Customer Reviews

America's Forgotten Army: The True Story of the U.S. Seventh Army in WWII - And An Unknown Battle that Changed History

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a historical writer Charles Whiting, in the parlance of our favored American pastime, is a solid hitter with a decent average of ground-rule doubles and an occasional triple with little evidence of a power stoke. Fortunately, "America's Forgotten Army: The Story of the U.S. Seventh" keeps up Whiting's average but does nothing to suggest a reader will see him hit one 'out of the park'. The title and subtitle alone suggest something more impressive than the reader gets. Whiting is certainly a prolific writer but maybe he should concentrate more on quality than quantity. Like so many of his books "America's Forgotten Army" is quite mediocre in its presentation, in this case leading to little improvement on the 'forgotten' nature of the Seventh's time in WWII (as suggested by the subtitle). As is also common of Whiting's works, he doesn't really do justice to the previous literature. For example, Whiting fails completely to utilize "Riviera to the Rhine", the official US Army history of Sixth Army group in the ETO, as a source of information. Whiting's minimal use of previous works also tends to leave the reader feeling as if Whiting is truly telling "the story of the Seventh" for the first time...don't be fooled. Aside from the official US Army accounts there are others, including one that uses essentially the same subtitle: "Destination Berchtesgaden: The story of the United States Seventh Army in World War II" by John F. Turner, published in 1975!! The conspicuous lack of reference to other secondary sources, and virtual absence of primary source works, is a common theme with Whiting's works. As such it is hard to see where he is contributing to the historical base other than rehashing 'old' stories. Fortunately for those of us happy to see important stories of WWII out in the public eye, Whiting has reached the popular press and viewing public, more so than earlier sources covering the same topics (that Whiting neglects to cite).

If you've never read anything about the Seventh US Army in WWII, "America's Forgotten Army" might be a good read for you, but be very aware that Whiting's accounts are not the first, nor the best. If the readers' interests are piqued she/he should search out some of these previous works. All in all, "America's Forgotten Army" is a 3 star effort (2 stars for historical content, 3.5 stars for readability).

Charles Whiting has written an excellent,readable history of a very important segment of WWII in Europe that the press,the public and even many historians neglected. The book has only 2 flaws but they are major:In dividing the book into campaigns both in the Table of Contents and the Chapter headings , the Invasion of Southern France and the Vosges Mountain Attack are shown with dates in 1943! Obviously they took place in 1944 after the June 6 D-Day Invasion in Normandy.

The author deserves better than this. Either his editor or proof reader should be fired. I hope the 2nd edition corrects this.

I read the book America's Forgotten Army by Charles Whiting. It wasn't the best or the worst book I have read. In my opinion the book is for people who are really into World War II books. It gave a good deal of information about the U.S. Seventh Army, an army that helped win the war but never got the glory. It talks about the soldiers and commanders who fought bravely in the war.
I personally did not like the book because to me it was boring. I did not understand half of what the book was saying. I also forgot what I read just two pages ago. Some parts I did find interesting though. I'll let you just read the book for yourself. The book, in my opinion, is for advanced readers. If you are into World War II books though, then you might not want to miss this book.

Why don't they have books like THIS in classrooms?

Instead they make kids read horrible pieces of crud like Jane Eyre and The Cay. How is a teenaged boy supposed to connect with that?

Enter books like this.

This book has many areas that are not covered in other books and movies such as "Patton" and I really enjoyed how it focused on the common soldiers and commanders, while from time to time, interjecting some of Patton's enthusiasm for war.

It is most accurate in it's military history save for a couple of small flaws, and the characters included in the book are amazing. Overall a really good book expecially if you like military history.

I recently learned the author was my uncle's commanding officer during WWII and this book follows my uncle's war experiences.

I would be interested in books recommended detailing the Pacific theater since my late father served in the Medics and was on Saipan. Sorry I don't know his division. Also my late husband served in with the 101st in Viet Nam during 1968-69 for 11 months and am interested in any books on the 101st Airborne Divison.

Thank you.

This book is less a work of serious military history than it is a written version of a series of Movietone news reels of the US 7th Army's campaigns in the Mediterranean and Europe in World War 2, right down to the racial overtones typical of the period.

It jumps around in time and place, from one action item to the next, rarely fully developing anything. It leaves the reader with the distinct impression that the only troops of any value are white American boys, blacks (the author's term, not mine) are only good for driving trucks in the rear areas, and that whilst using napalm in the Pacific on asians was OK, using it in Europe on white folks wasn't.

If you want to read a thorough, yet accessible history of the US Army's campaign in W.Europe in WW2 I recommend "Eisenhower's Lieutenants" by Russell F.Weigley. Leave Mr.Whiting's piece of pulp history on the shelf