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Summary: A Generation worth writing about.........
Review: The Greatest Generation is a wonderful collection of stories from men and women who served during the WWII, both on the front and at home. They come from all walks of life, big cites and small towns, black and white, rich and poor. With thousands of veterans pasting away everday, this book has given the men and women credit for preserving democracy and setforth the American morals and values. Many young men and women lost their lives for freedom I enjoy today, it's a shame some of the reviewers below criticize this book.
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Summary: 4 terrific tributes from veteran newscaster
Review: The Greatest Generation is Tom Brokaw's tribute to the generation of Americans who lived through the Depression, fought in World War II and built the United States in the post-war era. It is a moving tribute to a generation that was collectively marvelous.Brokaw begins The Greatest Generation by drawing upon his coverage of the 40th and 50th anniversaries of the D-Day landings. The stories of the remarkable people who participated in that historic event and war follow from his involvement at the anniversary. Essentially, the Depression hardened that generation, the war and military service gave them discipline and the GI Bill gave them opportunities to education that they would never have had otherwise. With a combination of work ethic, discipline and education that generation achieved mightily and in Brokaw's view is indeed The Greatest Generation. The Greatest Generation starts out very strongly as Brokaw explains how he became motivated to write the book and why he considers that generation to be magnificent. The stories of ordinary people who were forged by war are truly inspiring. About half way through there is a shift from people whose names are not common to those whose names are very familiar. Brokaw talks about people like George Bush, Bob Dole and war hero Joe Foss. While their stories are inspiring, I preferred the stories of the small town doctor, the black machinist and housewife with a baby who lost her husband in Holland; everyday people. Perhaps that's Brokaw's weakness. As a newsman he has been dealing with the rich and famous for too long and is no longer comfortable with plain folks. Whatever the reason, I found the first half of his story better than the second. Brokaw's tribute is specifically aimed at Americans. However, all the values that he extols are not uniquely American. In fact, two of the people he profiles were or are married to Canadians, one of who served with the famed 82nd Airborne. Furthermore, many of the people who immigrated to the US after WWII contributed to the post-war development bringing the same value system that Brokaw highlights. Perhaps The Greatest Generation is an even greater generation than Brokaw realizes. I listened to the audio version that features Brokaw reading himself. His distinctive mid-western accent and minor speech impediment do add to the poignant stories of people leaving small town USA to fight in WWII. Brokaw brings to the story a passion that is evident when he reads it himself. All in all The Greatest Generation is an enjoyable and light analysis of a large group of people. It would have been even better if he had stuck to the regular folks and not gone for the celebrities half way through.
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Summary: Recognition at last!
Review: Mr. Brokaw relates the stories of the men and women who shaped what our world is today. It is very important that these stories be told, as we are losing so many of our loved ones because of old age. It is a book that made me want to know more about my family during that time, and I'm certain this will spur many others to ask: "What was it like back then?" Excellent job!
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Summary: "The Greatest Generation Anywhere Ever." Give me a break.
Review: Tom Brokaw pays tribute to a deserving generation in his book "The Greatest Generation." However, he does so in a rather clumsy manner. Just try and read the book without constantly picturing Tom Brokaw reading it too you from his news desk. His prose is consistent with that of a news anchor, which unfortunately does not flow when read. At one point he makes some statement that this generation is "the greatest generation anywhere ever." I mean come on, that is just absurd. My advice is to skip the sections where he writes about the generation in general (the intros, conclusion, etc.) and only read the biographical sections. These sections are the heart of the book. In my opinion, one gets more from the mouths of those who lived through it than one gets from Brokaw's ineffective attempts to glorify a whole generation. In addition, I was bothered by the book's very conservative tone. One of the most important effects of WWII was the ideas, art, and literature that came out of it. Brokaw gives no lip service to those who came out on the cutting edge of modern thought. Instead, he is intent to focus on the comparatively bland veterans who just say things like "Kids these days dont have a sense of responsibility", "It taught me how to focus", etc. He should have thrown in a portrait of Vonnegut, or Heller, or someone like that.
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Summary: Greatest Generation?
Review: Greater than all the other generations of Americans? What about the generations of men and women who formed this nation, built the states, towns, farms, died on the battlefields of the Revolution, War of 1812 and Civil War, and more. In short, what about the very people who made it possible for there to even be an American WWII generation? In my opinion, the WWII generation earns a different title: The Most Arrogant Generation. Remember they also gave us the Cold War, McCarthyism and Segregation. It was also men of the WWII generation who "led" the nation into Vietnam. (Some leadership!) Actually, what I think Brokaw meant to say, is that the WWII generation was the last great American generation. What a pessimist! Thank God for young folks!
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Summary: The most violent generation
Review: Here is a book that was hailed as a best seller before it was even released. One that was fed to the public by one of America's leading talking heads, Tom Brokaw. My grandfather was at Normandy and later helped liberate several concentration camps throughout Germany. What these experiences cost him, was ultimately his life. He rarely smiled after witnessing the horrific brutality, and inhumanity that was set loose on the world in WWII and after. This book is an attempt to rewrite, an already severely inaccurate history of this period of time. Brokaw tries to take the attention from the mass slaughter that was perpetrated by BOTH sides, and instead focus on the heartwarming yet tragic human interest stories so common to todays evening news. Living through the "greatest generation", killed my grandfather's spirit, along with millions of others like him, who instead saw in it a living hell, and a disgrace to humanity.
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Summary: The heroes are in the book, NOT the book itself
Review: I did find this repetitive and at times boring. To be quite honest with you I skipped many, many pages because it was much of the same style of writing. Here we have heroes who have done amazing, courageous things only to have those heroics watered down with bland writing. It just goes to show you that almost anyone who can read, look good on a t.v. screen and speak clearly can be an anchorman
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Summary: Repetitive and Boring
Review: I preface my remarks by saying that as a foreigner and as a citizen of a pathologically 'neutral', state I have no first hand or cultural knowledge of what it must have been like to live through a War as catastrophic as World War II. However, part of my motivation in reading this book was to get a greater sense of the 'home front' aspects of war and since I like Mr. Brokaw's tabloid style of journalism I felt I was on to a winner. Although eminently readable as expected, there was, after Chapter 3 or so, a sameness to each bite-sized vignette that eventually lead me to discard the book in annoyance. I never finished the wretched thing ! In short, repetition is Mr. Brokaw's greatest sin and while he established firmly the decency, ordinariness and patriotism of the Greatest Generation, he did them no great service by effectively imbuing them with an undeserved tag of 'Boring' as well !
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Summary: uplifting and inspiring
Review: I was really reluctant to read this book, I thought it was going to just focus on WWII and be all about the war. I was so wrong. While it did give me a much more powerful understanding of this time in history, I was also inspired by the stories of men and women who have made really significant contributions to our society.
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Summary: A flawed theory
Review: Brokaw's book has interesting information about individuals who came of age to fight in World War Two. But his premise that they are "The Greatest Generation" is wrong. If he had more knowledge of American History he would realize that EVERY generation, at least from the Revolution through World War Two, and, particularly, those that fought in the Civil War and in World War One, shared all of the characteristics that he attributes to the World War Two generation. This shouldn't detract from the stories he presents but a more accurate analysis would define how the generations that followed World War Two have changed from the preceding generations. That, it seems to me, is the point he is really trying to make.
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