Books

The New Crop (Inspired by the 60th Anniversary) | Lewis, Omaha Beach: A Flawed Victory | Ambrose, D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II | Cornelius Ryan, The Longest Day | Ambrose, The Victors | Other Books | Bibliographies and Reading Guides

Real Audio: Stephen Ambrose on NPR's Morning Edition, taking about Citizen Soldiers: The U.S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany. The second part covers segregation and medics. Only the first part relates directly to the Normandy campaigns.

The New Crop

Eight New D-Day Books reviewed by Taylor Downing for the Observer.

The Fall of the Reich: D-Day to the Fall of Berlin, 1944–1945 by Duncan Anderson, Head of War Studies at the Royal Military Academy. Amazon in the US isn't offering D-Day Companion, edited by Anderson and described by the Observer as the best of the books to come out for the 60th anniversary, but here's the British Amazon page.

Review of D-Day Companion from the Military Book Club.

D-Day: The First 72 Hours by William F. Buckingham. Described by Hampshire's D-Day page as stuffed with "wonderful detail about the weapons, the machines and the men that fought on D-Day." Taylor Downing's 8-book Observer multi-review heralds its "mass of wonderful detail about the weapons, the machines and the men."

D-Day by Martin Gilbert, biographer of Churchill. Publisher's blurb. Taylor Downing's 8-book Observer multi-review says:

"Martin Gilbert's D-Day is a short book on a big subject. So key moments become a few sentences. Gilbert is good on the years of planning and on the deception."

The Fighting First: The Untold Story of the Big Red One on D-Day by Flint Whitlock.

The Bedford Boys: One American Town's Ultimate D-Day Sacrifice by Alex Kershaw, which follows the young men of Bedford, VA (population 3,000), who fought together in the 116th Regiment of the 29th Division. Nineteen died within minutes of the landing. Taylor Downing (Observer) calls it a "a poignant story that humanises the D-Day sacrifice."

D Day Bombers: The Veterans' Story by Stephen Darlow. Not yet released as of 5/26/04 (Publisher's blurb.)

D-Day: Reflections of Courage by Dan Parry, from the BBC. I'm not sure what this book has to recommend it.

D-Day: The Greatest Invasion - A People's History by Dan van der Vat, with a forward by John S. D. Eisenhower. The author has a wonderful book site, including a very comprehensive eyewitnesses page with references to his book and many external links (I stole them all, but I suspect he stole some from me too!). Also check out the look inside section, which showcase the book's superior layout.

Ambrose, D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II

Amazon. D-Day June 6, 1944 : The Climactic Battle of World War II by Stephen E. Ambrose. Amazon has over 138 reader reviews. They are, on the whole, positive. The most common complaint that Ambrose depreciates non-American armies, the British in particular. Also available in hardcover.

Chapter 25: "'It Was just Fantastic': Afternoon on Omaha Beach" Excerpt courtesy the official Stephen Ambrose site.

Web Archive: BookNotes' Brian Lamb interviews Stephen Ambrose on D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II, June 5, 1994.

Student biography of Steven Ambrose by Jarret Clark for the Mississippi Writers and Musicians Project at Starkville High School

Lewis, Omaha Beach: A Flawed Victory,

Amazon. Omaha Beach : A Flawed Victory by Adrian R. Lewis. New book, critiques the bloody landing.

The introduction from the book, courtesy Univ. NC Press.

Review: Wilmington Star by Ben Steelman.

Cornelius Ryan, The Longest Day

Amazon. The Longest Day : June 6, 1944 by Cornelius Ryan, "a true classic of World War II history." Thirty-plus Amazon reviewers.

"You've seen the movie, now read the book on D-Day," review by Elisabeth Sherwin.

Ryan was a good storyteller and his history book is hard to put down. Unlike the movie, this book gives the reader a slightly bigger picture of what happened in the hours leading up to and during June 6, 1944. We find out, for instance, that the Dog Green Sector of Omaha Beach (where the action in the movie took place) was heavily defended by the Germans, but that some Allied troops landing on nearby beaches met hardly any resistance at all.

For the 1962 movie based on Ryan's book see Television, Movies and Video.

Ambrose, The Victors

Amazon. The Victors : Eisenhower and His Boys : The Men of World War II by Stephen E. Ambrose.

Excerpt: "Chapter 8: Pointe-Du-Hoc " from Stephen Ambrose' The Victors: Eisenhower and His Boys: The Men of World War II. From the official Stephen Ambrose site.

Other Books

D-Day: "Operation Overlord" from Its Planning to the Liberation of Paris (Classic Conflicts) by Bernard C. Nalty and Russell A. Prichard.

Review of After D-Day: Operation Cobra and the Normandy Breakout by James Jay Carafano. Described by the homonymous website. [THIS SEEMS BROKEN]

Review of Currahee! A Screaming Eagle at Normandy by Donald R. Burgett. Reviewed (together with two other Screaming Eagles books) by Bill Stone for Stone and Stone.

Review of Breakout at Normandy: The 2nd Armored Division in the Land of the Dead. by Mark Bando. Reviewed by Bill Stone for Stone and Stone.

Web Archive: Review of Steel Inferno: I SS Panzer Corps in Normandy by Michael Reynolds. Reviewed by Bill Stone for Stone and Stone.

Review of Beyond the Beachhead: The 29th Infantry Division in Normandy by Joseph Balkoski (1989). Reviewed by the "After D-Day" website.

Citizen Soldiers : The U.S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany, June 7, 1944-May 7, 1945 by Stephen E. Ambrose.

Amazon. Spearheading D-Day : American Special Units of the Normandy Invasion by Jonathan Gawne. Seven customer reviews, all giving it the highest possible rating (!).

Review of Spearheading D-Dayby Cookie Sewall for "Missing Links," a modeling site.

Bibliographies and Reading Guides

Excellent D-Day bibliography from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library.

"The 10 Classic Must Read and Sometimes Overlooked Books on the Normandy Campaign" courtesy the "After D-Day" website.

Web Archive: Eisenhower's "People of western Europe: a landing was made..." from Bellingham Antique Radio .