D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II |
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Stephen E. Ambrose
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Pages: 656 (Paperback)
ISBN: 0743449746
Pub: Pocket Books
Pub date: 2002-06-05
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 17150
Editorial Review:
Published to mark the 50th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy, Stephen E. Ambrose's D-Day: June 6, 1944 relies on over 1,400 interviews with veterans, as well as prodigious research in military archives on both sides of the Atlantic. He provides a comprehensive history of the invasion which also eloquently testifies as to how common soldiers performed extraordinary feats. A major theme of the book, upon which Ambrose would later expand in Citizen Soldiers, is how the soldiers from the democratic Allied nations rose to the occasion and outperformed German troops thought to be invincible. The many small stories that Ambrose collected from paratroopers, sailors, infantrymen, and civilians make the excitement, confusion, and sheer terror of D-day come alive on the page. --Robert McNamara
Reader Reviews:
d-day (0/0 people found this helpful)
I'm just over half way through this book and I'm very disappointed. I don't think Stephen Ambrose is a very good writer, he seems to repeat himself quite a bit and the personal accounts are handled in a rather clunky manner. I started reading this book after reading his Pegasus Bridge account and although that had the same style of writing at least he didn't spend the entire time comparing American superiority against British inferiority. No, after checking out other reviews here, I'm moving on to something new and will wait for Rick Atkinsons third book in his liberation trilogy or I'll read Max Hastings 'Overlord'. However, I am left with one question. How did Ambrose allow so many British actors to act as Americans in the series Band of Brothers, including the lead part? Obviously he's an author who doesn't care about what happens with his work once he's sold the rights to it. I hope that really annoyed him.
Putting the Record Straight (1/1 people found this helpful)
Ambrose described an alleged incident on Omaha Beach in which a Captain Zappacosta threatened the British coxswain of his landing craft with a pistol in order to make him move closer inshore. Private Robert Sales, the only survivor of that landing craft has since stated that this was a complete invention. It never happened. Sales, who was angered by the allegation, challenged Ambrose in person and asked him to correct it but the writer just brushed it off. There is much more in this vein - Ambrose rarely missed an opportunity to disparage the British individually and collectively. If this is representative of the standard of his research, then this book should be treated with extreme caution. His sections on the Anglo-Canadian contribution to D-Day are in any case lamentably brief. This is just bad history. There are many excellent works about D-Day, but this isn't one of them.
The greatest day (0/2 people found this helpful)
Good book with a nice description of the facts ocurred on that great day. Being american, the writter focus on the action from that quarter. nevertheless it's well written and one more book for world war II readers not to loose.
D-Day, by Ambrose (3/4 people found this helpful)
I was extremely disappointed in this book! Don't get me wrong, it describes the U.S. participation in GREAT detail, BUT it doesn't describe the British involvement until Chapter 28, and the Canadian involvement until Chapter 29! The U.S. were not the only participants in D-Day, even though Eisenhower oversaw it all.
I did a search for D-Day, Canadian viewpoint, and it just so happened that I had just read this book. Had not even thought about writing a review, BUT I felt lead to do so now.
Thanks for 'listening.'
Flawed (3/3 people found this helpful)
The problem with the book is that Omaha takes up so many chapters. The Canadians are not given enough space given their losses and achievements.
The first third of the book is about the preparation for D-Day and is engrossing, however.
There is criticism of the British, but credit to the British Navy and parachutists seems to have been overshadowed by the comments about drinking tea.
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Categories
Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> History -> World History -> World War II 1939-1945 -> Countries -> North America
Books -> Subjects -> History -> World History -> World War II 1939-1945 -> Battles & Campaigns -> D-Day Landings
Books -> Subjects -> History -> World History -> World War II 1939-1945 -> Battles & Campaigns -> General AAS
Books -> Subjects -> History -> World History -> World War II 1939-1945 -> Origins
Books -> Subjects -> History -> World History -> World War II 1939-1945 -> General AAS
Books -> Subjects -> History -> General
Books -> Subjects -> History -> General AAS
Books -> Subjects -> History -> Military History -> General AAS
Books -> Subjects -> History -> Military History -> Wars, Battles & Campaigns -> General AAS
Books -> Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Animal Care & Pets -> General AAS
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