Customer Reviews

The D-Day Experience: From the Invasion to the Liberation of Paris

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Put 'D-Day' into Amazon's book search and you'll come up with over two hundred titles and I expect most will be about the momentous events in June 1944. This book covers them as an 'experience' and I think it does it rather well. Don't be put off when you see it only has sixty-four pages because it includes a lot of other things as well. There are fifty plus printed items which are facsimiles of maps (one is a German map thirty by twenty-two inches) military reports, logbooks, posters, soldiers diaries, a newspaper page, letters and more, they are either stuck on the pages or in envelopes to be removed and examined. One of the nice things is that the reproduction of these extras is particularly good and they do really help to create the experience.

Each spread covers one event with a mix of text, photos (with good captions) a map and other graphics all beautifully presented in a scrapbook format. If I have a criticism it is that the maps, which have a lot of information, are rather small so I had to use John Man's Atlas of the D-Day and Normandy Landings to fully understand the flow of events. While looking at this treasure of printed material you can also hear on the included CD (seventy minutes) the voices of men who were there and made it happen.

This is almost a unique publication but while looking through the Amazon list I came across 'Our finest day: D-Day: June 1944' (ISBN 0811830500) which also presents historical documents as reproductions to be handled but I'll stick with this D-Day experience, I don't think it can be beat.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

The title of this book doesn't lie. Flipping through it is truly an "experience". Never have I seen a book that packs in so many replica items that you can actually pull out, handle, read, and examine. Fold-out maps, soldier diaries, letters, propaganda posters, and written orders are just a few of the things you'll find tucked inside this book. There is also an audio CD included with first-hand accounts from veteran German, American, British, and Canadian soldiers.

The soldier diaries are accurately reprinted in the original soldier's writing and makes you feel as if you were reading through the original. The same goes for the written orders and letters. There are a couple of massive fold-out maps that depict the D-Day landing areas and inland towards Paris. You can spend hours looking at these alone.

The quality of the information is top notch, with black and white original photography printed on full-color pages. The written information reaccounts the background info leading up to the invasion as well as the following 80 days leading up to the liberation of Paris. While this information can be garnered from many other D-Day books (such as Stephen Ambrose's), being able to handle and examine facsimile reports/logs/diaries/maps that relate to that information makes the experience much more enjoyable.

With items previously only available in museums, excellent audio information, and informative written information, this "book" should find a home in every D-Day enthusiasts collection. I highly recommend it!

I literally sat for hours combing through this book. I felt as if I was reading a scrap book, and not a historical text. As I turned each page, I was simply astonished by the removable facsimiles of original documents that were contained within the books pages. This is one book you will have to see and experience in order to believe. The CD contains oral accounts from the veterans who were there. Each track features a different veteran focusing on a different hour of the invasion...priceless to hear their accounts, especially the U.S. soldier who was wounded five...yes five...times on D-Day and still kept fighting. Take my advice...buy one and read it...buy a second copy and put it on the shelf. This will make a great hand-me-down or gift.

Excellent prose and documentation of this historic event.
The book's top secret memos, the diaries of the foot soldiers,
and the immense planning and undertaking of this invasion, as recorded in this book, provided me with an indelible impression
and an appreciation of my parents who were members of this worlds "Greatest Generation."

I will recommend it to any young people who are beginners in the study of WWII and want to understand the history of their country and why we now feel and live the way we do especially
from a military and human point of view.

This book is incredible. It can't be described in words. It is basically a giant scrapbook of d-day - the liberation of Paris. It has pop-out maps and documents that where written to the soldiers e.g. by Eisenhower. If you read a book on world war two you get the normal information, but this book has detail, pictures - and what I call reading easter eggs - inside of it so that it really brings d-day + to life. I know amazon is selling the book for about $30 dollars, and thats probably how much to make the book, but it's educational value and its interest value to me would be over $200. I have to say this is the best book (it's really a scrapbook) that I have ever read. The other good thing about the book is you can pick it up any time and read a section that you seem to be interested in (even though all the sections are interesting). This to me is one of those things that I can show my kids and my grandkids in the years to come. Buy this book and you won't regret it, or miss a single penny that you spent.

As a fan of military history, I was happy to find a book that tries its best to give a feel for the moment of that historic day. The little extras that are to be found is well worth the price and would be a great Christmas present to a history buff.

This is a fine tribute to our veterans!

60th Birthday present for Da, who thought it was brillient!!!