Customer Reviews

The Greatest Generation

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The theme throughout the book is that the generation of Americans that participated in World War II rarely talk about it. My father might have been one of Tom Brokaw's examples. While I was regaled with tales of self-reliance and want during a depression, he almost never spoke about his experience in the African campaign, or the wound that nearly cost him a leg. The author made it a point of finding out a good many stories, not unlike Dad's, even as these veterans are now dying at the rate of 1800 a day. Each page was like going back to my childhood, and listening to stories I never heard before.

Brokaw leaves no stone unturned or class of veteran out in the cold. He starts with ordinary people, the people on the home front, heroes, women in uniform and out, [our] shame, love, marriage and commitment, and famous people.

The ordinary people were just that, ordinary in an extraordinary way. Parents and kids were compelled to survive by keeping the family unit intact. Parents searched for any job that would bring cloth or food to the home, and children disciplined by denial, accomplished a full day of work before going to school. They made do, they went without, or they made it themselves. These were the people who were already in training for their participation in World War II, but didn't realize it.

The people on the home front toiled eighty-hours a week to keep the troops in equipment and supplies. Farm boys were highly sought after by Boeing, builders of the B-17 Flying Fortress and the B-29 Super Fortress. The company knew that when the farm tractor broke down it had to be fixed, on the spot, without help. Their intuition paid off many times over.

The home front could also be said to be the start of the women's movement. For the first time, women did jobs that had hitherto been considered only for men. Dorothy Haener never married preferring to keep her position as a UAW organizer, and her responsibilities grew as the union grew. (Marriage often meant being fired).

There were plenty of heroes who never bragged about their achievements. Although Bob Bush was a navy corpsman, he picked up an automatic pistol dropping eight charging enemy Japanese as he held a plasma bottle over a wounded marine. Instead of focusing on the Medal of Honor given him by President Truman, he raced back to the Northwest to start a thriving lumber business. Leonard "Bud" Lomell, US Army Ranger, used the G.I. Bill to go to law school and start his own law firm in New Jersey. He took his time training new lawyers and hiring women counselors. He didn't see why they should be left out. Talent and performance were his main concern just as it was in the Rangers. He never lost touch with them either.

The women in uniform during World War II, would constitute the first ever to achieve flag rank long after the war's end. They were Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAACS), Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service (WAVES), Women's Air Force Service Pilots (WASPS), SPARS of the Coast Guard (Semper Peratus and its English translation, Always Ready, combined), and nurses. The WASPS tested and ferried planes of all types to training sites, or from factory to airfield. Expert pilots, they were still considered civilians, and none of them received veterans' benefits even though thirty-eight of them died in the line of duty. They were unceremoniously sent home in 1944 as men filled more ranks and plane production began to taper off.

If World War II was the start of the women's movement, it certainly ignited civil rights where African American soldiers were expected to fight and die while watching German prisoners receive better accommodations than they did. Martha Settle Putney, now a retired history professor, was taking a train to her base in Texas along with several white officers who insisted that she sit with them. Even so, the train conductor refused to accept her Pullman car ticket and directed her to a freight train in the rear. Refusing to go, the conductor summoned the MP's. He was dumbfounded when the MP's, noticing her lieutenant's bars, simply saluted. They courteously escorted her to a military plane that would take her to her assignment. Martha Putney recognized that the war gave her an opportunity that she would have never dreamed of otherwise.

Our shame went beyond our treatment of African Americans. Nisei, Americans of Japanese ancestry, were rounded up as "enemy combatants" and placed in internment camps while their property and work of a lifetime was lost or stolen. It saw the best in us, as one Nisei left his grocery store in the hands of an employee. "It'll be here when you get back," he told him. True to his word, he simply handed back the keys when the owner returned. But the experience more aptly demonstrated our darker character. Lieutenant Daniel K. Inouye, in uniform, and minus one arm, was refused a haircut in Honolulu. He was one of hundreds of volunteers, most of them from the camps that would make up the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The regiment was awarded seven Presidential Unit Citations and twenty-one of their members received the Medal of Honor. The "Go for Broke" RCT became the most highly decorated regiment in US history.

The intensity of war also brought the intensity in love and relationships where the separations actually made the bonds grow stronger, and the feeling that so much time apart meant that there was so much more time to make up for together. Wives became accustomed to their husbands' nightmares and their industry to ensure their family would never have to want. They wouldn't divorce. Marriage was a commitment as strong as the one to put on a uniform, or to hold a family together in a depression. Some wives and sweethearts found little to celebrate on V-J Day, as the War Department had already informed them that their loved one would not be coming home, or would not see the child born in their absence.

