Rating: 
Summary: Misses a major irony...
Review: With numbing regularity, Brokaw and his news colleagues trash 1990s young people, apparently unaware that the youth of the 1930s, the "greatest generation," were relentlessly trashed by the media, scholars, and politicians of their day as a cesspool of bad values, promiscuity, criminality, terminal apathy, drugs, welfare, and laziness. Maybe Brokaw should pause to reflect before regurgitating the latest "kids today" bashing his profession (and my academic one) specialize in.
Rating: 
Summary: A different look at history.
Review: This book takes a look at a variety of people as they were affected by WWII. It tells how they went to war, the price they paid, and how they returned to lead productive lives. The viewpoint of a newsman gives it a refreshing treatment. Thank you, Mr Brokaw.
Rating:
Summary: Overrated
Review: I too was very excited when I spied "The Greatest Generation" on the shelf. Tom Brokaw always struck me as a dignified, articulate and down to earth man (on the book jacket he sports a $69 Casio watch). I still feel that way, but I don't think he's a great author or historian.The book is an easy read. I found myself uplifted from the stories of those who came from obscure backgrounds, stared with little, faced adversity and yet managed to rise to great achievement. About halfway through I got tired of the brass band blasting my head about how special this generation is. I got tired of hearing the oft repeated lines: "...well I guess that's just the way I was brought up...", "...it was special back then...", "...I pulled myself up from my bootstraps...", "...I guess this generation doesn't have those values anymore...", "...we had the war to define us...". Enough. It becomes like a lawn mower with a stuck throttle. I don't want to take laurels from those folks in the "greatest generation" but this is too much. I read Andy Rooney's, "My War". Andy is unpretnetuous and his book gives you a feel what it was like to live back then without being heavy handed or pretentuous. Rooney's chapter in Brokaw's book hits what bothers me about "The Greatest Generation". The "greatest generation" had the fortune of a great depression to humble, and a world war to steel them. The war gave them the opportunity to see the world, and its horrors. It gave them a cruicible to rapidly mature. And because they happened to be born on the winning side, they got to enjoy the riches of the victory in America. Yes, they were special, only because that's they happened to be born during such an interesting time. Who is to say my children could not do the same? Other generations have made great marks (the folks who fought the civil war and then reconstructed America come to mind), but where is the brass band for them? Basically Rooney says today's generation is no worse compared to his. He is right. If you take "The Greatest Generation" as a compilation of uplifting stories from everyday individuals it makes a nice book. But, that is not what's going on here. At the end of "The Greatest Generation" I can only hear "Looky at us yuppies, twenty-somethings, whipper snappers, we're great and you're not!"
Rating: 
Summary: utterly underwhelming
Review: This book has received a lot of attention and is selling well---but that's a testament to the power of the marketing machine that's been fired up behind it, not to the book itself. Search back articles from the Wall Street Journal if you want to read about how the marketing was done. You'll learn very little from reading the book itself, though.
Rating: 
Summary: A very simplistic telling of a few stories from WW2.
Review: This book is written in the same manner as the news is read on television, in little sound bites. There is not much "meat" in the brief stories included. Brokaw chose to include political correctness which made me wonder why he called it "The Greatest Generation". He manages to tarnish that generation by judging historical events using today's values. Overall I thought the book rather boring.
Rating:
Summary: FANTASTIC!
Review: As a baby boomer of WWII, I enjoyed "The Greatest Generation" very much. I even shared the book w/several Vets of WWII (men & women), which they enjoyed it also. I would have shared it w/my father if he were alive today. I didn't realize the descrimination that went on; but I'm glad they 'stuck it out'.
Rating:
Summary: wonderful reading
Review: Why do they abridge audio tapes of wonderful books? It's a crime and punishment to endure.
Rating:
Summary: Very good until Brokaw decided to add political correctness
Review: There was much to bring back memories but then after saying this was America's greatest generation he had to ruin it by adding political correctness. He decided he had to write about America's sins on women, blacks, Japanese, etc. This took away from his original title and I began to wonder if he named the book "The Greatest Generation" only to sell books.
Rating:
Summary: A waste of time
Review: Mostly pontification. Where's the scholarship? The only reason I sat through this one was that it was an audio book and I was on an eight hour drive. If this is the greatest generation, I'm in the generation that got the bill. This book glossed over most everything. If anything it proved the opposite of its title.
Rating:
Summary: A very shallow treatment of contemporary American History
Review: I was very excited to read this book, because I am very interested in the subject matter and was eager to read the stories of "regular" Americans who were involved in the war effort. Unfortunately, the treatment is so shallow that I didn't really learn anything I hadn't heard or read elsewhere. Brokaw's treatment of the stories are so glossed over and so short that they really don't convey a sense of what the people experienced. Particularly annoying was Brokaw's "insights" about fighting the war and the discrimination in Amarica. He continually repeats himself by pointing out the obvious conclusions that the reader should already have realized. Brokaw seems to think that he is the only one to realize what a sacrifice ordinary Americans made during the War and feels it necessary to point this out over and over and over again. If you want to read about ordinary experiences in WWII that are not glossed over, read Ambrose's D-Day or Citizen Soldiers.
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