The New York Times bestselling World War II memoir from Major
Dick Winters, the commander of the legendary Band of Brothers, with a
new preface from the hero himself.
They were called Easy
Company, but their mission was never easy. Immortalized as the Band of
Brothers, they suffered 150% casualties while liberating Europe, an
unparalleled record of bravery under fire. Recipient of the
Distinguished Service Cross, Dick Winters was their legendary commander.
This is his story, told in his own words for the first time, offering
readers an astonishing, unvarnished account of his service as a World
War II combat leader.
On D-Day, Winters assumed leadership of
the Band of Brothers when its original commander was killed, and led
them through the Battle of the Bulge and into Germany, by which time
each member had been wounded. Based on Winters's wartime diary,
Beyond Band of Brothers also
includes his comrades' untold stories. This is a moving memoir by the
man who earned the love and respect of Easy Company, and who is a hero
to new generations worldwide.
From Publishers Weekly
In his well-intentioned but impersonal memoirs, Winters
tells the tales left untold by Stephen Ambrose, whose Band of Brothers
was the inspiration for the HBO miniseries, but Winters's memoir is
disappointingly sparse on details unrelated to troop position. It is in
the battles and tactical maneuvers of Easy Company that Winters is most
at home: on D-Day, when Easy Company's commanding officer is killed,
Winters takes charge minutes after landing deep in German territory and
leads an assault against a German battery. He carefully explicates the
reasoning behind his strategy, leading the reader along as the Company
attacks German machine gun and mortar outposts. The narrative is laced
with Winters's soldierly exaltations of pride in his comrades' bravery:
"My God, it's beautiful when you think of a guy who was so dedicated to
his company that he apologizes for getting hit." Although the
intrepidness of the group induces more than a tinge of pride, the memoir
is devoid of powerful reflections. In the last, sluggish chapters,
Winters devotes an excessive amount of time to letters he has received
and to expositions on leadership. Winters is too humble for a genre that
requires a little bit of conceit.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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