Many would achieve fame in a variety of endeavors: Ben Bradlee, Art Buchwald, Andy Rooney, Julia Child, Gertrude Belle Elion, Chesterfield Smith, Al Neuharth, Maurice "Hank" Greenberg. Many others would enter politics such as Mark Hatfield, Robert Dole, George H. W. Bush, Daniel Inouye, Casper Weinberger, Lloyd Cutler, George Schultz, Arthur Schlesinger, and Ed Guthman.

What becomes clear is that this generation learned discipline and faith through the depression. They gained confidence and a deeper faith through war. A promise or handshake was as good as a contract, and a marriage was for life. They survived a depression and would not allow themselves to be beaten by enemies that were mere mortals. They helped America achieve a greatness that it had never known before, and will never have again. Being an American in 1945 had as much prestige as saying, "I am a citizen of Rome" did in its day. Tom Brokaw simply tells the stories of people across the country who did their part in World War II and how they readjusted to civilian life. These are common stories that held my interest from start to finish.

We honored these veterans a long time ago when there were stars in the windows of our homes and shops; blue for those serving, silver for those overseas, and the dreaded gold for those killed in action. We still have the ability to learn first hand about those who delivered our nation from fascism and totalitarianism. Although Veterans Day is a holiday, we can make it a learning day by asking and listening to those who served at home and around our globe.

We could actually spend this Veterans Day honoring our veterans.







This is for you, Dad. US Army Signal Corps 1939-1945
Happy Birthday: Oct. 16.




March 10, 2010:
Today, in our nation's capital, surviving women of the W.A.S.P.s are finally being honored with a Congressional Gold medal for the service they courageously performed during World War II. They will also qualify for full veterans' benefits. It's about time!

My husband loves watching documentaries, but cannot sit down and read a book. Until this one! He read everyday, until he finished it, and has started reading it again, 2 months later. His dad was an Army veteran, but he would never talk about it.

Tom Brokaw's "The Greatest Generation" is a classic. This is not sophisticated writing and the format is basic but Brokaw's interviews with dozens and dozens of veterans of World War II, their wives, their children and their comments on how the war affected them and the way they lived the rest of their lives is a loving tribute to his father's generation.

Brokaw has sections on regular footsoldiers and sailors, soldiers who went on to become famous such as Casper Weinberger, Bob Dole, Andy Rooney and Julia Child. He also addresses the racism and sexism of the time (and incorrectly asserts that only the Japanese were forcibly removed - several East Coast Italians were removed to western states and their fishing boast were confiscated, although clearly the Japanese were treated much worse as a group). He also talks to soldiers who were wounded during the war and how that affected them.

Interesting comment from former pacifist Andy Rooney about his witnessing the liberation of Buchenwald concentration camp: "For the first time I knew that any peace is not better than any war." (p. 296)

Commentary about the differences of values between generations abounds. I liked this observation about divorce from Peggy Assenzio: "It's too easy to get a divorce. We've had our arguments, but we don't give up. When my friends ask whether I ever considered divorce I remind them of the old saying, 'We've thought about killing each other, but divorce? Never.'" (p. 239)

I also like the observation of a black soldier who philosophically overlooked the racism he experienced: "When you get over there and the nation's in trouble you ain't got no black and white. You only got America." (p. 199)

I believe this book should be REQUIRED reading for ALL high school students.
Throughout this book it gave me a wonderful history of WWII that I didn't retain and/or receive in school.
Many teens growing up in today's world come across to me as a very 'deservant' generation - This book will change that attitude and perhaps allow them to feel very lucky to have what they do and hopefully never have to go through and see what all those young women and men had seen and endured. Very Very Humbling.

I'm not a big fan of Brokaw the broadcaster, but Brokaw the anchor, with this book, has produced an American Classic. Aside from the Founding Fathers themselves, the WWII generation truly was America's greatest.

