Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hilter's Eagle'Snest: Amazon.ca: Books

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As grippingly as any novelist, preeminent World War II historian Stephen Ambrose tells the horrifying, hallucinatory saga of Easy Company, whose 147 members he calls the nonpareil combat paratroopers on earth circa 1941-45. Ambrose takes us along on Easy Company's trip from grueling basic training to Utah Beach on D-day, where a dozen of them turned German cannons into dynamited ruins resembling "half-peeled bananas," on to the Battle of the Bulge, the liberation of part of the Dachau concentration camp, and a large party at Hitler's "Eagle's Nest," where they drank the madman's (surprisingly inferior) champagne. Of Ambrose's main sources, three soldiers became rich civilians; at least eight became teachers; one became Albert Speer's jailer; one prosecuted Bobby Kennedy's assassin; another became a mountain recluse; the despised, sadistic C.O. who first trained Easy Company (and to whose strictness many soldiers attributed their survival of the war) wound up a suicidal loner whose own sons skipped his funeral.

The Easy Company survivors describe the hell and confusion of any war: the senseless death of the nicest kid in the company when a souvenir Luger goes off in his pocket; the execution of a G.I. by his C.O. for disobeying an order not to get drunk. Despite the gratuitous horrors it relates, Band of Brothers illustrates what one of Ambrose's sources calls "the secret attractions of war ... the delight in comradeship, the delight in destruction ... war as spectacle." --Tim Appelo

Ingram

They fought on Utah Beach, in Arnhem, Bastogne, the Bulge; they spearheaded the Rhine offensive and took possession of Hitler's Eagle's Nest in Berchtesgaden. This gripping depiction of Easy Company re-creates some of the most critical moments of WWII and offers insights into the commanders and regular soldiers--the heroes who manned the battlefields. Photos. Maps.

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First Sentence
THE MEN OF EASY COMPANY, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, U.S. Army, came from different backgrounds, different parts of the country. Read the first page

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4.5 out of 5 stars (163 customer reviews)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great look at a small group of heroic vets, Jun 11 2004

By

Eric San Juan (Brick, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest (Paperback)

If you're coming to this book after seeing the Stephen Spielberg miniseries of the same name, know this: Yes, you will get a load of new information on the "characters" you grew to love in that series. And yes, you are likely to enjoy this book.

Stephen Ambrose wasn't the greatest pure writer in the world - he won't dazzle you with his prose - but he was adept at giving the reader revealing glimpses of life as a soldier in World War II. That's exactly what he does here in Band of Brothers, which inspired the dazzling 10-hour HBO miniseries of the same name. The day-to-day life of the WWII soldier comes alive in the pages of this book.

Crisp and fast-paced, Band of Brothers does not get as bogged down in detail his other best-known works WWII, D-Day and Citizen Soldier. For the researcher that might not be a good thing, but for the general reader (especially the casual reader simply looking for some insight into WWII) it provides a good read that educates AND entertains. That's a valuable mix in bringing history to the masses.

Those who have read both Citizen Solider and D-Day might appreciate the brief dip back into Ambrose waters, but they might also be turned off by the anecdotes from those books repeated here. It appears much of the research that went into those books was also used for Band of Brothers. That's not to say there is nothing new here. There is. This is a book smaller in scope because the focus is on one company - Easy Company of the 101st Airborne.

Ambrose takes us from training to the end of the war, following the successes and failings of Easy Company. We experience their story in their own voice, as remembered by the actual men of Easy Company. The book is a great standalone read, and makes for a fabulous supplement to the miniseries.

Band of Brothers is a good, solid World War II read that should satisfy all save the most scholarly of WWII readers. They would be better off avoiding this in lieu of a tome more dense with information. This is history for mass appeal. At its core, Band of Brothers is a book that allows a group of WWII vets to recount old war stories. And that makes for some enjoyable reading.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, Dec 13 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest (Hardcover)

I cannot begin to say enough good things about Band of Brothers. It is one of the best books I have ever had the pleasure of reading. I'm not usually one to read a book over again but this one I have read 7 times. Its great because the book starts right at the begining with the men in training to be paratroopers. You get a chance to come to love these brave men right from the first pages. The battle scenes are really well described which gives you the feeling of what it must have been like for the men to be in combat. Band of Brothers is a great book that will make almost anyone a lover of the airborne and what else would you expect from such a great author like Ambrose.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A story to remember, Nov 5 2002

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Stephen C. Holtzman (Pointe-Claire, Montreal, Quebec, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest (Paperback)

After viewing last year the HBO special on the Dish Network I was moved by the film. My father was in the Canadian Army During WWII and although he is no longer with us..I can now really appreciate what they all did for us from every country. Band of Brothers made me cry and feel what my father went through. It was an emotional roller coaster that made me proud of what they all did. This book is excellent and so is the video which I purchased earlier this year. I also just pruchased the DVD set.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Better than the movie.
Although the movie was excellent, as always the book was much better. The additional details and characters and their descriptions and actions made it a difficult book to put... Read more

Published 13 months ago by Doc 106

4.0 out of 5 stars Band of Brothers
If you have seen the HBO series then read the book. This book has many extras that the series did not cover. The men of Easy Company knew what team work was about. Read more

Published 21 months ago by James Holmes