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| Adele |
Posted - May 19 2003 : 1:11:59 PM
In a completely different category from my last recommendation...I have to suggest Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose for anyone, like me, who has an interest in WWII.
I haven't seen the tv series yet, which I hear is very good, but I can't believe it is as good as the book!
Band of Brothers is a tribute to the men of Easy Company, a paratroop rifle company in the US army. Starting with their training in Georgia, it follows the company right through to the end of the war, and a last chapter on what happened to them after the war.
I am a big fan of Stephen Ambrose, author of one of my favourite WWII books (D-Day), which I have recommended on this board before. This particular author really manages to bring history alive through its participants, without taking liberties with the facts. His work is thoroughly researched, and always has a very human focus - which is always what captures my interest.
HM
PS Has anyone read 'We Were Soldiers Once....And Young' by Lt.Gen Harold G.Moore (Ret) and Joseph L Galloway? It is the next book sitting on my pile of books to read, and I was wondering if anyone had an opinion on it? |
| 7 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Wilderness Woman |
Posted - May 23 2003 : 12:36:11 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Jayne
...I did read one that I thought was very interesting called WE BAND OF ANGELS by Elizabeth Norman. It's about American nurses trapped on Bataan by Japanese forces and events prior to that. The author contacted and interviewed some of the surviving nurses for part of the book. I guess I was particularly interested since my grandmother was an Army nurse stationed in the Pacific.
Coincidentally, this subject has been much on my mind lately. Not because of a book I read, but a movie I saw on TV just recently. It is called "Paradise Road" and was made in 1997.
And now, I am going to move over to the Movie forum to continue telling about this one.
Anyone care to join me? |
| Adele |
Posted - May 23 2003 : 02:27:00 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Jayne
Huggy,
I haven't read many books about WWII, but I did read one that I thought was very interesting called WE BAND OF ANGELS by Elizabeth Norman. It's about American nurses trapped on Bataan by Japanese forces and events prior to that. The author contacted and interviewed some of the surviving nurses for part of the book. I guess I was particularly interested since my grandmother was an Army nurse stationed in the Pacific. Thought you might enjoy reading about that aspect of the war.
Jayne
Oh I see my 'wish list' growing by the second! That sounds right up my street Jayne, thanks.
HM |
| Jayne |
Posted - May 23 2003 : 12:30:48 AM
Huggy,
I haven't read many books about WWII, but I did read one that I thought was very interesting called WE BAND OF ANGELS by Elizabeth Norman. It's about American nurses trapped on Bataan by Japanese forces and events prior to that. The author contacted and interviewed some of the surviving nurses for part of the book. I guess I was particularly interested since my grandmother was an Army nurse stationed in the Pacific. Thought you might enjoy reading about that aspect of the war.
Jayne |
| Adele |
Posted - May 21 2003 : 4:24:00 PM
Thanks for this perspective. I enjoyed D-Day very much because I think Stephen Ambrose had a style of writing that was so enjoyable and made history so vibrant - a lesson that could be learned by other non-fiction writers.
As far as historical inaccuracies are concerned, I don't think any non-fiction writer gets it completely right, but from what you have said, the kind or errors that Ambrose made were rather inexcusable and suggests his research wasn't quite as thorough as it should have been.
With regards to the articles points about Saving Private Ryan, Omaha Beach etc, I bought a very interesting book a while back called Omaha Beach, V Corps' Battle for the Normandy Beaches by Tim Kilvert-Jones which makes up part of the Battleground Europe series. They are books written specifically as a guide for the battlefield visitor. They contain not only the history of events, but also maps, walks, photos and points of interest. I bought the book with a view to returning to Normandy with more knowledge than on previous visits when I had been very moved by what I had seen, and wished that I had known more about the events. Anyhoo, this book definitely paints a different picture to the one Ambrose paints, however, there is reference to a British coxwain being 'forced' to take his craft further inshore by Sergeant William Norfleet of D Company.
HM |
| CT•Ranger |
Posted - May 20 2003 : 1:55:23 PM
Ambrose was one of the most popular American historians, and still is after his death last Oct.
