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Band of Brothers


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

As grippingly as any novelist, preeminent World War II historian Stephen Ambrose uses Band of Brothers to tell 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 gruelling 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 his (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 Robert Kennedy's assassin; another became a mountain recluse; the despised, sadistic CO 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 GI by his CO 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


Stick to the TV series...................
Review date: 2008-10-03 Rating: 2 out of 10

I came to this after watching (and re-watching) the TV series.

As military history is a favourite subject of mine I thought I'd give the book on which the series is based a go, and? Well, I wish I hadn't bothered.

Firstly the book is written by an American, and is written, very much, from the American standpoint - need not have been a problem but as Ambrose would have it, the 'Band of Brothers' won the war single handedly and despite the assistance of the British (characterised, when they are very rarely mentioned, as incompetent, upper class toffs), the French (cowardly, untrustworthy etc). Actually Stephen, the war had been going on quite a while before D-Day (the first action of the 'screaming eagles').

The training camp may have been hard work but I'm sure it was infinitely better than actually doing something, you know, dangerous? fighting perhaps?, maybe Dunkirk?? Oh, but your boys had to run up Currahee in 40 minutes............

Then back to England for a bit of R&R

So where else did they see action? The Battle of the Bulge, horrific yes, but there own incompetence and lack of reconassaince almost certainly contributed to the situation they found themselves in - no mention of this, however.

Now, the big claim to fame - capturing the Eagles Nest - fine, I'll give them that one (although mention should be made of the fact that they put up roadblocks and stopped troops of other nations getting there), but in reality what did capturing this really involve? the Germans had virtually abandoned the place and the few remaining troops were hardly front line and ill prepared to meet any serious opposition. They turned up, looted the place, got drunk and that's about it...........

We spend most of the book in the company of Major Winters, and as mentioned in other reviews, he comes accross as rather self regarding, pompous and arrogant (fit's in well with Ambrose's attitude).

All in all, not worth bothering with if your interested in serious, unbiased military history.

Yes, they were a well trained group of fighting men, are they worthy of all the adulation? probably not in my opinion, or if they are, so are a lot of other people/squadrons/units that fought and suffered (a lot more in most cases) in the war



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Dull - a wasted opportunity.........
Review date: 2008-09-14 Rating: 2 out of 10

Hugely disappointed after seeing the fantastic HBO series on TV. It whetted my appetite and I was approaching this book in a postive frame of mind.

Ambrose's work is barely saved by the fascinating subject matter, failing to pull together anything remotely readable. Throughout the book the reader remains on the outside, the author makes no attempt to engage his audience. We are left with a bare shell of a book, with a painfully weak narrative.

There is no sense of connection with the men of Easy Company, except Winters who he clearly hero worships. It lacks any sense of tension and passion and is written in a strangely detached style. This is rich, vivid material which a talented writer would have turned into a masterpiece. Ambrose fails to capture the raw human emotion of battle and any sense of humanity. As a result its a cold and hollow book.

I'm thinking of Beevor's "Stalingrad" a far superior and readable book, it will take your breath away. One can only imagine what Beevor would have done with this material.

In comparison Band of Brothers lacks range, depth and compassion. None of the bravery and self sacrifice of the ordinary soldier is captured, made worse by some sloppy research......





Good accounts peppered with problems
Review date: 2008-08-12 Rating: 6 out of 10

Stephen Ambrose presents an account of an American paratrooper company in the Second World War. Solely focusing on Easy from beginning to end allows you to really get to know individual members how they lived and as another reviewer said gives you a real insight of stepping out into battle from beginning to end.

My first criticism of the book would be the contribution; it seems those who contributed get put forward in a hero like manner with others who sadly could not contribute sometimes getting portrayed in a very bad light at times. There are times Ambrose goes over board with praise such as Winters quipped this, Winters commanded that and everybody loved Winters. Don't get me wrong I'm not doubting what he did but there are few times in the book the author prioritizes showing Winters and co in a positive light before telling a balanced story (as there are many times often when Easy make mistakes or decisions go wrong usually which result in only a couple of lines explanation) whereas when describing the exploits of the company many more lines are rationed.
Secondly the book is written as if America won the war single handedly there is little mention of the allied troops and when it is it seems to be full of cheap shots towards the English. Ambrose portrays the English as badly trained, cowards in battle with Easy Company saving there day. Like another reviewer said although you can't question their achievements Easy were still a small cog in a very very big machine.

In general a very enjoyable book which if written with less bias showing more angles could have been a 5 star.



Interesting
Review date: 2007-08-13 Rating: 8 out of 10

A good read after watching the HBO series, I would recommend "Beyond Band of Brothers" by Maj Dick Winters, Covers some areas not included in the film or the Book by Ambrose.

Solid but sadly sparse
Review date: 2007-03-26 Rating: 6 out of 10

Having quite recently thoroughly enjoyed the HBO series of the same name, Ambrose's book comes as pleasantly familiar territory, acting to fill in gaps and flesh out characters I had encountered in the series.

The story of Easy Company is an extraordinary one and Ambrose has clearly done them a great service in delivering this history in a reasonably accessible format but before I place too much praise upon the late Ambrose, the book is somewhat flawed in places.

When I watched the Band of Brothers mini-series I found myself extremely moved by the intimate bond that these real comrades in arms build as they progress from their training at Curahee, through their battles at Normandy on D-Day, Carentan, Bastogne and others to finally arrive at Hitler's Eagle's Nest. The book however, whilst providing the basis for the series, feels much sparser and is written in a much more matter-of-fact style that very rarely evoked an emotional connection to those same soldiers.

I found it disappointing that some significant events were covered in very little detail and almost glossed over completely, for example the discovery of the concentration camp. Ambrose's style comes across as almost self-congratulatory and is occasionally brazen enough to quarrel with his interviewees over the fairness of their statements which somewhat diminishes his credibility. Also, for someone who has written a good number of books the level of grammatical accuracy was considerably lacking and I often found myself re-reading sections because an obvious slap-dash attempt at spell checking and too little proof reading had left the wrong words in place which by professional author standards should be considered a particularly unforgivable error.

Overall, whilst somewhat disappointed that I was given a more diminished insight into the lives of Easy company than expected, I should note that I was often glued for several chapters at a time and read the book in a short space of time as I felt drawn back to these real accounts of American soldier's experiences of WWII. I would recommend this book to anyone who, like myself, has seen the series and wishes to learn more but would caution complete newcomers that the experience may be less than overwhelming.


Product Details/Specifications


Authors:
Stephen E. Ambrose

Recording label: Pocket Books
Manufacturer: Pocket Books
EAN: 9780743429900
Binding: Paperback
Dewey decimal number: 909
ISBN: 0743429907
Number of pages: 336
Publication date: 2001-09-17
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: English (Unknown)
Language: English (Published)

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