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larryerick's review
3.0
So, an award-winning American Civil War historian collects a number of eyewitness accounts from American participants in World War II. Emphasis is on individual, personal accounts, ranging from high-ranking generals and admirals, down through the ranks, all the way to one civilian assigned to a military unit as an interpreter/investigator. Both European and Pacific theaters are well covered, and all military branches. Given the military thread, one might be tempted to compare this to a box of chocolates, where you really never know what you're going to find next. Unfortunately, the level of word craft fluctuates enough in quality from one eyewitness to the next, that this may be better described as a community bake sale, where you not only get sweet and savory morsels worth your attention, but also a few rather bland and slightly burnt offerings. Remarkably, the least coherent reporting came from a military newspaper reporter. Others performed better, if a bit stiff and dry at times, especially officers, who seemed to shift too closely at times toward old habits of submitting official reports, instead of just telling their stories. All in all, this is a decent addendum to broader histories on the subject.
bookhawk's review
3.0
This is a good WWII collection of personal narratives. It is not nearly as compelling as Studs Terkel's "The Good War" which was a Pulitzer winning oral history of WWII. The book has some accomplished authors of other works that tell their stories in the book. Readers who like personal accounts of the war will appreciate the book. Most narratives are 30 to 40 pages making it a good book to read each occasionally when you have 20 to 30 minutes available to read.
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