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Summary: Saving Private Ryan
Review: After seeing "Saving Private Ryan" I was left with a lot of questions about what happened on D-day. This book answered those questions. I think this book is a must read for anyone who wants to understand what it must have been like to live through this time in history.
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Summary: I found this to be an excellent history of D-Day.
Review: As a history teacher I have used this book to make D-Day come alive for my students. It contains many stories of heroism, which students enjoy. It makes history come alive for them. I found the comments of one student most interesting: "I didn't even know what D-Day was until we studied it. I wish I could shake the hand of every soldier who participated and say, Thank You!" This is an excellent book and most enjoyable reading. You can not read it without feeling tremendous appreciation for those who made such a supreme offering for the rest of humanity.
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Summary: It Will Make You Appreciate The True Cost of Freedom
Review: As a hobbyist historian, especially history of this century, I found that D-Day helped put the enormity of the planning, coordination and actual attack into perspective (details that I didn't appreciate). Moreover, Steven Ambrose portrays the feelings and lives of "soldiers" as individuals and how they felt and what they endured. After reading this I toured the Imperial War Museam in London on the 50th anniversary of D-Day. I appreciate what my parents generation did to preserve my freedom.
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Summary: Compelling & A Must Read
Review: At 9 years old, I heard stories from those who served in WWII. Vivid memories. This book, nothwithstanding it's historical significance, was a terrible reminder of the tragedy of war. No one wins in war and the depth of the horror is unimaginable - but this book bridges that gap. I would hope that anyone who wants to rattle their sabre would read this and realize the consequences. There is no way any of us today can thank those who served and died in WWII enough. A wonderful book to the events and courage of those who kept democracy for generations thereafter. Read it and share it with a friend.
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Summary: Stephen Ambrose is the authority on Operation Overlord
Review: From the careful planning to the actual invasion, Stephen Ambrose, the director of the D-Day Museum, has captured the entire campaign of Operation Overlord like never before. You won't want to put this book down!
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Summary: Compelling book with fresh conclusions
Review: I found Ambrose's narrative of the D-Day invasion to be both compelling and accesible, in contrast to other books on the subject. I also welcomed his new conclusions concerning the "German supersoldier" myth which has grown up around the "popular history" of World War II. The desire of so many people to alleviate the German military of tactical responsibility for the war's loss and moral responsibility for its commencement is disturbing, and it is refreshing to hear a contrary voice. I cried many times reading D-Day. It inspired many emotions of horror, patriotism, courage and fear, but ultimately left me with a terrible feeling of waste, as all books on war probably should.
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Summary: Compelling reading
Review: I found the first-person accounts of those Americans who were there both heart-wrenching and heart-warming. Ambrose's depiction of the decimation faced on Omaha Beach brought me to tears. And suddenly, from the near-hopelessness of the battle, the courage to 'adapt and overcome' allowed those who followed on to that beach to press forward. I've read no finer tribute to those brave souls. Perhaps my single complaint is that Ambrose spent so much of his book glorifying the Americans, he seemed to gloss over the accomplishments of the British and Canadians on that day.
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Summary: One Step Away from Being on the Battlefield
Review: I found it hard to put this book down; I read it in a few days. It just happens to be a great book to read for the history of D-Day and info for a battle site tour. I finished the book just before an extensive tour of the entire coast of Normandy. This book brought an entire different outlook on my visit to Normandy-definitely an unforgetable moment!
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Summary: Interesting Book
Review: I think that the book was interesting as it gave a perspective of the battle that would not otherwise be known to a 28 year old. Every reference to D-Day I've heard in history classes was always accompanied by the words "victory" or "courage". While both of these words do apply, the book gave the individuals actually involved in the fighting the opportunity to add words such as "horror", "waste", and "youth." Throughout the book, I often reflected on how these men's lives were cut short or changed forever on that day -never to live the life and the health that my grandfathers enjoyed well after the war was over.
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Summary: A serious disappointment from this historian.
Review: Since I am such a fan of Mr Ambrose's earlier work "Pegasus Bridge," I looked forward to reading this book. It was quite a let-down. Mr Ambrose shines when he lets the people he interviews speak in their own words. Unfortunately, when he attempts to draw some "big picture" conclusions, the work staggers; as, for example, when he states that Eisenhower was a better General than Rommel (blinded perhaps by his blatant hero-worship of the former, painfully obvious throughout the book). And no serious student of the European theater of operations would agree with him on his assessment of the relative combat effectiveness of German troops (in the words of my father, who left several body parts in northeast France "they kicked the shit, wind and water out of us.") He also inexplicably gives short shrift to the other major amphibious operations--notably in the Pacific--where the book on amphib ops was being brilliantly re-written by the Marine Corps & the Navy. Parts of this book are excellent, and I will keep it in my personal library--but it was a major let-down from an author I otherwise admire
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