Review: The Boys of Pointe Du Hoc LPEditorial Review - Kirkus ReviewsIf Ronald Reagan hadn't been president, no one would remember WWII. That is, writes prolific historian Brinkley (Rosa Parks, 2000, etc.), if it had not been for two speeches Reagan gave in Normandy on June 6, 1984, in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Allied landings, "there may never have been Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers, Tom Brokaw's The Greatest Generation, Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, or numerous memorials—like the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans—built to exalt the citizen soldiers who liberated Europe." The counterfactual tragedy that a whole publishing and filmmaking niche might never have been filled did not come to pass, thanks largely to the efforts of speechwriter Peggy Noonan (and, secondarily, Anthony Dolan), who gave Reagan his words on that historic day. (To his credit, writes Brinkley, Reagan worried that the French government's awarding him the LÉgion d'Honneur would give him military credentials that he did not have. To his discredit, Bitburg was just around the corner.) Brinkley tells two sometimes uneasily interlocking stories. The first is that of the Ranger unit that scaled a cliff and destroyed a Nazi artillery battery, then warded off a series of counterattacks; of the 225 members of the unit, Brinkley notes, "only 99 survived the amphibious assault." The second concerns Noonan's campaign to interview surviving members of the 2nd Ranger Battalion and craft memorable words for the president to commemorate the event, which she did with great care and to great effect. Tracing the lineage of the speech, Brinkley gives a special nod to Time columnist Lance Morrow, from whom Noonan borrowed heavily; it was he who evoked Shakespeare's "band of brothers" speech in Henry V, a notion that bore fruit in Steven Ambrose's book of that title published eight years later—and set off a fresh wave of interest in WWII and its aging veterans. Thus, concludes Brinkley, "The story of D-Day as the pervasive metaphor for American bravery and goodness . . . endures for the ages to ponder." He makes a solid case. User reviewsReview: The Boys of Pointe du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the US Army 2nd Ranger BattalionUser Review - A Smith - GoodreadsInteresting history with the mystifying tie-in of actors and movies, especially the thesis that President Reagan single handedly ended the Soviet Union and even more mystifying that he had a major ... Read full review Review: The Boys of Pointe du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the US Army 2nd Ranger BattalionUser Review - Beckie - GoodreadsUS Army 2nd Ranger Battalion D-Day history intertwined with Ronald Reagan's speech honoring them, 40 years later. Read full review Review: The Boys of Pointe du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the US Army 2nd Ranger BattalionUser Review - Christian Schnabel - GoodreadsVery good! Shows the devotion Reagan had for WWII generation and the complete dedication the Rangers had in storming Pointe Du Hoc. A must read for anyone interested in WWII and especially D-Day! Read full review Review: The Boys of Pointe du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the US Army 2nd Ranger BattalionUser Review - Charles Blumberg - GoodreadsThis was not the book I was expecting when searching it out. I thought it would be more about the actual story of the Boys of Pointe du Hoc. It only focuses a couple chapters on them. The book is ... Read full review Review: The Boys of Pointe du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the US Army 2nd Ranger BattalionUser Review - Tom - GoodreadsTouching, heroic story of the Rangers who climbed the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc on D-Day, and Reagan's moving speech on the 40th anniversary of D-Day. Just a good read, and the little bit of politics is interesting as well, and as always, the human aspect of Reagan's presidency comes to the fore. Read full review Review: The Boys of Pointe du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the US Army 2nd Ranger BattalionUser Review - Briana - GoodreadsInformative and thoughtfully written. Definitely worth reading. Not too much journalism establishment anti-Reaganism. Read full review Review: The Boys of Pointe du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the US Army 2nd Ranger BattalionUser Review - Donnie Edgemon - GoodreadsInterestingly, this book is more about the Boys of Pointe du Hoc speech than about the Rangers on D-Day. I'm not sure I agree totally with some of Brinkley's more stretched points - like the speech ... Read full review Review: The Boys of Pointe du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the US Army 2nd Ranger BattalionUser Review - J. - Goodreadsnot what I thought, sucky Read full review Review: The Boys of Pointe du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the US Army 2nd Ranger BattalionUser Review - Douglas - GoodreadsThe Ranger assault on Pointe du Hoc on D-Day, President Reagan (his reelection, foreign policy, and legacy), and presidential speechmaking--that's what this book is about. An unusual combination, but ... Read full review | User ratings| 5 stars | | | 4 stars | | | 3 stars | | | 2 stars | | | 1 star | |
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