Book Report on "D-Day by Stephen Ambrose"

Book Report 4 pages (1160 words) Sources: 0

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Stephen Ambrose's 1994 book

D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II

Stephen Ambrose

Pocket Books, 2002

The book provides readers with a general account regarding events happening around June 6, 1944. Although the story is accurate, Ambrose failed in describing D-Day from an objective perspective, as he put across a message filled with stereotypes concerning non-Americans and heroic features relating to Americans. Even with that, the writer managed to describe the happenings in Normandy exactly as they were. Ambrose has basically managed to generate a book that combined his talent as a historian with his ability of writing texts meant to captivate his readers.

The Prologue chapter of the book is meant to prepare people for the coming chapters, with Ambrose describing the events that lead to the Allied landing in Normandy and matters in Europe at the time. This section of the book concentrates on providing readers with an overview regarding the matter and with information concerning the role of D-Day in the overall course of the Second World War.

3. Ambrose's D-Day is written in accordance with more than one thousand interviews that the author took to men from the U.S., Britain, Germany, Canada, and France. From reading Ambrose's book, one is likely to gain an erroneous understanding regarding the war and the people involved in it. Whereas Americans are praised and illustrated as being extremely brave in every situation, other militaries (some of them Allied) are shown as being less experienced and generally unable to engage in warfare to the degree to which Americans do it.

Ambrose has a tendency to focus his writing on the Allies and on Americans in particular. This makes it less possible for readers to understand the complete story of June 6, 1944 and to realize that it was much more to it than just American glory. American readers are more likely to appreciate Ambrose's book, since they can identify with the characters and the thinking highlighted by the writer. The German perspective is almost absent from D-Day, virtually leaving leaders with the feeling that Germans were not worthy of being related to. The Allies were certainly completing a noble mission during June 6, 1944, as they had the task of starting the end of the war and gradually freeing Europe from Nazism.

From the very first pages of the book it becomes obvious that Ambrose considers that the landings in Normandy were particularly successful because of the fact that Americans had received superior training and because they had what it took for someone to emerge victorious from the fight on the beach. There are only occasional accounts relating to English, Canadian, or French troops. The writer does not hesitate to express his lack of respect toward German troops, who were apparently poorly trained and unable to resist a force as strong as the American military (Ambrose 518). Ambrose seems reluctant to consider that the landings in Normandy were also successful because of the magnitude of the Allied force, and not necessarily because Americans were superhuman in character.

Even with the fact that Ambrose clearly overestimates the power of American soldiers, he also admits that the success in Normandy was caused by a series of confusions in German command. In his determination to cover as much territory as he possibly could, Hitler scattered his troops across France and only succeeded in weakening German positions. However, Ambrose falsely perceives this as being proof that Germans were scared. The author… READ MORE

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