Review by Booklist Review
Ambrose has already chronicled the GI's experience in Europe in D-Day (1994) and Citizen Soldiers , and this book is a fancy adaptation of his previous work. Still, The Victors has plenty of popularity potential on account of the homage paid to the infantrymen and to the general who led them. Ambrose opens with Ike's appointment as supreme commander of Operation Overlord, then, via the recollections of survivors, lands on Omaha Beach and scales Pointe du Hoc. His emphasis is always on the privates, noncoms, and lieutenants. From firefights in hedgderows, Ambrose turns to the famous tension between Montgomery and Ike. Often recounted, the disagreement originated in strategy, with Monty demanding a dash to Berlin, whereas Ike preferred a broad-front advance. Following this peek into decisions at HQ, Ambrose returns to the ground and the soldiers' grim stories of the failure of the Arnhem attack (a consequence of Monty's idea) and the attrition in the Hurtgen Forest and the Battle of the Bulge (the consequence of Ike's idea). (Reviewed October 1, 1998)068485628XGilbert Taylor
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Ambrose has established himself as both a major biographer of Dwight Eisenhower and the definitive chronicler of America's combat soldiers in the D-Day campaign of 1944-45. But after Citizen Soldiers, he'd sworn off war and given away his WWII books. Then his editor convinced him to do "a book on Ike and the GIs, drawing on my previous writings"Äsuch as Citizen Soldiers, D-Day and The Supreme Commander. "Alice Mayhew made me do it," Ambrose writes here. Readers familiar with Ambrose's work will find familiar set pieces, familiar anecdotes, even familiar phrases, but this is more than a clip job. It stands on its own as the story of the GIs who fought their way from Normandy's beaches and hedgerows across Europe. Few were prepared for combat against a Wehrmacht that was dangerous even in decline, and both enlisted men and officers learned through hard-earned experience. While admiring Eisenhower's character and generally affirming his performance as supreme Allied commander, Ambrose is sharply critical of such costly slugging matches as the one in the Huertgen Forest, which continued during the fall and winter of 1944 on orders from senior officers unaware of conditions in the front lines and unable to develop an alternative to frontal assault. But by the final thrust into Germany in the spring of 1945, the U.S. Army's fighting power was second to none. Once more, Ambrose does what few others do as wellÄvividly portray the sacrifices and achievements of democracy's army. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Ambrose is a distinguished historian primarily known for his Eisenhower and Nixon biographies, as well as for studies of World War II. Both of these presentations feature his attempt to get at the hearts and minds of foot soldiers, as well as their leaders. There is some ghastly detail from combat scenes but also a great deal of information on strategy, tactics, and failures; Eisenhower, for example, built well upon early miscalculations that cost many lives. Hitler, Bradley, Patton, Montgomery, and many others stride across Ambrose's detailed canvas. Reader Cotter Smith has a youngish voice and reads with careful deliberation, neither dramatizing the text nor dulling it. For popular history collections.ÄDon Wismer, Cary Memorial Lib., Wayne, ME (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by School Library Journal Review
YA-A reworking of material from several of Ambrose's earlier books that not only stands on its own, but in some ways also surpasses its predecessors. What might have been a mere sampler is actually a cohesive chronicle of American combat soldiers in the European theater of World War II, and of their Supreme Commander, Dwight D. Eisenhower. The author has conducted hundreds of interviews and reviewed countless original documents, and with a talent equal to his industry, he has put together a fascinating story, complete with unmistakable heroes, a clear moral theme, and a judicious use of captivating anecdotes. He depicts wartime Eisenhower as a figure of legend: the embodiment of leadership at a time of unimaginable crisis. With the fate of democracy and the lives of thousands on his shoulders, Eisenhower connected with his "boys" as few great leaders have. It is this connection, as well as the sense of duty on the part of individual soldiers in the field, that captures Ambrose's attention, and elevates the book from good history to great moral tale. The author is a master of letting his subjects tell the story, of standing back and allowing the large lessons to unfold. The result is history with lasting impact. For teens, The Victors has additional advantages: brevity, quickness, and a cast of characters not much older than themselves. For those who have not yet discovered Ambrose, or how engaging good history writing can be, this book offers an excellent introduction.-Robert Saunderson, Berkeley Public Library, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Revisiting ground covered previously in his superb Citizen Soldiers (1997) and other works about the climactic European campaigns of 1944-45, distinguished historian Ambrose (Undaunted Courage, 1996, etc.) tells the story of the conquest of Nazism by an array of American, English, and Canadian kids led by the plain-spoken Dwight Eisenhower. As in his earlier works, Ambrose focuses on the stories of individuals--the men who planned and led the invasion, the junior officers and non-commissioned officers, and the ordinary citizen soldiers of the Allied armies. He traces the training of ordinary boys from Chicago, Kansas, and Georgia, and the rise of their commander, Dwight Eisenhower, through a variety of staff posts. ""Ike,"" as he was known to absolutely everybody soon after his arrival in England in 1942, quickly became a favorite with the British press and with the often prickly English military establishment: He relied often on his considerable diplomatic skills to compel the British and American commanders to work together. However, the author faults the inefficiency of Ike's war of attrition and his failure to ensure that his army was adequately trained and equipped for battle. Most of the narrative is devoted to the travails of the individual soldier in combat. With photographic immediacy, Ambrose shows the pitilessly savage nature of the war as he takes the reader through hellish beach landings, sanguinary battles to liberate Normandy, pursuit through France, the terrifying aspects of trench, street, and night battle, setbacks to the Allied advance, and the ferocious but ultimately unsuccessful German counter-punch through the Ardennes. Meticulously researched and characteristically well told. A compelling and heartfelt tribute to the GI. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
