The Americans at Normandy - by John C McManus (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In The Americans at D-Day, the first volume of this series, John C. McManus showed us the American experience in Operation Overlord. Now, in this succeeding volume, he does the same for the Battle of Normandy as a whole.

Never before has the American involvement in Normandy been examined so thoroughly or exclusively as in The Americans at Normandy. For D-Day was only one part of the battle, and victory came from weeks of sustained effort and sacrifices made by Allied soldiers.

Presented here is the American experience during that summer of 1944, from the aftermath of D-Day to the slaughter of the Falaise Gap, from the courageous, famed figures of Bradley, Patton, and Lightnin' Joe Collins to the lesser-known privates who toiled in torturous conditions for their country. What was this battle really like for these men? What drove them to fight against all sense and despite all obstacles? How and why did they triumph?

Reminiscent of Cornelius Ryan's The Longest Day, The Americans at Normandy takes readers into the minds of the best American strategists, into the hearts of the infantry, into hell on earth.

Engrossing, lightning-quick, and filled with real human sorrow and elation, The Americans at Normandy honors those Americans who lost their lives in foreign fields and those who survived. Here is their story, finally told with the depth, pathos, and historical perspective it deserves.

Review Quotes

"An American Iliad" --Stephen Coonts on The Americans at D-Day and The Americans at Normandy

"Required reading on a bitter battle that won't be--and never should be--forgotten." --W.E.B. Griffin on The Americans at D-Day and The Americans at Normandy

"Awesome! A definitive account of a turning point in American and world history." --Thomas Fleming on The Americans at D-Day and The Americans at Normandy

"Far more gripping than Saving Private Ryan. Comprehensively detailed . . . Utterly fascinating. McManus' style fits the slam-bang fighting that characterized one of the most crucial periods of the war, and he makes every battle---and every soldier---count as if it were the last round in the clip." --Walter J. Boyne, New York Times bestselling author of Operation Iraqi Freedom on The Americans at D-Day and The Americans at Normandy

"I thought I knew something about war and men at war until I read John C. McManus' deeply insightfiul book. I stand humbled by what I consider nothing less than a definitive work on a subject whose scope is simply so vast that no writer until now has put in perspective and made it real." --David Hagberg on The Americans at D-Day and The Americans at Normandy

About the Author

John C. McManus is associate professor of U.S. Military History at Missouri University of Science and Technology. The author of military history books--including The 7th Infantry Regiment, The Americans at D-Day, and The Americans at Normandy--he is a leading expert on the history of Americans in combat. A member of the editorial advisory board at World War II magazine and World War II Quarterly, McManus was named to History News Network's list of Top Young Historians. He currently serves as official historian for the 7th Infantry Regiment Association. He lives in St. Louis with his wife Nancy.