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Currahee! : A Screaming Eagle at Normandy

Currahee! : A Screaming Eagle at Normandy

List Price: $9.99
Your Price: $8.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Currahee
Review: An amazing account of a paratrooper in the screaming eagles. He takes us through the grinding tedium of training to the fast paced exertion of gruelling combat. His accounts of death in battle are harrowing in the way the mind does not allow compassion under the tight grip of close quarter war for the soldier of World War II. Whether or not you agree with his apparent detachment of both pity or compassion for taking another life he portrays it as simply as it went forth. It is neither an over bearing or soul wrenching account. Just a quiet record of his war. Which makes this, in my eyes, the best account ever written by a regular soldier.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good Begining.
Review: Burgett's first work Currahee is a great accomplishment of WWII writing only exceeded by his second book "Seven Roads to Hell." I thought the writing was a little sloppy and it was not as intense as his second book. I did enjoy my introduction to some of the men I remembered from his second book. If read in order I bet they would flow nicely together. I would like to see Burgett revise this narrative a little to improve the writing of the book. He has become such a great writer and story teller which is evident from his second book and now as I read his third book, it becomes even more apparent. I can not wait for his fourth work to be published!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the Best ETO Memoirs....
Review: Burgett's memoir was initially published in 1967. It came out when most books on World War II were about generals, or not even about the fighting. Burgett's book was a reminder that war is essentially about young men trying to kill other young men and the hell of it all. I purchased this book when Bantam reissued it under the title "As Eagles Screamed." I still have that copy and have read it several times.
All I can say is that if you're picking up this book for the first time, you're in for a treat. If you've already read it, well then you know how good it is. Burgett's books are a fine companion piece to Ambrose's "Band of Brothers." In some ways, it's even better because we see the whole war through the eyes of one man who survived it's most horrible moments.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "The 101st...a rendezous with destiny."
Review: By war's end, the 506th of the 101st Div. suffered over 350 % casualties. The author, Donald Burgett was and 18 year old youth in A Company of that outfit. The 101st became the only division to be awarded three Presidential Unit Citations and became Eisenhower's personal honor guard. In this, the first of his books, Burgett tells of his training and night jump on the western flank of the Normandy invasion near Ravenville on the eve of D-Day. This is not cold history; this is the retelling of monumental events through the eye of a combatant who lived through it. His superb first hand account of the battle of Normandy ends with his being wounded and his evacuation.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Graphic account
Review: Currahee! (a battle cry) covers a paratrooper's training and 7 days of intense combat in the Normandy invasion. The battle starts by parachuting from a plane a couple hundred feet off the ground, barely high enough for the parachute to open (many others' did not open in time). Dropped about 12 miles from the intended location, the paratroopers gathered in small groups and moved towards the sound of battle. Often with no officers present, they launched themselves at superior forces. This is a fast paced book, with very graphic descriptions of submachine gun and grendade fighting - a great eye-witness account.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 5 Mega Stars
Review: Donald Burgett is one of my favorite authors. He puts you smack in the middle of the action with his superb writing ability. This book deserves more than 5 stars, so 5 Mega Stars is my rating. An EXCELLENT read!

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: 5 stars
Summary: 5 Mega Stars
Review: Donald Burgett is one of my favorite authors. He puts you smack in the middle of the action with his superb writing ability. This book deserves more than 5 stars, so 5 Mega Stars is my rating. An EXCELLENT read!

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: 4 stars
Summary: Riveting first-hand account of paratroopers in Normandy
Review: Donald Burgett served as a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division and gifts us with this remarkable account of his experience during the Allied invasion of Normandy. The first part of the book about the formation of the paratroopers and their early training will be familiar to those who have read Stephen Ambrose's "Band of Brothers" or watched the HBO miniseries. From D-Day forward, however, the stories are very different. In comparison to "Currahee!", BoB appears to be an almost sanatized version of the invasion and fighting in Normandy. In "Currahee!" Burgett does not hesitate to vividly describe the horrors of war - excrutiating wounds, rotting corpses, moments of incredible fear and agony. Even if you think that you are prepared to face these grim realities, you will still find Burgett's frankness disturbing. However, I encourage you not to let this put you off reading this book. Burgett's experience in Normandy was extraordinary, and he does a masterful job of conveying all the terror, exhilaration and grief he experienced. Since this is just one man's story, it necessarily captures only one perspective about a limited part of the invasion, but Burgett's skillful storytelling successfully conveys what many of the troops must have been thinking and feeling during those remarkable days.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of my most favorite books of all time!
Review: Donald Burgett writes with such amazing skill, he puts you there. You are standing in the fields; you hear the screams of the injured and dying; the whistling of the shells; you smell the gunsmoke and blood. You are there with him, experiencing what he experienced. Definately a must-read book, as are all of Donald Burgett's books! I highly recommend them.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent narrative of a paratrooper
Review: Excellent narrative of the training, waiting, and combat of a paratrooper in WWII. It could have used a few more chapter breaks to make it easier to read in discrete chunks, but it is so engrossing you won't want to put it down anyway. The prose is not as polished as Seven Roads, but it is still a fascinating and wonderful glimpse into the life of a young paratrooper in the world's bloodiest war.


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