Band of Brothers (1992)

I bought the book for my son because he was enjoying the series so much and then found myself reading it. Totally unable to put down, as engrossing as was the series for me. Great stuff. ( )

Excellent. ( )

loved it! ( )

For someone who is new to reading military history and WWII this is an entertaining read. As the title implies, the author focuses around the men of Easy Company of the 101st Airborne and describes the war from their perspective. The book is full of grimy details that serve to anchor the horrific reality of war into the minds of civilians far removed from conflict.Ambrose is largely unconcerned with many of the questions historians ask. Instead, he asks the questions of a biographer. Causes for conflict, military strategy, and tactical details were mostly absent from this short book. Considering the author's apparent purpose for this brief book, this is an easily excusable absence but will likely leave more historically-minded readers eager for a less dramatic treatment of the surrounding events.I can see why this book easily became such popular film series, as Ambrose's style of writing felt like the Hollywood version of a good book, except Ambrose did the screenwriting in the actual book. I don't count this to be a fault, simply unique. I guess I'd describe it as a movie-like book. Though we constantly hear of books turning into movies, we rarely hear of movies turning to books. It was as if Ambrose turned the real-life cinema of WWII into a book.I especially appreciated Ambrose's willingness to expose many of these men's faults alongside of their heroics. His descriptions of these men and the rest of those who were a part of the WWII effort seemed to me to be particularly balanced and fair. He praised heroism, but didn't assume a man to be a hero simply because he was in uniform, or saw combat. Ambrose did not fail to appropriate honor to these men but seemed to refrain from overstatements as he reserved his highest compliments for Major Dick Winters and men like him.Perhaps my favorite portion of the book was Ambrose's reflections on what the unique camaraderie of war is like. Borrowing heavily from Glen Gray's "The Warriors: Reflections on Men in Battle" Ambrose effectively attaches both the 'secret attractions' and horrors of war to the historical men who made up Easy Company.I warmly recommend this entertaining read as a small part of a reader's study and consideration of WWII. ( )

Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne From Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest follows the men of Easy Company from when they were trained to be paratroopers at Camp Toccoa in 1942 until the company was disbanded in 1945 in the months following the end of World War II. Stephen E. Ambrose, using information gathered during interviews with some of the surviving members of E Company, begins by detailing the grueling training exercises and excessive discipline they endured under a captain they couldn’t stand and who probably would get them killed when they went into battle. He chronicles the tension leading up to the chaotic D-Day jump into Normandy and follows the men into Holland and the freezing, snowy foxholes of Bastogne. Ambrose goes to great lengths to explain the mindset these men assumed during combat, how they managed to function and work together so well as a team to get the job done, and then how they loosened up when pulled off the front lines and began to dread having to return to the fight.

These men forged a bond that we can never understand, and under the leadership of Major Dick Winters — whose “follow me” approach earned him much respect and admiration — they became heroes, whether they would call themselves that or not. Ambrose doesn’t paint them as saints, though, going into great detail about their drinking, pursuit of women, and all the looting that occurred when they reached Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest in Berchtesgaden. These men, from Winters to the Harvard English Lit major David Webster (featured in the quote at the beginning of my review), become real to readers over the course of the book. And this, coupled with Ambrose’s readable writing style (which is important to me when it comes to non-fiction), is why I loved the book.

Band of Brothers is very descriptive in terms of military strategy (and there’s a map that helped me follow the movement of the troops), but it doesn’t slow the story at all or overshadow the trials and triumphs of the men of Easy Company. I can’t believe how much these men endured, sitting in foxholes for weeks in the cold without proper clothing, and how most of them didn’t break under the pressure and the fear. I especially liked how Ambrose updated readers on the fate of these men after the war, as I’m always curious about those things. I just wish there had been more pictures so I could have put faces to the names.

Full review on Diary of an Eccentric. ( )