This was the book Ambrose was born to write. He is best when he takes a smaller peice of the battlefield and fewer men to tell their story. This is his masterpiece.

His earlier work looking at history at grand scale is weak since he is clearly only interested in the Americans. As a Canadian I find his writing on D-day, when he takes a broad look, insulting to the Canadians. But that is because (understandably) he identifies with American soldiers. I have to laugh each time he justifies the debacle of the Normandy airborne operations by stating the US paprtroopers did great things because they were all over the place miles off target.

Ambrose takes a romantic view of the young warriors he shows us in this book, but the title makes that clear from the start. He is not going to give an objective view with the good and the bad. These are his heroes and he writes an apt tribute.

At times the way he sweeps aside the looting with "everyone loots" and his negative portrayal of the British get a bit tiresome. ( )

This was the first Ambrose book that I picked up back in '01, and I enjoyed the work he put into it quite a bit, subsequent to the mini-series being made by Tom Hanks. ( )

A great book relating the stories of the men of the 101st Airborne Easy Company during the WWII campaign. It's a well written history of the company by a gifted author. Ambrose has a good knack for story telling, and obviously did due diligence in his research. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in the men who served in WWII. ( )

Having seen the series on DVD (more than once), I was interested in delving deeper with Ambrose’s book. I was not disappointed: as with the series, Band of Brothers follows Easy Company’s WWII tour from Basic Training, (running Curahee under the petty and demanding Captain Sobel) and their drop into Normandy, through moments of incredible bravery and tactical brilliance (and moments of human and bureaucratic failing) to their eventual arrival in the German Alps.

There is a compromise between the book and the TV series: Ambrose’s book contains more information and more historical accounting; with the TV series, of course, Hanks and Spielberg had more of a license to entertain and build stories (the discrepancies were startlingly rare, a testament to the fact that the producers began their research with the book). That’s not to say that Ambrose doesn’t engage the reader in the character and individual stories of the men; indeed, given the number of men involved, the book encompasses an impressive overview of the war as seen by the men of the 101st, and Easy Company in particular.

The history of E. Company is harrowing, incomprehensible on any real level to anyone who had not been in combat; what Ambrose manages to do which is so important, is bring the war that these men experienced to the reader in an accessible, unpatronising way; he gives us not only the facts, but the reactions as relayed by the men themselves, evening a few well-placed excepts from books on the psychology of war, and post-war responses, opening up the emotional world that lay under the day-to-day bombardment and skirmishes.

To someone who could not imagine having the bravery necessary to jump out of a plane, the strength of character and resourcefulness of the majority of E. Company’s men in the face of every conceivable war-time threat of the time is humbling. The matter-of-factness with which they faced each new situation, the amazing leadership (at both ends of the scale) that they followed into battle, the humour and comradeship that got them through is inspiring.

This is a remarkable story, well told. I would recommend seeing the series as well, but although rather dryer, the book Band of Brothers is a page turner, an education and a reminder that our soldiers – today as much as then – are human beings tested beyond the edge of endurance often with only the twin incentives of remaining alive and not letting down the man beside them. ( )

Great book that details the 101st Airborne Regiment during WWII, form thier time in taining camp, to D-Day, Holland, Bastogne, Liberating a concentration camp, and taking Hitler's Eagle nest. This book goes above and beyong HBO's miniseries that was based on this book. The telling engages the reader to give one uinsight into the troops that fought for Europe's freedom. A must read for and History buff and WWII enthusiast! 5 stars! ( )