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| Band of Brothers : E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest | 
 enlarge | Author: Stephen E. Ambrose
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Category: Book
List Price: $27.00
Buy New: $3.40
You Save: $23.60 (87%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (424 reviews)
Sales Rank: 37636
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.3
ISBN: 0743216385
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.5421
EAN: 9780743216388
ASIN: 0743216385
Publication Date: June 1, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
They came together, citizen soldiers, in the summer of 1942, drawn to Airborne by the $50 monthly bonus and a desire to be better than the other guy. And at its peak -- in Holland and the Ardennes -- Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Divison, U.S. Army, was as good a rifle company as any in the world.From the rigorous training in Georgia in 1942 to the disbanding in 1945, Stephen Ambrose tells the story of this remarkable company. In combat, the reward for a job well done is the next tough assignment, and as they advanced through Europe, the men of Easy kept getting the tough assignments. They parachuted into France early D-Day morning and knocked out a battery of four 105 mm cannon looking down Utah Beach; they parachuted into Holland during the Arnhem campaign; they were the Battered Bastards of the Bastion of Bastogne, brought in to hold the line, although surrounded, in the Battle of the Bulge; and then they spearheaded the counteroffensive. Finally, they captured Hitler's Bavarian outpost, his Eagle's Nest at Berchtesgaden. They were rough-and-ready guys, battered by the Depression, mistrustful and suspicious. They drank too much French wine, looted too many German cameras and watches, and fought too often with other GIs. But in training and combat they learned selflessness and found the closest brotherhood they ever knew. They discovered that in war, men who loved life would give their lives for them. This is the story of the men who fought, of the martinet they hated who trained them well, and of the captain they loved who led them. E Company was a company of men who went hungry, froze, and died for each other, a company that took 150 percent casualties, a company where the Purple Heart was not a medal -- it was a badge of office.
Amazon.com
As grippingly as any novelist, preeminent World War II historian Stephen Ambrose tells 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 grueling 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 madman's (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 Bobby Kennedy's assassin; another became a mountain recluse; the despised, sadistic C.O. 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 G.I. by his C.O. 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
Amazon.com Audibook Review
The men of E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne, volunteered for this elite fighting force because they wanted to be the best in the army--and avoid fighting alongside unmotivated, out-of-shape draftees. The price they paid for that desire was long, arduous, and sometimes sadistic training, followed by some of the most horrific battles of World War II. Actor Cotter Smith--a veteran of numerous TV movies and Broadway plays--spins Stephen Ambrose's tale with almost laconic ease. Anecdote by anecdote, he lets the power of the story build. By the time the company has gotten through D-day and seized Hitler's Eagle's Nest in Bavaria, we feel we know as much about the men and their missions as we do about our own brothers. (Running time: 5 hours, 4 cassettes) --Lou Schuler
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| Customer Reviews: Read 419 more reviews...
 Real American Heroes August 21, 2008
Band of Brothers is the kind of stories I used to hear from my father and uncles of their experiences in World War Two. Stephen Ambrose has a particular talent for making the reader feel all the emotions these very brave men went through. I read the book before I saw the HBO mini-series, and I bought the autdo book for when I am traveling. I never want to forget, and I hope the country never forgets what these citizen soldiers did to change the world we live in.
It's been said already, but I'll say it again July 18, 2008
This book defines what it means to be an American Soldier. It's a story of victory, defeat, good times and hellish times. It's not just a war story; it's a story of the human spirit. I recommend those of you who typically distance yourselves away from war stories to make an exception. This story is at times exciting, at times heart warming and at times tear jerking. I love it and I can't wait to read Major Winter's memoirs when the book arrives.
 Very poor quality July 10, 2008
Firstly, I find it staggering that 319 people have given this book a 5 star rating. Granted, if you didn't have much of a background in reading military history then you could be forgiven for thinking that this book is an accurate portrayal of the 506th and the war in North-West Europe in general. However, for those readers who have read more than one book, Ambrose's book will show itself as poorly-reaserched and relying heavily on oral history which is fraught with dangers and pitfalls (most of which feature heavily in 'Band of Brothers').
Having also read Ambrose's 'Pegasus Bridge', it is clear that he favoured oral history over true, in-depth research. The book is essentially the collected memories of a small selection of WWII veterans from E Company, 506th Parachute Infantry of the 101st Airborne Division, attempting to tell the tale of combat operations in the 1944 - 45 period.
