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Summary: Citizen Soldiers
Review: Great book. Very easy to lose yourself in. I found myself thinking as if I was actually involved in the conflicts.
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Summary: Puts You There with the GI's Marching towards Berlin
Review: I read this book on the heels of Ambrose's D-day and I became hooked and convinced that Ambrose's writing is remarkably engaging and that there is a reason every book he writes sells. I was lucky enough to live in an area of Germany for three years that the Battle of The Bulge was staged from. Ambrose's "Citizen Soldiers" made the history that occurred in Europe from June of '44 to May of '45 come alive. Several of the pictures from the book could be pinpointed to exact locations as we traveled from Aachen to Bastogne to St Lo, retracing the hard fought track that the GI's gave their live for as retold in this book.With it's broad scope, this book is not as focused as some of Ambrose's other works like the magnificent "D-day" or better yet "Pegasus Bridge", but it is fantastic for anyone interested in the personal aspect of World War II history. You will truly get a feel for the sacrifices that generation made to set things straight in the world again, if only for a little while. With the resurgent interest widespread in America today for all things World War II, this is an excellent read to recall the ghosts of that past and learn from those ghosts to help prevent any future wars. Read on my friends.
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Summary: Not a lot of Meat
Review: Although Ambrose does address a few touchy subjects, (like shooting prisoners) he's dancing around the topic and there's no analysis to speak of. Frankly put, Ambrose really hasn't written a good critical and fully balanced book in 15 years. Then again, he's rich, so he's got that going for him.
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Summary: This book started me reading everything Ambrose wrote...
Review: To a person born during the days of Vietnam, living through the end of the Cold War, with a father in the military, I still can't help but wonder how it was that the Citizen Soldiers of World War II did so much so effortlessly. The stories presented in Citizen Soldiers defy the imagination, and can really bring to life the situations that had to be confronted and defeated by the U.S. Army following D-Day in Europe. I have met many veterans of the war, and still I return to Ambrose's offering for more detail and explanation. Every issue of the vast spectacle of war is included, such as the all-important logistical problems faced and conquered by military planners to the desperation fo a Christmas at the front line. It is easy to understand from this book why talking about the war is hard for many; the only problem is that those who saw it are fading away too quickly. Reading this book may ive you an understanding, a very good comprehension of what was faced, but readers would still benefit from finding a veteran themselves, and starting with a grateful "Thank you" for doing what was described here. After this book, I have since gone on to read all of Stephen Amrose's works possible, and am still drawn back to this one at least once a year. This was a great, eye-opening read for a history teacher who thought he had a pretty good idea of what had happened. I gave myself too much credit- this book has given me much more of an idea, and is well worth the time taken to read it.
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Summary: Stirring and Awakening
Review: Im 17 and a great lover of history. What Steven wrote took me to what I didn't know about history. It is sad that in school we do not cover the most important part of the army, the individual. I learned about the individuals in this book. I sometimes had trouble sleeping with this book in my mind. It has also inspired me to join the armed service, to honor such men. Thanks Steven.
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Summary: THE SADNESS OF IT ALL....
Review: It's a sad controversy... BRave American soldiers giving their lives for freedom, for the ideals that America always pursued: freedom, initiative, democracy, iguality beyond all kind of races and colours, etc, etc. So, the U.S. Army helepd to save the world from Hitler. Ok. And after World War II? What America has turned into ? CIA helping to kill foreign leaders all around the world / Senator McCarthy leading the country into an absurd quest for "communists" / Kennedy killed and a official Comission that did nothing to solve the mistery / a country where guns are everywhere and kids kill their teachers / A Vietnam war for no purpose at all. I hope the ideals for what that soldiers fought are not dead and the flag they carried is still worth of their courage.
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Summary: Good but lack of attention to detail
Review: Lots of good anecdotal stories. However, as others have said, there's a lack of attention to detail - references to locations not on maps, acronyms that are never defined.
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Summary: Gripping Account of Soldiers' WWII Experiences
Review: This is the first Stephen Ambrose book I have read, and I throughly enjoyed it. The book describes WWII in Europe from a soldier's point of view. Ambrose does a wonderful job weaving the personal stories of soldiers who experienced combat in Europe during WWII, to tell the tale of how the Allies won the war. Unlike other books focus mainly on telling the overall story of WWII (the Operations, plans, tactics, and strategy from the General officer level), this book aims to give the reader a glimpse of what is was like to actually fight the war. My admiration and respect for the WWII generation continues to grow, the more I read about it. I recommend this book for anyone who is interested in WWII, especially if you are looking for details about how the soldiers lived, fought, and died in the major battles that followed D-Day. You will not be disappointed.
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Summary: Combat's own reality
Review: Ambrose once again masterfully illustrates in a way that only he can, the intense reality that is combat. Through the eye's of the men who fought that straining war, we see the snow falling, the knee deep mud, and the B-17's flying overhead to victory. As readers, we have the overall prespective that the individual combat soldier lacked. From the beaches to the hedgerows, from the bulge to the crossing of the Rhine, you will feel almost too closely the expierence of generation "we".
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Summary: Stunning Accounts from the Men and Women who Fought
Review: Unlike D-Day, Ambrose sets out to give us less detailed account of battles and more eyewitness accounts. Having loved D-Day, I was at first worried that this book would simply be a series of loosely connected eyewitness accounts. As I read Citizen Soldiers, I realized that some of my favorite parts of D-Day were precisely those same eyewitness accounts that form the backbone of this book. Ambrose, as always, has written in wonderful prose. His writing is accessible to both afficionados and newcomers in this field. Whether you have read dozens of books on the American forces in the Western Theater or you are just a person who saw Saving Private Ryan and are making your first foray into this field, this is a good read. Ambrose not only covers the infantry, but he also devoted chapters to medics, women, and pilots. I really appreciated Ambrose's discussion of african-americans in the war, a topic which is not given as much attention as it should. And Ambrose is not an apologist. He rightly criticizes the Army for its inefficiencies, its racism, and for the criminal elements that occurred. I did have a few minor criticisms. Until the very end of the book very little is mentioned about the Holocaust and the concentration camps. In fact, I would have liked to read accounts of U.S troops who were Jewish and what their particular experiences were. Even if the full horror of what has happening in the gas chambers was not known until late in the way, the Nazi party's blatent positions on Jews and minorities (see Jesse Owens) must surely have effected some of the troops. I would have liked some discussion on that issue. I also wish that Ambrose could have included more information about the people he talks about, specifically what happened to them in latter battles, etc. I was frustrated that I would read an account of a soldier (eyewitness account or third person account) and then I would be left hanging wondering if the soldier survived the war, died, was killed in a later engagement, or made it back to the States to start a business. Please include an appendix in a later edition, something , anything with some information. After bringing me closer to the soldiers, I found that the lack of this kind of information sort of muted the effect. Also, although the book provides several maps, I found then all almost completely useless. The book publisher has made then all two page maps, and inevitably, the key part of the map falls right in the page break. So unless you can bend the book as flat as possible, you really can't comfortably make out the heart of the map. In sum, the book is fascinating for the first hand accounts from both sides of the war even if some parts of the book are a bit disjointed.
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