Rating: Summary: Fantastic Review: This is a book everyone should read. It gives you pride in your elders, hope in your leaders, and faith in yourself.
Rating: Summary: 1 star is too many for this book Review: This is an insipid, uninspired, pointless, maudlin, unprovocative, boring, and poorly written travesty that never would have been published if the author hadn't been famous. Save your money. (It might be useful for insomniacs, I must admit.)
Rating: Summary: Terribly, terribly disappointing Review: Brokaw has managed to take wonderful raw material and produce a book that would not challenge a junior high school student. The book is shallow and banal. I am sorry I wasted my money on it and even sorrier that he will receive it. Surely a man who makes his living with words can do better than this.
Rating: Summary: Great Concept, Poor Execution... Review: Intriguing notion of getting a feel for the events that shaped "the greatest generation", but the utter lack of depth in these vignettes really does a disservice, not only to the reader, but to the subjects of the vignettes themselves. These people obviously are so interesting, have had such intense experiences--why does Brokaw allow them each two or three pages? Disappointing to be sure.
Rating: Summary: Short on Substance Review: I looked forward with great anticipation to read this book. What I read instead was very disappointing, particularly from an author who has been a "talking head" in living rooms on NBC News for so many years. Indeed, the generation of which Brokaw wrote is great; "the greatest" perhaps. But I expected from the title a lot more than a loosely assembled annotation of a handful of people's lives. Some of those chosen were interesting, others were facinating, but WHY did Brokaw select the ones he did and not others??? Two issues annoyed me to no end, however. First, was the repetitious nature of the point Brokaw tried to make. After a few "biographies" it was easy to figure out that these people sacrificed and succeeded! I didn't need two dozen more to get the message! Second, military awards are NOT "won"!!! It is NOT a contest with the Medal of Honor, for example, being "the prize" for first place! I have a couple of Silver Stars and as many Purple Hearts which were AWARDED for actions. Believe me, I never would have entered "the race" if those were "the prizes" for "winning". Please report the facts correctly Mr. Brokaw, using the correct vocabulary!
Rating: Summary: Brokaw's paean to parents is shallow and nearly empty Review: So Tom Brokaw, Famous Television Celebrity, decided to write a book in praise of his parents and parents-in-law but decided to throw in dribs and drabs of other stuff as filler. The tragedy is that some of the subjects of his meandering and shallow skim through the WWII generation are probably worthy of an in-depth study by a fine writer--which Brokaw shows no indication of being.There were several times I cried out in anguished frustration at the trite and wooden phrases which Brokaw scatters throughout the book. What drove me even crazier (thank you, Harry Shearer) was imagining Brokaw saying them aloud with his slurred "L"s and salting in "Tonight..." after every fifth word. An egegious example of lameness from the book, page 27-28: "...Van Gorder and his fellow doctors had set up an operating facility, a precursor to the MASH units, the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals that saved so many lives and, later on television, gave us so much intelligent entertainment." AAARGGHHH!!! I read this book because my WWII-era Mom recommended it. Sorry, Mom, there are a lot of great books about your era but this ain't one of them.
Rating: Summary: Very moving. Fascinating. Review: I enjoyed the variety of stories told by our veterans, especially their remarkable stamina and creativity. Very moving and fascinating. If you like this book, try Letters from the Good War by Hugh Aaron, right from the horses mouth, beautifully told stories told while it was happening. Takes you there.
Rating: Summary: A Great book for generation X readers. Review: As a 19 year old college student I set out to understand the generation and some of the times my grandparents speak of today. This book gave insight to a period that was filed with great pride fo the United States of America. I now better understand the complex times of World War II and wish that all students my age had a chance to read this book. The level of respect that I have for those that lived during these complex times has risen to an unparalled high. Now, I wish that someone could write about my patents generation in such easy an easy to read journel so that I can understand the tenstion and complications that seperated this country to such and extent.
Rating: Summary: DISAPPOINTED Review: I had high hopes for this very worthwhile topic. Reads like Mr. Brokaw is presenting a report on the late news. I expected a more developed presentation.
Rating: Summary: Excellent book, new apreciation of that generation. Review: Excellent book for members of generation X who want to understand the views of their grandparents and where those views stemmed from. Gives a new sense of Patritosim towards our great nation and for the men and women who fought and loved durring one of the hardest times in modern United States history.
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