Rating: 
Summary: A well rounded accurate portrayal of D-Day
Review: As a Canadian, I would like to say that finally someone has accurately represented the Canadian contribution to the invasion. Ambrose graphically portrayed Omaha beach as a meatgrinder to which Juno Beach was compared. It was a relief to finally see the Canadians given credit due for assaulting a beach whose defences were almost as formidable as Omaha's. Many excerps about Juno that I have read, portrayed Juno Beach as an easy assault and that there were relatively few casualties.Ambrose also brought to light the shortcomings of the Allied force which included it's lack of training for hedgerow fighting. This is a point that has never been explored and I think that the military authorities from all nations represented at Normandy would like us all to believe that the troops going ashore were superbly trained in all facets of combat. This was just not true and I'm glad that Ambrose brought this to light. We tend to forget that after the battle was won, there was still 11 more months of war left in the ETO where inadequately trained men (see Citizen Soldiers) were thrown into battle. Overall an outstanding book. Ambrose represented fairly all major combatants and didn't hold any punches about the realities of war. I have read the book three times (yes, I do enjoy reading it) and each time I am so thankful that my generation has it's freedom because of what those men acccomplished on the beach that morning of June 6, 1944. Thank you Mr. Ambrose.
Rating: 
Summary: biased
Review: Stephen Ambrose most definately wrote a well constructed book on the climatic battle of the Second World War, and for that he deserves credit. He also deserves credit for the great effort he has undertaken, on behalf of WWII veterans, to educate the world on the sacrifices endured by a generation which won the freedoms we enjoy today.
Where he falls short, however, is to the uneducated reader where one may believe that the Second World War was a sole undertaking by the United States. "D-Day" is a case in point. There is little mention of allied forces (which is okay, Ambrose is an American historian afterall)but his opinions regarding Britains Montgomery are disparaging to say the least. There is only one chapter apiece given to the beaches that American forces didn't participate in; Sword, Gold and Juno, and little mentioned about Britains airborne troops.
We are now living in a generation where knowledge of World War 2 is gained through watching movies such as "Saving Private Ryan" , "Band of Brothers" etc... (all great movies but with a definate American slant) I would have expected Mr. Ambrose to have written a more balanced account of a battle where the greatest nations in world united to defeat a truly evil empire. Well written but with an unfortunate bias. Hence three stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Canada, Britain, and the Commonwealth: Buy a different book
Review: Ambrose is such a Yank. He treats us as an afterthought. He tells us about U.S. civilian reaction to the invasion -- get this -- BEFORE he tells us ANYTHING about what happened at the beaches we care about -- Juno, Gold, and Sword -- where our guys are. He has the gall to quote our PM, Mackenzie King, as saying "the landings were making good progress" three (!) chapters before he tells us what happened at Juno Beach. Oh, so Mackenzie King was talking in the Commons about Utah Beach, was he?
Ambrose refers to George VI as "the king of England". That would make perfect sense if D-Day had occurred on June 6, 1544. His guy supposedly attended a graduate school?
Get a book by an unbiased UK author instead.
Rating: 
Summary: A Little Biased?
Review: I loved this book. I have rarely read such an informative and 'on the beach' account of the d-day landings. There are a huge number of personal accounts and experiences of people who were actually there. Its actually very interesting to note how many small details the film Saving private Ryan apparently took from this book (e.g. Cross of david on the back of a Rangers tunic, Brooklyn, NY.) However after reading most of Stephen E. Ambrose's work an overiding theme occurs. Acording to Ambrose, the second world war was entirely won by the American nation. Despite several years of war before the US became involved, Ambrose consistantly portraits all non-American allied forces as bumbling fools. I really feel that Ambrose is an amazing historian who really needs to let go his bias and accept that no single nation was capable of winning the war. All up one of the best accounts of D-Day I've ever read but please Stephen, relax, America was essential in winning the war, but they didn't do it alone, and the rest of the world survived several years before the US got involved. What can I say, Theres no US in team.
Rating:
Summary: D Day: June 6 1944
Review: Mr. Ambrose narrated his book with great enthusiasm. Unfortunately, his dentures were slipping or something and the whistling and so on resulting are rather distracting. Perhaps to compensate he attacked some words like 'especially,' as ex-specially, to avoid the whistle, which was even more distracting. Ambrose included a lot of first rate research in this effort, but it is padded with a certain amount of formulaic war book boiler plate. For example there is too much of the superlative; we know it was a big event, we do not need to be reminded in every description that the tonnage, air bombardment, etc., were the greatest in all recorded history. Similarly there is a certain amount of dogmatic expression of respect. He argues briefly to take exception to the critics who say that the American fighting man in this war was not the equal of the German. But the argument sheds no light, and does not include statistics or examples, or even reference to the specific viewpoints he opposes.
