The Greatest Generation

Fülszöveg

"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 expe-
rience. As 1 walked the beaches with the American veterans
who had returned for this anniversary, men in their sixties and
seventies, and listened to their stories, 1 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 1 had come to understand what this generation of
Americans meant to history. It is, 1 believe, the greatest gener-
ation 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,
Americas citizen heroes and heroines who came of age during... Tovább

Fülszöveg

"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 expe-
rience. As 1 walked the beaches with the American veterans
who had returned for this anniversary, men in their sixties and
seventies, and listened to their stories, 1 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 1 had come to understand what this generation of
Americans meant to history. It is, 1 believe, the greatest gener-
ation 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,
Americas 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 gen-
eration 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 imme-
diately 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.
(continued from front flap)
"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 gen-
eration."
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.
Through these and other stories in The Greatest Generation, you'll
relive with ordinary men and women, military heroes, famous people of
great achievement, and community leaders how these extraordinary
times forged the values and provided the training that made a people
and a nation great.
About the Author
Tom Brokaw, a native of South Dakota, graduated from the University
of South Dakota with a degree in political science. He began his jour-
nalism career in Omaha and Atlanta before joining NBC News in 1966.
Brokaw was the White House correspondent for NBC News during
Watergate, and from 1976 to 1981 he anchored Today on NBC. He's
been the sole anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News with Tom
Brokaw since 1983. Brokaw has won every major award in broadcast
journalism, including two DuPonts, a Peabody Award, and several
Emmys. He lives in New York and Montana. Vissza