New Arrivals for Non-Fiction: Military History Reads

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Pegasus Bridge by Stephen E. Ambrose   RRP: RM33.90 Price: RM17.90
In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, a small detachment of British airborne troops stormed the German defense forces and paved the way for the Allied invasion of Europe. Pegasus Bridge was the first engagement of D-Day, the turning point of World War II. This gripping account of it by acclaimed author Stephen Ambrose brings to life a daring mission so crucial that, had it been unsuccessful, the entire Normandy invasion might have failed. Ambrose traces each step of the preparations over many months to the minute-by-minute excitement of the hand-to-hand confrontations on the bridge. This is a story of heroism and cowardice, kindness and brutality — the stuff of all great adventures.

D-Day by Stephen E. Ambrose   RRP: RM49.90 Price: RM17.90
Ambrose reveals how the original plans for the invasion were abandoned, and how ordinary soldiers and officers acted on their own initiative. D-Day is above all the epic story of men at the most demanding moment of their existence, when the horrors, complexities, and triumphs of life are laid bare. Ambrose portrays the faces of courage and heroism, fear and determination — what Eisenhower called “the fury of an aroused democracy” — that shaped the victory of the citizen soldiers whom Hitler had disparaged.

Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose   RRP: RM44.50 Price: RM17.90
In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson selected his personal secretary, Captain Meriwether Lewis, to lead a voyage up the Missouri River, across the forbidding Rockies, and — by way of the Snake and mighty Columbia — down to the Pacific Ocean. Lewis and his partner, Captain William Clark, endured incredible hardships and witnessed astounding sights. With great perseverance, they worked their way into an unexplored West and when they returned two years later, they had long since been given up for dead.

Lewis is supported by a variety of colorful characters: Jefferson and his vision of the West; Clark, the artist and map-maker; and Lewis — the enigma, who let brilliantly but considered the mission a failure After suffering several periods of depression — and despite his status as a national hero — Lewis died mysteriously, apparently by his own hand.

Citizen Soldiers by Stephen E. Ambrose   RRP: RM39.90 Price: RM17.90
An oral history of the last European campaigns of the Second World War, from the landings at Normandy to the final surrender of the Axis powers. Ambrose, who has already chronicled the Second World War in Undaunted Courage and D-Day, concentrates on the experiences of the ordinary soldier in the ranks, and makes use of hundreds of interviews conducted over several years of research. A “New York Times” Notable Book for 1998.

Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle Nest by Stephen E. Ambrose     RRP: RM33.90 Price: RM17.90
They came together in the summer of 1942. It was as good a rifle company as any in the world. Here is the story of E Company — men who went hungry, froze, and died for each other — from the rigorous training in Georgia in 1942 to their disbanding in 1945. A description of life in the Easy Company, 101st Airborne Division, US Army, from the time of their rigorous training in Georgia in 1942 to D-Day and victory. Drawing on interviews, journals and letters, the author tells – often in their own words – the story of these American heroes.