Rating:
Summary: 5 PLUS
Review: I loved this book (along with just about everything else that Ambrose has written). Throughout the entire book, I kept thinking, "Thank God I never had to go to war". This is a fantastic read. Enjoy!!! Dr. Michael L. Johnson author of "What Do You Do When the Medications Don't Work?--A Non-Drug Treatment of Dizziness, Migraine Headaches, Fibromyalgia, and Other Chronic Conditions".
Rating:
Summary: WONDERFUL AND RIGHT ON
Review: It is sad that many of the reviewers complain of a pro American slant by the author. Regadless, this book is well written and historically acurate. Well in July the British still had not accomplished their objective and Montogmery is now well know as the culput. If it were not for American help, leadership and material, we would still be on the beachs waiting for the British to get moving. The truth hurts, and for the new reader of WWII you will get about all you need to know on the Normandy invasion from this book. Paul Posey
Grovetwon, GA
Rating:
Summary: Easy to Read - Keeps Attention
Review: If you have read any of Stephen Ambrose's works, and enjoy his style, then this book is your "cup of tea". For those new to his works, please understand the following. His works are lengthy and require a significant time investment. Similarly, his works are crammed with details - important to the story yet difficult, at times, to retain and use in subsequent sections and stories. His writings are infused with nationalistic zeal - almost jingoistic, at times. The imbedded personal stories - a theme in all of Ambrose's works - make real an otherwise antiseptic recounting of DDay. Students of DDay might want to avoid this book as it adds little to the "nuts and bolts" of the military operation. Those new to the subject of World War II, and/or DDay, might also want to avoid the book - Ambrose assumed, quite often, that his reader(s) had at least a perfunctory knowledge of the operation. DDay is an enjoyable read with great personal stories of triumph and tragedy. Ambrose has added detail from most sides of the conflict - Allies, Axis and civilian - to provide as complete a recount, as possible, of the operation that still denotes the high water mark of World War II.
Rating:
Summary: Not the most exciting read, but very informative
Review: Stephen Ambrose's D-Day will certainly go down as one of the best accounts of this very crucial day during the war. There is no doubt that Ambrose knows the subject very well and the book is packed with information. After watching Saving Private Ryan, I had a desire to learn more about D-Day and this book seemed like the logical choice to read. My knowledge about D-Day before was very basic and general, I just knew that Omaha Beach was the deadliest and that Eisenhower was the commander. That was it. Obviously, I walked away after reading this book with a much greater knowledge about June 6 and the circumstances around it and that is what made this book worthwhile. I gave it 4 stars because the book dragged at certain parts. I found the first half of the book (where Ambrose discusses the events leading up to June 6) alot more interesting actually than the last half of the book which talked about the actual landing. I also couldn't help but notice Ambrose's pro-American bias as he seemed to downplay the role of the British. Nevertheless, it was an overall good book and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about the most important day in the 20th century.
Rating:
Summary: D-Day, Or, How America Won The War
Review: As is common knowledge to everybody except those who were actually there, it was the glorious United States of America - and ONLY the United States of America - that won the Second World War II. That's not gung-ho fairy tales, kids. That's rootin'-tootin' FACT. If you think I'm full of it, then I recommend you take a look at this bloated offering by eminent (and also dead) Yankee historian Stephen Ambrose. Approximately 90% of the book is dedicated to repetitive and unenlightening (though, it must be said, utterly enthralling and devastating) GI recollections of the landings on Utah and Omaha, with very little attention paid to the other Allied operations on Gold, Juno or Sword, or in Normandy as a whole. Countless hundreds of thousands of British, Canadians, and yes, even Australian and New Zealand (though you would have been hard pressed to find more than a dozen of those fellows floating about) all did their part and, in many cases, paid the ultimate sacrafice on 6 June, 1944, but these courageous men and women hardly merit a mention in the eyes of Mr. Ambrose. This will not come as any surprise to those familiar with his other work, notably 'Band Of Brothers' and 'Citizen Soldiers'. After all, Stephen Ambrose was an American historian, and therefore, the bulk of his primary material would have been gleaned from American sources which, as we have seen recently, are very rarely critical of themselves. But some of his offhand comments are downright insulting, as when he postulates that the British essentially milled about drinking tea at their beaches. None of this is meant to be dismissive of the massive (though slightly delayed) contribution that America and American soldiers, sailors and airforcemen made to the invasion of Europe and eventual collapse of the Nazi Party. There is no question that they were a brave, hard-fighting lot, who paid with their lives so that the world could be free. Australia will forever be thankful to America for its help out here in the Pacific, in such engagements as Battle of the Coral Sea, in stemming and then turning back the Japanese marauders. Make no mistake, the USA and its men and women did their fair share in keeping the world safe. But they weren't the only ones, and it's a shame Ambrose seems to think that way. In the end, though, for Yank readers and assorted governing bodies, who seem a pretty self-congratulatory lot, this will no doubt be held high as first-class history for a long long time to come. But for everybody else, Stephen Ambrose's 'D-Day', as a history, is uneven at best and completely infuriating at worst. However, as a rollicking blockbuster airport novel that can be chewed down and then immediately tossed aside, you could certainly do a lot worse.
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