The problem which often occurs when one is such a prolific writer as Ambrose was, is that incorrect details have a greater chance of slipping through the editing process. And of course, whith fame comes criticism. I remember some controversy amongst some historians and reenactors over some minor inaccuracies in Undaunted Courage his book about Lewis & Clark.
I found this article on the net about an alleged case of plagiarizing an incorrect source in D-Day
"Surely one of the most important casualties of plagiarism is historical accuracy, for how can source be checked if the information comes second or third hand?
Take "D-Day. The Climactic Battle of World War II" as an example, and more specifically the chapter "Visitors to Hell", which tells the story of 1st Battalion 116th Infantry Regiment landing on Omaha Beach. There are tales in this chapter of soldiers being dumped at sea and a British coxswain being forced at gunpoint by a Captain Zappacosta to go closer to the beach. This is quite simply stuff and nonsense.
My father-in-law was the first officer of the Royal Navy flotilla which took 1st Battalion 116th Infantry Regiment to Omaha Beach from the SS Empire Javelin. He was in command of the first wave of landing craft which landed A Company 116th Infantry Regiment in front of the Vierville-sur-Mer draw at 06:30. Reading the chapter "Visitors to Hell" made his blood boil, and many other veterans felt the same way.
Taking the Zapacosta incident as an example. It simply did not happen. Reports of this incident first appeared in an article in the November 1960 edition of The Atlantic Monthly by S. L. A. Marshall. Only one soldier survived D-Day from this particular LCA landing craft, a Bob Sales who was Captain Zapacosta's bodyguard and stood right next to him all the way in to the beach. Bob Sales is still alive today and lives in Virginia. Bob Sales has tried for years to refute these accounts of Captain Zapacosta and has written notarised documents and recorded tapes to state very clearly that Captain Zapacosta did not and would not have behaved in this way. Can anyone really expect that a Captain in the US Army on D-Day would readily pull a gun to the head of a British sailor?
Furthermore, the British veterans from this flotilla have no recollection of any such incidents, for they simply did not happen. The flotilla that three companies of 1st Battalion 116th Infantry Regiment lost 8 out of 16 landing craft on D-Day, with most if the remainder severely damaged. Whilst many soldiers and sailors were killed, landing craft returned to the beach to rescue sailors from stricken landing craft and to take back some wounded soldiers. The lead landing craft for the first wave is reported as "vaporised" along with Captain Taylor Fellers of A Company 116th IR in Stephen Ambrose's book. This simply did not happen.
Only one landing craft was lost from the first wave. LCA911 sank about 1000 yards from the beach when the front of the LCA disintegrated due to damage sustained during a collision with another leading craft during the lowering from Empire Javelin.
My father-in-law's LCA is reported as vaporised, yet he returned the LCA to the Empire Javelin full of sailors and soldiers he had rescued from the beach and the sea.
Captain Fellers was killed leading A Company across open beach in front of the Vierville-sur-Mer draw.
The truth is that the facts are available to arrive at an accurate account of what happened in front of the Vierville-sur-Mer draw on Dog Green, Omaha Beach on D-Day. They are available from historical documents, many written by US Military historians in 1944, and from first-hand accounts from veterans who were there.
Stephen Ambrose's "Visitors to Hell" is not only historically inaccurate, it has caused a great deal of harm by dishonouring veterans and desecratin |
| richfed |
Posted - May 20 2003 : 06:22:47 AM
Ambrose ... I read one book authored by him - Crazy Horse and Custer - not bad, but certainly not one of the standard references.
I remember hearing, one or two years ago, of an alleged plagiarism event by Ambrose. However, I never really heard the outcome. Anyone know the deal on him?
I know he's respected, but if that were true, it must certainly have tainted his prestige ... |
| CT•Ranger |
Posted - May 19 2003 : 5:18:32 PM
I've seen the "Band of Brothers" series at least three times, some episodes more. There's ten episodes in all, plus one special feature disc.
It was produced by Spielberg and Hanks, and is much, much better than that pile crap "Saving Private Ryan." SPR was just practice for BOB. The set for BOB was 5 times larger than the SPR set, with a huge indoor forest set, and several built from scratch tanks. The actors in BOB were way better than in SPR, with Damien Lewis as Winters. Overall, everything in BOB is way better than SPR, and it's much more realistic.
Every guy I know who has seen at least one episode is completely hooked.
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