The star of the show is Richard (Dick) Winters. One soon sees that Ambrose holds Winters in the highest esteem, some of which is justified given Winters combat record and the success rate that Easy Coy had under his command. However, the way in which Ambrose denigrates anyone who might take the shine of Winter's star is quite appalling. There are a number of interviews and quotes from other company members, but it Winters who is the central character and his recollections which move the book along.
As previously mentioned, Ambrose loves oral history, which given that the book was written decades after the described events leads to an endless chain of mistakes, errors and statements bordering on the defamatory! For example (and one of my personal bugbears), Ambrose repeatedly describes the German mortars as "80mm", whereas in fact they had an "81mm" calibre - nit picky perhaps, but it is this kind of detail that separates the so-so historians from the truly excellent historians. And what's with every tank being called a "Tiger"? In John Keegan's excellent "Encyclopedia of War War II", it is noted that only 1350 PzKfw VI 'Tiger' I Auf E tanks were produced during the entire war - the way Ambrose writes it appears that E Coy fought the entire 1350 of them!!
And that's not all. The Battle of Bulge would appear to have been fought and won solely by the 101st Airborne...whereas in fact the U.S. 9th and 10th Armoured Divisions were the backbone of the Bastogne defence. Nor were there a "dozen crack German armored and infantry divisions", there were elements of five b-grade divisions attacking the Bastogne pocket. Individually, these errors may seem minor, but collectively it indicates a poorly researched narrative, that brings the accurate parts in doubt as well.
There is also the problem of defamatory statements, gross generalisations and unforgivable omissions. From the first moment when you meet Winters, everyone in a command position above him is attacked, no one is spared. Lt Sobel - LtC Strayer - Col Sink - MajGen Taylor. But the most vicious attacks are saved for Lt (later Capt) Sobel, who was E Coy's first commander and widely credited with instilling the discipline that made Easy an excellent fighting unit. Sobel, among other things, is labelled a petty tyrant and an interesting turn of phrase is used to describe Sobel's feet and his penchant for saying Hi Ho Silver! But Winters continues his attacks on just about everyone he can set his sights: the British, the Lieutenants under his command, but most disturbing of all is the casual way he dismissses the Air Force crews based in England as being "slobs" - ignoring the fact that they were dying in their hundreds over Germany on a daily basis (over 500 in the 1943 raid against the ball-bearing factories around the town of Schweinfurt is but one example).
Another personal gripe is the generalisations and omissions. Two particularly important ones come to mind as I type this. Private Gurth and Private Blyth. In the book, Private Gurth is dismissed in one line as man who after the war became a drunk and no-body every heard from him again. Yes, Gurth became an alcholic and struggled with this disease for many, many years before he finally beat it. In the later years of his life he attended many reunions (due to this generalisation Gurth receives no mention at all in the mini-series, which is shameful). Even more shameful is the treatment that Private Blyth receives both in the book and the mini-series. Blyth is treated as a coward and shirker. Almost one entire episode of the mini-series is dedicated to perpetuating this outragerous myth. The mini-series has Blyth wounded by a German sniper and then subsequently dying of his wounds. Yet the real story is that Blyth not only survived the war, but went on to have a very successful military career, with many promotions and service medals. To portray him as a coward is quite unforgivable.
Ambrose's book is simply not up to the task of providing a balanced and detailed history of the American Paratrooper during World War II, his biased and distorted story detracts more than enhances what the Band of Brothers legend was all about.
Bravery and Determination was Unsurpassed May 6, 2008
One of those books; I can't seem to put down. I'm thankful I have watched the movie, Band of Brothers, for I could "picture" everything that was happening though all these pages. This Regiment was truly remarkably determined and proud to be a participant in this long relentless war. How do you understand anything, unless you were there and have gone through all the circumstances? There are so many things we don't realize or understand and this book almost took you there to see what they had to experience. To be so proud and honored is an understatement for men like these and for all of our Military.
WWII classic from Ambrose April 30, 2008
Like the movies "Saving Private Ryan" and "Gettysburg", this book (I haven't seen the HBO miniseries) left me fighting tears of pride as I understand my country's greatness and tears of shame as I understand the individual sacrifice such greatness takes, and wonder if I have done anything (let alone enough) to deserve this sacrifice.
E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne spent two year's in training and staging, and a year in combat in Europe, landing behind Utah Beach on D-Day, then fighting under impossible circumstances in the Battle of the Bulge. The training, the combat, and the leadership of E company created indeed a remarkable bond of brotherhood not always reached under such difficult circumstances.
As one of E Company's veterans told a grandson in answer to the question "were you a hero in the war?":
"'No,' I answered, 'but I served in a company of heroes.'"
Ambroses' Citizen Soldiers: The U. S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany is also a classic. See my review there.
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