My wife and I are going to Normandy on a tour sponsored by the Nat’l WW 2 Museum. We’ll be there just before the 75th anniversary of D-Day. While I’ve read several accounts of the invasion, my wife has not. I’m looking for a book for her. Something that gives a not-too-technical history of not only the invasion itself, but also the lead up to it and maybe the following couple of months. She is not a military historian, but would like a book with some general oversight.
An account of a specific British tanker’s experiences, not the campaign as a whole. But I read [By Tank Into Normandy](this Amazon.com) recently and thought was a worthwhile read.
I haven’t read any of them, but the famous various one volume accounts are, sequentially, Ryan’s The Longest Day (as adapted for film), Keegan’s Six Armies in Normandy, Hastings’ Overlord and Beevor’s D-Day.
Stephen Ambrose’s D Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II is very readable. IIRC, Spielberg based the landing scenes in Saving Private Ryan directly off Ambrose’s descriptions.
This is a perfect list for someone casually interested in the invasion. THE LONGEST DAY is possibly more accessible and, if you are so inclined, the film version of the book is one of the more accurate.
Stand at the edge of the water at Omaha Beach and try to imagine the gallantry of the men who crossed that beach under fire.
Have a safe trip.
This is pretty good, but it really only concentrates on 2 of the 5 landing beaches.
As a Brit, I was aware that I was possibly skewing my list. Ambrose is the obvious volume I missed.
I tried reading “The Longest Day” once and found it hard to get into.
I preferred “Six Armies in Normandy” because it approached D-Day from the perspectives of the six different nations involved: Britain, France, Canada, the US, Poland and Germany.
Thanks to all. I’ll go with the Ambrose book.
Since the OP is looking for advice about a book, let’s move this to IMHO.
Colibri
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