History Books > Stephen Ambrose History Books

Advantages: All the beaches of D-Day with all it's horrors, humour, ingenuity and bravery
Disadvantages: none

...that was this book - D Day June 1944 ( The Climactic Battle of World War II ). This book tells the story of the preparation for and execution of D-Day analysing every aspect of the Overlord plan and execution. It starts with why they appointed Eisenhower to be the supreme commander, why they chose the beaches they did. The deception used to make Hitler think that the invasion would come to the east of the Seine (so effective he kept his Panzer ...
...it was just a faint and that the "true" invasion would come to the east of the Seine. It then goes through the intense training and preparation of the invasion force. THEN the Day its self. This book is not just reading about what happened (although as you read the book you get the feeling there nothing else you would want to know). It involves you in the story. It lets you get to know some of the soldiers and what they went through. The most ... Read review

Advantages: Superb style, and a great, true story!
Disadvantages: Makes it all too clear how the US would treat the Indian tribes in later years

At the end of the 18th century, there were still huge swathes of unexplored land across the globe – the African interior, the polar regions, and of course that great ‘undiscovered country’ that we now know as the American West. Barely 200 years ago, huge areas that we now blithely refer to in newspaper articles and television programmes were, quite simply, not on the map. In the lands to the west of the newly independent United ...
...on the lands of the indigenous peoples as yet untouched by ‘civilisation’, trying to extend the reach of empire and, of course, make money from the untapped resources of this vast continent. The British, French, Spanish and Russian crowns all had claims on various parts of North America, in direct competition with the young republic on the eastern seaboard, as its population sought ever more land to the west of the Appalachians. In 1804, ... Read review

Advantages: Literally brilliant
Disadvantages: no noticeable faults

Well written account of stupendous achivevemnts by the Ox and Bucks regiment under the command of John Howard far surpasses any achievement of american counterparts on D-Day(call me biased) adavantage of this book are that in previous books written by stephen E ambrose thay have always been written with an american perspective and emphasise and little focus on British achievements during world war 2. this book is completly focused on the cut throat ...
...glider regiment had to secure a heavily guraded bridge crucial to the allied effort in moving inland on D-day to alleviate casualtys on the beaches and cover more ground.An extremley engrossing read, I couldn't put it down and I would rate it as on par if not better than Stephen E Ambroses Band of brothers.The book is clearly presented with a good front and back cover and interesting photographs in the middle section of the book regarding the mission ... Read review

Advantages: An eye opener
Disadvantages: The pictures fell out of the middle of the book after a short time

I bought this book shortly after the mini-series was first shown on TV. I wanted to know more about the likes of Richard Winters, Ron Spears and the rest of the men, and suspected that however faithfully Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks had tried to tell the stories of these extra-ordinary individuals, there might be more in the book. I was not disappointed. The book starts, obviously, at the beginning of the war when, after the bombing of Pearl Harbour ...
...of life, to join the armed forces. I found it particularly amusing to discover that the main reason for alot of the men enlisting in the Airborne Rangers, was not the fact that it was an elite regiment that jumped out of airplanes,but the fact that they would get paid an extra $50 per month, amazing. At this point, Ambrose skillfully introduces the reader to most of the individuals who ended up in Easy Company, briefly but adequately describing ... Read review

Advantages: Excellent account of unprecidented war trial
Disadvantages: Can be hard reading at times

INTRODUCTION After the fall of the Third Reich, the Allies of the United Kingdom, France, The United States and Russia were left with the issue of bringing the Nazi leaders to justice. Whatever they decided would set a precedent; no trial in history had previously been conducted for the top brass of a criminal regime. They understood the importance of any decision they made, as it would hold the key to how war criminals once defeated would ...
...of this ground breaking trial. It is hard to read these kinds of things objectively; for example, my own father served in the British 8th Army during the war, and I would have been a fair way up the regime's hit list, so I can't claim to be in any way neutral. However, I have tried hard to read this book looking from both sides of the trial. It is a great credit to the book that it enables you to do this to a fair degree. Perhaps more fairly that ... Read review