean was at least partly inspired by Homer Lea?
Homer Lea was a US Army officer who wrote a few books, the most famous of which was The Valor of Ignorance. He predicted the military rise of Japan and an attack on Pearl Harbor, 44 years before it happened.
He was very short, afflicted with dwarfism (I think he was under 4 feet tall).
He died in 1912.
If you read his biography and his works, the comparisons between him and Bean are strikingly similar.
posted
When I read Jackie Chan's autobiography, his harsh life with almost inhuman training at a very young age reminded me a lot of Ender's Game.
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posted
Wasn't this the guy who also predicted that Germany would come under power by a guy named 'hissler' and would slaughter many to get to his power?
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posted
Never heard of Homer Lea until reading this post. If he grew up as a street urchin in Rotterdam, though, please don't tell me.
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No, Homer Lea didn't grow up in Rotterdam. He was an American. He actually attended and graduated from West Point, but was something of a "joke" amongst his classmates. As he was a dwarf, his nickname was "Old Scrunch Neck".
What struck me about him was his incessant drive to succeed. His books "The Valor of Ignorance" and "The Rise of the Saxon" were predictors of the events of WWII, almost to a T. Tactically, he was considered an absolute genius, but his leadership skills left something to be desired.
He travelled to China and was actually given a generalship of sorts, commanding troops and devising Chinese strategy, something he would have never achieved in the U.S.
This is what truly got my attention and sent me on the idea of comparing him to Bean. The relationship that Bean had to the Thai military in "Shadow of the Hegemon" was almost exactly what Homer Lea did in China.
Regardless, his story is definitely something worth reading.
posted
In charge of nationalist chinese strategy or Communist China? If it was nationalist china then he wasn't that much like Bean, Bean would never lost when he was incharge of things. (I know, Rat Army and Thailand dont count, Thailand was doomed to begin with and Rat was done on purpose) And after all come to think of it Nationalist China had an equal chance of winning as Communist china did so "That they were doomed" excuse doesn't cut it.
(To clarify: my husband is not allowed on Hatrack. But it's funny that someone's screenname is his name. )
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posted
So they called him "Old Scrunch Neck" even while he was still a student at West Point?
I've wondered that about the Venerable Bede. When he was a kid did everybody call him "the Snot-Nosed Little Bede"?
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Homer Lea died in 1912, long before China was split into the Nationalist and Communist factions.
As I recall (it's been a while since I've read anything about him) he worked for the Dowager Empress either during or after the Boxer Rebellion.
As far as never losing, that's really more of a plot device. No commander, no matter how brilliant a tactician, is incapable of being defeated.
Much of this is due to the plethora of factors that are outside a commander's control. He can't control a flawed national strategy. He can't alter being heavily outnumbered by his opponent. He usually can't change an opponent's technological superiority.
And lastly, as we say in the Army, "The enemy gets a vote." Some plans, no matter how good, simply are undone by a skillful or lucky enemy.
Bottom line that I'm getting to is that Homer Lea, like many other brilliant tacticians, was capable of being beaten. In the real world, so would Bean and Ender. But, that's what's great about literature. An author can create a world that we love, even if it's not truly possible.
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He was an American. He actually attended and graduated from West Point, but was something of a "joke" amongst his classmates. As he was a dwarf, his nickname was "Old Scrunch Neck". ![[Cool]](cool.gif)
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