See buying choices for this item to see if it's one of the millions that are eligible for Amazon Prime.


Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
The Greatest Generation
 
 

The Greatest Generation (Hardcover)

by Tom Brokaw (Author) "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,..." (more)
3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (232 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


85 used from £0.01

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Three Cups of Tea

Three Cups of Tea

by Greg Mortenson
4.8 out of 5 stars (110)  £6.99
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything

by Elizabeth Gilbert
4.1 out of 5 stars (80)  £4.79
Song of Solomon

Song of Solomon

by Toni Morrison
4.6 out of 5 stars (10)  £6.99
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

by Mary Ann Shaffer
4.1 out of 5 stars (168)  £3.86
Boom!: Talking about the Sixties: What Happened, How It Shaped Today, Lessons for Tomorrow [With DVD]

Boom!: Talking about the Sixties: What Happened, How It Shaped Today, Lessons for Tomorrow [With DVD]

by Tom Brokaw
4.0 out of 5 stars (2)  £10.99
Explore similar items

Product details

  • Hardcover: 432 pages
  • Publisher: Random House USA Inc (1 Feb 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0375502025
  • ISBN-13: 978-0375502026
  • Product Dimensions: 24.3 x 16.3 x 3.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (232 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,985,087 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested in These Sponsored Links

  (What is this?)
The Greatest
   www.lovefilm.com    Rent DVDs from £3.91 a month, free trial, no late fees, free postage! 
  
 

Product Description

Review
"Tom Brokaw has delivered a gift to this and future generations by bringing us these inspiring personal stories of the average Joes, the GI Joes, the young men and women who served our country and shaped the foundation of post-war America. Although some became famous, most returned to their hometowns dedicated to building an even better world. We meet them in this book, whose pages give voice to the standards they set by their strength of character, informed by their experience during World War II. Tom has held up a mirror to reflect what may be their greatest legacy and pose in all of us the question--Is this generation--our generation--worthy as their beneficiaries?"
--Steven Spielberg

Product Description
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 was a generation united by common values - by duty, honour, courage, service and love of family and country. Here 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 ex-President 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. 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. And you'll meet Martha Putney, one of the first black women to serve in the newly formed WACs. In the spirit of Band of Brothers, The Greatest Generation tells the stories of ordinary men and women caught up in extraordinary events - individuals united by a common purpose - working, living and dying in the service of their country. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Product Description

Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
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. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
Check a corresponding box or enter your own tags in the field below
world war ii
tom brokaw
personal narratives
history
greatest generation
outside reading
inspirational
heroic
depression
brokaw
baby boomers

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

 

Customer Reviews

232 Reviews
5 star:
 (84)
4 star:
 (38)
3 star:
 (33)
2 star:
 (36)
1 star:
 (41)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.4 out of 5 stars (232 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Mr.Brokaw concentrated too much on officers, 5 Sep 1999
By A Customer
Mr. brokaw couldn't possibly imagine the conditions under which most young men were living when called upon to save their nation.Mr.Brokaw found mostly officers to interview,most of whom went into the service as officers,and later became politicians. Where are the uneducated,poverty stricken youths who went into the armed forces,fought and died for their country, and, those who survived,returned to their former lives little better off than before being drafted? The author never mentioned the fact that machinery is always in place to keep our rich youths out of the service,making their service in our armed forces strictly voluntary; and always as officers,most-repeat-,most of whom never heard a shot fired,the exception proving the rule
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, new apreciation of that generation., 7 Sep 1999
By A Customer
Excellent book for members of generation X who want to understand the views of their grandparents and where those views stemmed from. Gives a new sense of Patritosim towards our great nation and for the men and women who fought and loved durring one of the hardest times in modern United States history.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars A good read about a great generation, but the greatest?, 3 Mar 1999
By A Customer
Tom Brokaw may have a point, but I pause before completely agreeing with him on the premise of the title. It's hard for me to separate the subject generation from the ones that fought the Civil War or the First World War. I personally think that this country's greatest generation may have been the one that produced our remarkable Declaration of Independence and our Constitution, and then ensured that the government they formed would allow for the potential growth of each succeeding generation. As a member of the Baby Boomers, I'm not certain that my generation, as a whole, appreciates the gift each preceding generation has passed to us. Thus, the importance of such a book by Brokaw, or related works such as Ambrose's, Ryan's and Terkel's histories of WWII events. Such writings allow us each to reflect whether the leaders we are forced to choose today as a matter of economics really have the vision and character to bring this country forward, in the manner that the preceding generations envisioned. This is where the greatness of a generation comes from, the leaders during its formulative years and the leaders it in turn produces. As I said, this book is a good read.....but try Bruce Catton's Army of the Potomac trilogy (Mr. Lincoln's Army, Glory Road and A Stillness at Appomattox) and see if the resemblance to the Civil War veteran doesn't argue for a smilar "greatest generation".
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars correction to review, isbn number book recommended too
Sorry... wrote a review re GREATEST GENERATION... recommending HUGHITT STREET, if you liked this... ISBN number is...correction... 096584130851200... Read more
Published on 4 Sep 1999

