Rating: 
Summary: Stopped reading it
Review: Well, what can be said that hasn't been said in 327 other reviews. In short, I found this book to be too shallow and "bland." Just lost my interest. This is the first book I have ever given up on. I feel a great shame in not finishing but I just can't subject myself to it no longer! I thought it would be moving and inspiring, instead it was "blah." With regards, Max
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Summary: A Democratic Party book
Review: Unfortunately, I decided to start reading first the Famous People section and The Arena section. Mr. Brokaw can barely speak kindly of Republicans! George Bush is described as someone who is inarticulate about his war experiences. Much more was written about Chesterfield Smith who started the independent counsel to investigate Nixon. Of course now, the independent counsel "has created a incentive for zealortry." Mark Hatfield is spoken of glowingly, but it is clear at the end of his story it was because he is not part of the "newer Republican senators, with their strict conservative dogmas." Bob Dole is depicted as someone rather harsh, but since he is quoted with a joke against Nixon, he gets good coverage. Caspar Weinberger is linked with Iran-contra, but the country was "already anticpating the arrival of a new, young president, Bill Clinton." Liberals are intellectuals, and the segration and the hatred for African Americans in the South is depicted as a religious conservative way, not the entire South's way. He could only quote hatred from an Espicopalian minister's wife. Nothing bad about Kennedy or Johnson years, only Nixon, Reagan, and Bush years. This book should come with a warning label, that although the media is supposed to give us unbiased reporting, Mr. Brokaw's bias against anyone who thinks other than liberal Democrat is to be ridiculed or vilified. I'm very disappointed.
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Summary: Incomplete writing by committee
Review: Tom Brokaw had as much to do with the writing of this book as King James I had in the writing of the King James Bible. This book is a classic case of writing by committee. Though the positive achievements of the World War Two generation are undeniable, given that they had a major hand in the defeat of Italy, Germany and Japan, the less positive achievements of the "Greatest Generation" are not probed by Mr. Brokaw and company. The social welfare entitlements the "Greatest Generation" voted themselves have been a great burden to future generations as the current high tax burdens can attest. Any attempt to lessen the burden of entitlements is usually crushed by the unusually selfish "Greatest Generation". I can remember one of the "Greatest Generation", when informed by John Stoessel that he had put into Social Security three years worth of payments yet had received seventeen years worth of Social Security, ranting that he had earned it all and wouldn't put up with a reduction. This greedy, unfair little man is what the "Greatest Generation" is also about, too. The hubris of this devoutly government-oriented generation was best magnified by the travesty and tragedy of Vietnam. The thought at the time was that the US government could do anything and certainly could defeat a communist insurgency in a land almost no American had ever heard of. Fifty-eight thousand Americans and a million Vietnamese were sacrificed on this high altar of "Greatest Generation" hubris. And don't forget that LBJ's Great Society was part of the "Greatest Generation"'s hubris. It crashed much like the flaming Hindenberg and it's dire results remain with us still. This is a very flawed book that is certain to make millions for Mr. Brokaw and sooth the feelings of America's most overrated generation.
Rating: 
Summary: Falls short of its promise
Review: I think the premise of this book is great. The generation that survived the depression and fought in WWII was the pivotal generation in American history. They saved the world from tyranny, helped bring about the civil rights movement, built the interstate highway system, built a modern education system, and did it with quiet dignity and grace. They did bring us their whiny offspring the baby boomers (who think they are the greatest generation for introducing drugs and free love) but no one is perfect.While the stories and vignettes were interesting, I wanted more. Brokaw never goes in depth to explore the true magnitude of what these people accomplished. This is a good starter book, or appetizer. For the main course, I would recommend one of Stephen Ambrose' excellent works on WWII.
Rating: 
Summary: The Greatest Generation
Review: On the chapter about Lloyd Kilmer, there is a picture titled "Liberation Day". The photo was dated April 29, 1945. I help a gentleman by the name of Roy Sage. He is in this photo. Is there a way to make contact with any of the other soldiers? I believe this would make Mr. Sage very happy. Thanks for a great book, it brings joy to many. Marlese
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Summary: The Next Great Generation
Review: Brokaw does a commendable job of describing how the "Greatest Generation" earned its name. For those who are interested in which generation is likely to be the next great one, I highly recommend a new book titled "Millennials Rising" by generational authors Neil Howe and Bill Strauss. They believe that in the cycle of generations, today's youngsters--the Millennials (born 1982 to the present)--will replace the G.I. generation as the next great generation. The Millennials are already reversing many of the negative social trends associated with the last generation of young adults, i.e. the Generation Xers.
Rating: 
Summary: Shut up, Brokaw.
Review: Evidently, the good news anchorman has been watching a little too much Saving Private Ryan lately. Naturally, the book gloats with little restraint over this generation's stance against fascism, neglecting its evident shortcomings as a nation half-governed by Jim Crow laws, or the social preception of the proper role of women as being confined to the household. Simply utilizing the fact that this generation took such actions that would easily have been undertaken by any sane people under these circumstances as an excuse to decry other generations as less worthy is grossly unfair. Yet, given Tom's journalistic background, his embellishments is hardly surprising. If anything, this book is testimony that history can only be properly evaluated by historians, not the news media.
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Summary: A Unique Perspective on the last World War
Review: I received this book as a gift, and actually was quite reluctant to read it- How interesting could a bunch of stories about unknown men and women be? Very interesting is the answer. This is the only book of its kind- that I know of- that takes this perspective on the World War II effort- and, possibly, this perspective is one of the most important that we have overlooked. Machines didn't win the war, big business didn't win the war, the leaders of the free world didn't win the war-- Individual people won the war. And that's why I think this is possibly the best book about World War II I've ever read.
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Summary: if you love history and biographies......
Review: then this book should be open and in your lap. mr. brokaw and company have done a magnificent service in resurrecting the passion of commitment and patriotism these american's have exuded for 70+ years. we may know these people as our brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, parents and grandparents but soon you will know them as the people who made difficult decisions and sacrifices for our freedom and future. this will give you a new understanding of why your family and friends who lived through this era are the way they are. in my opinion, this book should be required reading for every high school student in the country.
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Summary: Cheerleading, not History
Review: It is rather disingenous for Tom Brokaw to suggest that he is addressing a neglected topic with his book. The men who fought in the Revolution, the Civil War, and WWII are already the most celebrated military heroes in American history.It is also disingenous to suggest that the soldiers who served in WWII were any better than those who fought in, say, the Civil War or WWI or Vietnam. Despite the gloss Brokaw puts on his account, war is an ugly, brutal, soul-destroying thing, not at all uplifting or romantic, except perhaps in terms of the camraderie among combat soldiers. All wars have their heroes and cowards, their brilliant victories and their demoralizing disasters.I once saw Tom Brokaw on a talkshow, promoting his book, and in response to a question from the host, he was forced to awkwardly and reluctantly suggest that the American GI in WWII was better than the American GI in Vietnam. He said this was due to "bad training."Brokaw is obviously no military historian. I doubt that he could provide many specifics about those instances in WWII when badly-trained, badly-led U.S. units were mauled by veteran enemy troops (one thinks most readily of Kasserine Pass, New Guinea, and the behavior of certain American units at the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge). I doubt also that Brokaw knows much about those instances in which well-trained, well-led U.S. units in Vietnam prevailed in the face of a tough and resolute foe like the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese (Ia Drang Valley, Operation Starlite, Howard's Hill, Hue City, Bloody Ridge, etc., etc., etc.).It is true that U.S. units in Vietnam became terribly demoralized and ineffective in the last years of the war, but that was less the result of some type of generational divide as it was to the political situation; when the U.S. began pulling out of Vietnam, those troops still on the ground saw no reason to be the last man killed in a war that the country was unable to win. There were, one might note, also plenty of demoralized and ineffective units in a "good war" like WWII.Tom Brokaw simply doesn't seem to realize that the average American GI has done a good job in all of our wars, from the Revolution to Somalia. That is not to say that those who won WWII do not deserve to be honored for their bravery and sacrifice---they obviously do---but it is to say that Brokaw should not by implication denigrate the bravery and sacrifice of men who fought in unpopular wars like Korea and Vietnam in order to celebrate his so-called Greatest Generation.It is true that this Greatest Generation was able to build an economy in this country in the post-war years that provided educational and career opportunities and a standard of living for its citizens that was unheard of in the history of the world. This Greatest Generation, however, was as unable as any other generation to mend the racial divide in America (one could argue that busing and affirmative action have only made the problem worse), and it provided dismal political leadership in Korea and Vietnam. One might also mention McCarthyism, voter fraud by JFK, and, last but not least, Nixon and Watergate.Brokaw's account is basically cheerleading, not history, and is so white-washed and sunny as to be unbearable. I've always wondered if Brokaw would have written this book if SAVING PRIVATE RYAN had not sparked such a surge in WWII nostalgia.
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