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The Greatest Generation |  | Author: Tom Brokaw
Publisher: Random House
Category: eBooks
This item is no longer available
Rating:  486 reviews
Sales Rank: 9059
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Edition: 1
Pages: 464
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.548173
ASIN: B000FC1IE0
Publication Date: February 23, 2000
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
Tom Brokaw was born in 1940, but it wasn't until he was a famous newscaster that he began to contemplate what his parents' generation--those born between 1910 and the mid-1920s--had accomplished. Narrating his own book, he discusses the sacrifices those men and women made: the bodily harm they suffered in war, the diligence with which they built families and businesses, the courage they displayed in rehabilitating their war wounds, the integrity and values that infused their lives. "They never whined or whimpered," Brokaw notes. The stories these men and women tell Brokaw are consistently startling--triumphant, tragic, courageous, sad, miraculous. Although Brokaw never gets maudlin or sappy, most people will find it impossible to listen to this audiobook with dry eyes. (Running time: 4 hours, 3 cassettes) --Lou Schuler
Product Description
"In the spring of 1984, I went to the northwest of France, to Normandy, to prepare an NBC documentary on the fortieth anniversary of D-Day, the massive and daring Allied invasion of Europe that marked the beginning of the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. There, I underwent a life-changing experience. As I walked the beaches with the American veterans who had returned for this anniversary, men in their sixties and seventies, and listened to their stories, I was deeply moved and profoundly grateful for all they had done. Ten years later, I returned to Normandy for the fiftieth anniversary of the invasion, and by then I had come to understand what this generation of Americans meant to history. It is, I believe, the greatest generation any society has ever produced."
In this superb book, Tom Brokaw goes out into America, to tell through the stories of individual men and women the story of a generation, America's citizen heroes and heroines who came of age during the Great Depression and the Second World War and went on to build modern America. This generation was united not only by a common purpose, but also by common values—duty, honor, economy, courage, service, love of family and country, and, above all, responsibility for oneself. In this book, you will meet people whose everyday lives reveal how a generation persevered through war, and were trained by it, and then went on to create interesting and useful lives and the America we have today.
"At a time in their lives when their days and nights should have been filled with innocent adventure, love, and the lessons of the workaday world, they were fighting in the most primitive conditions possible across the bloodied landscape of France, Belgium, Italy, Austria, and the coral islands of the Pacific. They answered the call to save the world from the two most powerful and ruthless military machines ever assembled, instruments of conquest in the hands of fascist maniacs. They faced great odds and a late start, but they did not protest. They succeeded on every front. They won the war; they saved the world. They came home to joyous and short-lived celebrations and immediately began the task of rebuilding their lives and the world they wanted. They married in record numbers and gave birth to another distinctive generation, the Baby Boomers. A grateful nation made it possible for more of them to attend college than any society had ever educated, anywhere. They gave the world new science, literature, art, industry, and economic strength unparalleled in the long curve of history. As they now reach the twilight of their adventurous and productive lives, they remain, for the most part, exceptionally modest. They have so many stories to tell, stories that in many cases they have never told before, because in a deep sense they didn't think that what they were doing was that special, because everyone else was doing it too.
"This book, I hope, will in some small way pay tribute to those men and women who have given us the lives we have today—an American family portrait album of the greatest generation."
In this book you'll meet people like Charles Van Gorder, who set up during D-Day a MASH-like medical facility in the middle of the fighting, and then came home to create a clinic and hospital in his hometown. You'll hear George Bush talk about how, as a Navy Air Corps combat pilot, one of his assignments was to read the mail of the enlisted men under him, to be sure no sensitive military information would be compromised. And so, Bush says, "I learned about life." You'll meet Trudy Elion, winner of the Nobel Prize in medicine, one of the many women in this book who found fulfilling careers in the changed society as a result of the war. You'll meet Martha Putney, one of the first black women to serve in the newly formed WACs. And you'll meet the members of the Romeo Club (Retired Old Men Eating Out), friends for life....
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 486
 Great Book but is it really the Greatest Generation? September 2, 2010
James Chapman (North Carolina, USA)
This is a worthy tribute to those who fought in World War II. The individual stories are memorable and resonant with feeling. Tom Brokaw has done a great job honoring those individuals to whom we owe so much. My only complaint is that Brokaw calls these individuals The Greatest Generation. While this term is fitting in many ways I believe that the greatest generation were the Minutemen, militia, Continentals, back woodsmen, over mountain men, and ordinary individuals who rallied during the Revolutionary War to defeat the British and win our independence. This is not intended to diminish the sacrifice of the men and women who fought in World War II, just my opinion.
 Wrong Tom: What about the parents of the greatest generation. February 12, 2010
Paul S. Cordes (New York)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Great book. But by definition success in adulthood requires raising successful children. The proclaimed Greatest Generation was raised by the truly greatest generation--their parents. They deserve the title. The ones who raised some fairly large families in very difficult times requiring tremendous faith, perseverance and sharing. Growing up in the Great Depression--from those whom I know--was just a matter of fact. On the other hand, raising a family then must have been gut-wrenching. That generation was the one that really stepped up. And the "Greatest Generation"--they became a bit self-centered, complacent and let's face it--somewhat full-of-themselves. For it was on their watch that morals, ethics and values all headed south, while materialism and keeping up with the Jones's became the end-all. How about a sequel. Sorry Tom.
 An Insult to All, Including Brokaw's Generation December 19, 2009
Devin Matthews-jensen (USA)
1 out of 13 found this review helpful
Thank You Brokaw's generation for winning the war that should have been won (though without the A-bomb), and then sending us into Korea, and Vietnam, and Iraq, and Iraq again (and still) and Afghanistan (not a war of necessity, please read more than the mainstream media) just to name a few. You insult us all, even you own generation.
I enjoyed hearing about many folks who would achieve fame in a variety of endeavors. November 1, 2009
Blaine Greenfield (Belle Meade, NJ)
Heard THE GREATEST GENERATION, written and read by Tom
Brokaw.
It is a collection of some 50 stories about Americans born between
1910 and the mid-1920s who "never shined or whimpered" . .. they
instead got us through World War II and then helped build modern
America.
Brokaw divides these tales over eight topics: Ordinary People; Homefront;
Heroes; Women in Uniform and Out; Shame; Love, Marriage and Commitment;
Famous People; and the Arena.
I enjoyed hearing about many folks who would achieve fame in a variety
of endeavors, including Ben Bradlee, Art Buchwald, Andy Rooney and
Julia Child . . . many others entered politics, such as Mark Hatfield, Robert
Dole and George H. W. Bush . . . however, the tale that most moved me
was the one about Thomas Broderick, an ordinary soldier who
was blinded in the war but who went on to become a successful
businessman and father.
I'll have to revisit the print version of the book to see the accompanying
pictures . . . yet I'd do it again (listen to the audio version) just to catch
Brokaw's narration.
Personable Writing Style October 30, 2009
Rodney K. Spain
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Tom Brokaw writes beautiful narratives about personal experiences during the Great Depression and WWII. The Greatest Generation is well worth the read.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 486
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