1.0 out of 5 stars A Generation of Whiners
Sorry to say it, but this was (and is) a generation of brave individuals who now grumble relentlessly about how "kids today never had to work for anything, everything was... Read more
Published on 1 Sep 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars I FEEL IT SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING FOR ALL UNDER AGE OF 40
IT SEEMS TO MANY OF US THAT AMERICA IS GOING DOWNHLL. OF COURSE THE YOUNG HAVE BEEN HEARING THAT FROM OLD FOLKS FOR A LONG TIME. Read more
Published on 1 Sep 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars Enhanced respect for extended family of this generation
This book highlights, so well, the life of our family during wartime. Having lived on an army base during WWII, I have memories of black outs, rationing, etc. Read more
Published on 31 Aug 1999

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed!
Americans reviewed EXTREMELY worthy--Just that there was no depth--more like a sound byte. And most of the stories came from American soldiers from the Midwest who were fighting... Read more
Published on 31 Aug 1999

1.0 out of 5 stars Racists, Mysogenists, Homophobes , the greatest generation?
This book is sooo one-sided ! Brokaw is just trying to cash in on that generation's need to pat itself on the back for a job NOT well done. Read more
Published on 27 Aug 1999

1.0 out of 5 stars Mogul Spielberg certainly is a financial beneficiarie
To see how "great" this generation is read WHILE SIX MILLION DIED. by, Arthur D. Morse. I tried posting this before but Amazon didn't.
Published on 16 Aug 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars Under 30? Meet Your Grandparent's Generation
Seldom have the experiences and attitudes in a country shifted so much over three generations. Although the middle-aged will have a good sense of what their parents experienced,... Read more
Published on 15 Aug 1999

4.0 out of 5 stars Thank you Tom
The recent attention WWII has received, through new novels like "The Triumph and the Glory" or "War of the Rats" OR movies like "Saving Private... Read more
Published on 13 Aug 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars A Good Read
Brokaw's book highlights a great generation of people. If you don't agree, don't read the book. If you think these people were the "worst generation", remember that... Read more
Published on 7 Aug 1999

Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)
This product's forum (0 discussions)
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
  No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
  [Cancel]

   


Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Feedback


The Body Shop

The Body Shop - Vitamin C Skin Boost
Protect and boost your glow with The Body Shop Vitamin C Skin Boost.

Shop The Body Shop

 

Make A Wish

Get what you want with an Amazon.co.uk Wish List Make sure you always get what you want with an Amazon.co.uk Wish List.

More info on Wish Lists

 

Up to 50% off Dental Care

Braun Oral-B Professional Care 6000 Rechargeable Toothbrush - Pack of 2
Put a sparkle in your smile with up to 50% off selected Oral-B and Philips rechargeable toothbrushes.

Up to 50% off power toothbrushes

 

Treat Someone

Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificates--available in any amount from £5 to £500 With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is).

Learn more about Gift Certificates

 
Ad

Where's My Stuff?

Delivery and Returns

Need Help?

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)
You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.

Continue Shopping: Top Sellers

amazon.co.uk Amazon Home
International Sites:  United States  |  Germany  |  France  |  Japan  |  Canada  |  China
Business Programs: Sell on Amazon  |  Fulfilment by Amazon  |  Join Associates  |  Join Advantage
Customer Service  |  Help  |  View Basket  |  Your Account
About Amazon.co.uk  |  Careers at Amazon
Conditions of Use & Sale |  Privacy Notice  © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates