The Greatest Generation

Rating:
Summary: Don't bother
Review: Sentimental, shallow book about WWII vets. I agree with his assessment of the generation, however. Read Stephen Ambrose if you want good WWII books. This book is only selling because the author is a celebrity. Duh.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent book about the WW II generation
Review: Like so many other readers, I too, am the daughter of a World War II vet. Dad didn't really talk about the war when I was young, and if he did, it was more about where he served. Dad was a medic with the US Navy in the South Pacific. Guam, Oakinowa, and Saipan, were a few places where he was stationed. Anyway, he never talked about the horrors that he saw until recently when both the "Greatest Generation" and "Saving Private Ryan" came out. It was through the reading of "The Greatest Generation" (and yes, seeing, "Private Ryan") that I finally understood why Dad couldn't talk about the war. Mostly, I came to appreciate Dad, his generation, and their controbutions to WW II. I even understood him a little bit more than I did before. I thouroughly enjoyed this book. It was very well written and thought provoking. I think that this book should be required reading for everyone because it shows just why the controbutions the WW II generation were so important, and how they continue to affect us today.

Rating:
Summary: Great Generation, Lousy Book
Review: Don't bother reading this book. Brokaw's sham will teach you nothing about the Second World War. Instead, read Studs Terkel's THE GOOD WAR or anything by Paul Fussell. Better yet, go talk to a veteran...We're lucky they're still around.

Rating:
Summary: Enduring saga....
Review: So I purchased this book for my about to be 80-year old father, who did his tour of duty in Normandy, and elsewhere. It's this veteran's opinion that will count -- but I kept wishing that the book had been written and had the voice of Walter Cronkite whose chronicles of WWII were an indelible memory and part of my childhood. I bet even Tom Brokaw would nod "yes" in agreement to that....

Rating:
Summary: surprising inaccuracies
Review: An interesting concept containing a series of stumbling blocks that impede the reader's progress down the Brokaw path. Examples: In dealing with both the Womens Army Corps (WAC) and the United States Army Air Corps, Brokaw consistently mis-names the units. The Army Air Corps was NOT the Army Air Force. The WAC began with the WAAC - Womens Army Auxillary Corps- which converted (with the necessity of WAAC members being sworn into the Army), and became the Womens Army Corps. Brokaw consistently and incorrectly refers to it as the WACs -both in the text and in the index on page 412 of the book. I also wondered how the editor had managed to ignore the structure of a sentence on page 190... "Lieutenent Settle spent the rest of the war supervising medical technicians at the hospital with no difficulties." My flow of reading was too often impeded by technical error.

Rating:
Summary: Truly the "mother of all generations!"
Review: This book is long overdue. It should be required reading in classrooms all across this country. The younger generations need to know what sacrifices were made to give them the life they now live and appreciate it more and not take it for granted. If we had another world war right now we would lose because our young people don't have what it takes to be responsible and fight for a common goal.

Rating:
Summary: Great tribute to a deserving generation
Review: As my father noted, (he's a WW II veteran of the Third Division who was in Africa, Italy and France), no mention was made in the book of the Third Division, which had more casualties, saw more combat and won more Congressional Medals of Honor than the Big Red. This is a glaring omission, which Mr. Brokaw should correct in the next edition. Please forward this critique to Mr. Brokaw. Many thanks.

Rating:
Summary: This book was thought-provoking and informative.
Review: I read this book and finally began to understand all the things that my dad would never talk about concerning the war. The stories are well written and thought provoking. The very fact that these people came home and did their best to be good citizens and make good lives without complaining speaks volumes about that generation. Now we saw soldiers crying about having to leave their families during Desert Storm. Do we think it was any easier for the generation during WWII? This book shows us how "me centered" we are. Another thing, now soldiers came back from the Viet Nam or Desert Storm wars and blame everything on their military experience. The WWII generation sucked it up and went on with their lives. They got over it. Makes me sort of ashamed of the way my generation deals with life experiences.

Rating:
Summary: Not The Greatest, But, A Very Good Generation.
Review: Brokaw wouldn't sell many books with that title so he had to fog it in a bit. Yes, my parents generation gave willingly and sacrificed much. They had a definition of what the words duty, honor and commitment meant more than my generation does and, I fear, more than my children's generation.

However, the lads who risked it all back in 1776 were our greatest generation. No other one even comes close. These were wealthy men who could have settled with The Crown and remained rich. But, they didn't. They risked it all for the sake of an idea. Then, made that idea work better and stronger than any society in the history of the world. Adams, Jefferson, Washington, etc. They were our Greatest Generation.

Rating:
Summary: "A great insite into this generation's future!"
Review: The Greatest Generation is a fabulous piece of work which transports the reader back to the 1940s and then goes on to show how it's survivors went on to influence our world. Upon completion of the book I began to think, how will my generation affect the world?