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lukehoop 's review for:
When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day
by Garrett M. Graff
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
A beast of a book that covers D-Day from many angles, almost entirely told through first-hand accounts that are edited together to tell a cohesive story of the day.
I think this book doesn't work quite as well as his 9/11 book for a couple reasons: the interviews used as the first hand accounts could've occurred shortly after the war, or decades later. This time frame wasn't always clear and certainly plays a role in how good these accounts were. Also the more complicated aspect of these military operations and situations weren't always super easy to follow. I actually found the first half of the book that followed the training and planning for D-Day to be more digestible than much of the sections on D-Day itself.
Regardless, this is a fantastic account of D-Day and I learned about a lot of fascinating events that I knew little about, like the Exercise Tiger disaster and the glider missions that started D-Day. It was also great to hear accounts of the Brecourt Manor assault that was prominently featured in Band of Brothers.
I think this book doesn't work quite as well as his 9/11 book for a couple reasons: the interviews used as the first hand accounts could've occurred shortly after the war, or decades later. This time frame wasn't always clear and certainly plays a role in how good these accounts were. Also the more complicated aspect of these military operations and situations weren't always super easy to follow. I actually found the first half of the book that followed the training and planning for D-Day to be more digestible than much of the sections on D-Day itself.
Regardless, this is a fantastic account of D-Day and I learned about a lot of fascinating events that I knew little about, like the Exercise Tiger disaster and the glider missions that started D-Day. It was also great to hear accounts of the Brecourt Manor assault that was prominently featured in Band of Brothers.