Starred review from March 31, 2008
This keystone of the bestselling WWII trilogy dramatizes D-Day and ups the bar for military historicals, demonstrating that Shaara (The Rising Tide
) has hit full stride. The epic-scale novel opens on January 25, 1944, with British commandos gathering soil samples on Omaha Beach to assess landing sites. Shaara gives the Americans, called “the great waves of steel” by the Germans, their due portion in the grisly, brutal Allied invasion, and the experiences of the grunt soldiers—most notably the indefatigable U.S. Army Sgt. Jesse Adams—offers a field-level view of D-Day and afterward, generating more suspenseful reading than the matter-of-fact accounts of the big-brass dealings of Eisenhower and Churchill. The Allied leaders' personalities emerge with agile clarity, while German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel embodies “the good soldier” laboring under a delusional Hitler and German High Command ensconced in cozy Berlin. Rommel's ambivalent complicity in the assassination plot on Hitler is convincingly rendered and paves the way for the final act. The muscular prose, deft sense of military drama and relentless pacing are well suited for this crackerjack saga.
Starred review from May 15, 2008
Shaara's second entry in his World War II trilogy (after "The Rising Tide") is a magnificent and epic telling of the terrible days of the D-day invasion in June 1944. As before, Shaara effectively uses the technique of adding thoughts, dialog, and intense action to flesh out the real historical characters and events of D-day. The author lets readers share the doubts, hopes, frustrations, and fears of both the great leaders and the ordinary soldiers who have to carry out what the great ones have planned. Nor does he ignore the political implications of each nation's actions, which sometimes caused tragic miscalculations on both sides. There is no sugarcoating the horrors of war; nobody is spared. Shaara portrays his characters as human and fully capable of pettiness and making bloody mistakes and committing atrocities. Intense, compelling, and thoroughly researched, this is much more than just an excellent historical novel. Highly recommended for all fiction collections.Robert Conroy, Warren, MI
Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
June 1, 2008
This is the second volume of Shaaras planned trilogy of novels dealing with Americas role in World War II in Europe. Here Shaaras topic is D-Day, the Allied effort to begin the liberation of Nazi-occupied Europe by amphibious landings on the coast of Normandy. With decades of hindsight, the success of the Normandy invasion may seem inevitable and a tribute to Allied forces. As Shaaras fine novel illustrates, however, success was far from assured, and the planning fell short in numerous ways. Paratroopers missed their drop sites by miles; air cover for the debarking troops was sporadic; and units became quickly separated on the beaches. On the German side, similar confusion reigned. Although this is technically a work of fiction, Shaara again relies on actual historical figures to tell his story, including Generals Eisenhower, Bradley, Rommel, and von Rundstedt.Although the dialogue is invented, Shaara knows the men and the material so their thoughts and conversations are credible. In the end, it appears, Allied success was due to the actions of hundreds of ordinary soldiers, who combined courage with the ability to improvise when the best laid plans broke down, as they so often do in war.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)
May 12, 2008
Just as his father captured the heart of the Civil War with such fine novels as The Killer Angels, Shaara has done the same with his tremendous non-fiction saga of the Allied landings on Omaha Beach in Normandy. Anthony Heald is an ideal reader; his authority relays the epic story in a way that never loses track of the humans affected by war. He brings historical figures like Eisenhower and Rommel to life, but his best work is portraying the ordinary troops who did the war's heavy lifting. The audiobook feels like a group of soldiers and sailors sitting around in a VFW lounge, swapping stories of the greatest event in their lives, with Heald giving their memories voice. The abridgement trims the book but not its power. A Ballantine hardcover (Reviews, Mar. 31).