Tom Brokaw's "The Greatest Generation" is a great book with many enthralling stories from World War II and it provides an excellent look at the generation that shaped the world as it is now. Kennedy was said to be the first president elected from this generation and George Bush was the last. Every president in between, with the exception of Jimmy Carter, were veterans of World War II and these presidents are considered some of the most influential of our time.
Brokaw interviewed many affected by World War II and named them the "Greatest Generation." Throughout the book, Brokaw gives examples of why the men and women of WWII are the Greatest Generation. Through all the trials that this generation had, they pulled together and made themselves stronger. The book covers the entire spectrum of the U.S. Population from the common everyday citizen to the rich and famous of today.
The ordinary people he wrote about were just that, ordinary. The story of Thomas Broderick was very interesting. He was sitting in a foxhole trying to get a shot off, when he poked his head a little too far out. He was shot through temple and was blinded for the rest of his life. After extensive rehabilitation efforts, he went on to lead a normal life.
Brokaw then went on to talk about those working on the home front, in factories and in scientific positions. He focuses on women working for the first time and the radical restructuring of the workplace that occurred afterward. Then Brokaw talked about three of the many heroes of the war. Two of the heroes had received the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest award available in the military. Bob Bush was a Navy corpsman and was at the battle of Okinawa. He went in to rescue a man down on a hill and kept plasma flowing into the injured soldier's body as numerous Japanese soldiers advanced on his position. He drew his revolver and fired until out of ammunition at which point he picked up a discarded carbine and managed to keep the enemy at bay until reinforcements arrived.
Women were the focus of the next section of the book specifically women in uniform which was unheard of before the war. He described the experiences of many women in the WASPs (Women's Air Force Service Pilots), WACs (Women's Army Corps), and the Navy's WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service). He describes their trials with discrimination and the war in general. Though the war was a great experience for the U.S., it also holds much shame for the country. During the war, many people were discriminated against, women, blacks, and Japanese Americans. Most Japanese Americans were shipped off to the United States' equivalent of concentration camps where they received horrible treatment. At first they were not allowed to join the army then, after a petition was signed, Japanese Americans were allowed their own regiment and were placed in the worst combat situations. Of the Japanese Americans there were 8 Presidential Distinguished Unit Citations and 18,143 individual decorations including one Medal of Honor, 52 Distinguished Service Crosses, 560 Silver Stars and 28 Oak Leaf Clusters, 4,000 Bronze Stars and 1,200 Oak Leaf Clusters, and at least 9,486 Purple Hearts.
Many famous people of our time were included in the book. George Bush, Andy Rooney, and Julia Child just to name a few. Many WWII veterans went into politics after they returned from the war. Several U.S. Senators and presidential advisers were interviewed for this book. In the end, Tom Brokaw did an excellent job persuading me that this was the "Greatest Generation".
Tom Brokaw's eloquent language and excellent word choice augmented with clear and direct statements persuade the reader that these were the greatest generation that ever lived. He showed that through their morals and arduous struggles they made the greatest impact of any previous or subsequent generation. Brokaw has a way with words that most modern authors lack. He knows just how to word a phrase to make the greatest impact. Though many of the stories were gripping, others lacked the same effect. For the most part, I found the book fairly entertaining. This was such a great book that I think most of my friends and peers should read this book to gain a greater understanding of this spectacular generation.

Good price and the book arrived in a timely fashion - however, it was listed as new and the corners of the book cover on the spine were bent and kind of beat-up looking. Luckily the pages were pristine so I still gave it as a gift, but it shouldn't have been listed as new in the first place. Otherwise, good service.

Once I started reading this book, I could not put it down. It gave me even more respect for those of this generation. After reading this book, I had to order Mr. Brokaw's other books.

I read this book at the suggestion of my next door neighbor. A WWII vet who left high school to fight in the war and didn't get a HS diploma until 2000 when the local high school included him in their graduating class. The book is a collection of stories of different WWII veterans and what became of them in the years since. Some of them are famous people (George Bush, Andy Rooney and Daniel Inouye)and some are not. It describes the character of the people that almost overflows into a whole generation of people. At 41 yrs old, I don't see that kind of character in my generation and if the same situation were to arise today I'm not sure we'd see the same sort of response. Not many of my contemporaries would have left high school to go fight on the other side of the world as my next door neighbor did. I generally grade books on how well I feel the time I spent reading them was spent... and in this case I feel it could not have been spent better. Tom Brokaw did a wonderful job in choosing a wide variety of people to demonstrate a type of character that I've seen in my next door neighbor. It fit him perfectly, though if you asked him he'd deny it.

You can definitely hear Tom Brokaw's voice as you read this, as if you were listening to him reading his own book to you.

With each page I wished more and more that I could have known the amazing things this generation lived and created so that I could have spent more of my life showing my appreciation for them. Having lost both of my grandparents, it makes my heart ache a little to think that I never knew the actual enormity of accomplishments he and the rest of their generation contributed to our country- our world- while they were still here.

Both of my grandparents were humble and definitely not the excessive, hoarding, exhorbitant consumers that our generation is. Many of the stories from this book give you a real appreciation for that, now, rare characteristic.

After reading this, I am not only more profoundly proud of our country, but I also look at our elders with a different set of eyes and I can only think, "thank you for paving the way".

It also makes me wish I had asked more questions and wanted to learn more of values and characteristics of my grandparents. So now, I am left with this book and will evermore hope to soak in whatever I can from the remaining folks of that generation.