Synopses & Reviews
In the second volume of his epic trilogy about the liberation of Europe in World War II, Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson tells the harrowing story of the campaigns in Sicily and Italy In
An Army at Dawnwinner of the Pulitzer PrizeRick Atkinson provided a dramatic and authoritative history of the Allied triumph in North Africa. Now, in
The Day of Battle, he follows the strengthening American and British armies as they invade Sicily in July 1943 and then, mile by bloody mile, fight their way north toward Rome.
The Italian campaigns outcome was never certain; in fact, Roosevelt, Churchill, and their military advisers engaged in heated debate about whether an invasion of the so-called soft underbelly of Europe was even a good idea. But once under way, the commitment to liberate Italy from the Nazis never wavered, despite the agonizingly high price. The battles at Salerno, Anzio, and Monte Cassino were particularly difficult and lethal, yet as the months passed, the Allied forces continued to drive the Germans up the Italian peninsula. Led by Lieutenant General Mark Clark, one of the wars most complex and controversial commanders, American officers and soldiers became increasingly determined and proficient. And with the liberation of Rome in June 1944, ultimate victory at last began to seem inevitable.
Drawing on a wide array of primary source material, written with great drama and flair, this is narrative history of the first rank. With The Day of Battle, Atkinson has once again given us the definitive account of one of historys most compelling military campaigns. Rick Atkinson was a staff writer and senior editor at The Washington Post for twenty years. He is the bestselling author of An Army at Dawn, The Long Gray Line, In the Company of Soldiers, and Crusade. His awards include Pulitzer Prizes for journalism and history. He lives in Washington, D.C. A New York Times Notable Book of the Year In An Army at Dawnwinner of the Pulitzer PrizeRick Atkinson provided an authoritative history of the Allied triumph in North Africa. Now, in The Day of Battle, he follows the strengthening American and British armies as they invade Sicily in July 1943 and fight their way north toward Rome.
The Italian campaigns outcome was never certain; in fact, Roosevelt, Churchill, and their military advisers engaged in heated debate about whether an invasion of the so-called soft underbelly of Europe was even a good idea. But once under way, the commitment to liberate Italy from the Nazis never wavered, despite the agonizingly high price. The battles at Salerno, Anzio, and Monte Cassino were particularly difficult and lethal, yet as the months passed, the Allied forces continued to drive the Germans up the Italian peninsula. Led by Lieutenant General Mark Clark, one of the wars most complex and controversial commanders, American officers and soldiers became increasingly determined and proficient. And with the liberation of Rome in June 1944, ultimate victory at last began to seem inevitable.
Drawing on a wide array of primary source material, written with great drama and flair, this is narrative history of the first rank. With The Day of Battle, Atkinson has written the definitive account of one of historys most compelling military campaigns.
"Rick Atkinson . . . excels at describing the furor of battle, and the Italian campaign provides him with abundant raw material . . . Mr. Atkinson, a longtime correspondent and editor for The Washington Post, conveys all of this with sharp-edged immediacy and a keen eye for the monstrous and the absurd."William Grimes, The New York Times
"In The Day of Battle, Rick Atkinson picks up where he left off in An Army at Dawn, his history of the North African campaign, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2003. A planned third volume, on the Normandy invasion and the war in Europe, will complete The Liberation Trilogy, which is shaping up as a triumph of narrative history, elegantly written, thick with unforgettable description and rooted in the sights and sounds of battle . . . He excels at describing the furor of battle, and the Italian campaign provides him with abundant raw material . . . Mr. Atkinson, a longtime correspondent and editor for The Washington Post, conveys all of this with sharp-edged immediacy and a keen eye for the monstrous and the absurd."William Grimes, The New York Times
Monumental . . . With this book, Rick Atkinson cements his place among Americas great popular historians, in the tradition of Bruce Catton and Stephen Ambrose.”The Washington Post
The majestic sequel to his Pulitzer Prize-winning An Army at Dawn . . . Atkinsons achievement is to marry prodigious research with a superbly organized narrative and then to overlay the whole with writing as powerful and elegant as any great narrative of war."The Wall Street Journal
Atkinson proved what a determined and assiduous researcher could achieve in An Army at Dawn, his bestselling account of the North Africa campaign, and he has been no less thorough in The Day of Battle . . . But while there is new material herelike information about the death of Allied servicemen from American mustard gas at Bariit is his ability to ferret out astonishing amounts of detail and marshal it into a highly readable whole that gives Atkinson the edge over most writers of this field. Anyone who devoured An Army at Dawn with relish will be delighted with his account of the Sicilian and Italian campaign. All the same ingredients are here, from sharp one-liners (Camaraderie and good fun, he says of the resumption of negotiations at the Trident conference in Washington, promptly pooped like soap bubbles) to brilliantly observed character portraits . . . The minutiae of events combined with telling character observation enables Atkinson to write about Eisenhowerand others, like General Patton, Clark and Truscottin a way that makes readers feel they knew these men personally. Opening with a fine account of the Trident conference between Roosevelt, Churchill and their chiefs of staff, Atkinson notes that the Italian campaign was really all about Allied strategy, or rather diverging views on strategy between American and Britian . . . The Day of Battle of is a very fine book indeed. Here the dreamless dead would lie, Atkinson writes in a very moving passage about the aftermath of the bloody Rapido, leached to bone by the passing seasons, and waiting, as all the dead would wait, for doomsdays horn. Even the great Ernie Pyle would have liked to have written that one.”James Holland, The New York Times Book Review
The Day of Battle is the second volume of Rick Atkinsons monumental history of the US Armys western experience in World War II. It chronicles, with all the verve, perception, and insight for which he has become celebrated the painful advance of Allied forces from the beaches of Sicily to the grand piazzas of Rome . . . Atkinsons book is a model of historical narrative and analysis. His accounts of the great battles evoke in vivid detail the horrors endured by the participants. I find it hard to quibble with any of his judgments. This is not least because he understands so wonderfully well the doubts and difficulties of the men of 1943-1944. He does not seek, as do too many historians, to impose upon them the values and perspective of the twenty-first century. The British historian Professor Sir Michael Howard, himself a veteran of the Italian campaign, often remarks: We make war as we can, rather than as we should. This was profoundly true of the Italian campaign, which Atkinson chronicles with glittering distinction.”Max Hastings, The New York Review of Books
"Near the end of his copiously reported, briskly written The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-144, Rick Atkinson quotes an unnamed BBC reporter who burst into Allied media headquarters in Rome on the morning of June 6, 1944. The Allies has just liberated the Eternal City, but elsewhere in Europe it was D-Day. Boys, were on the back page now, the reporter said. Theyve landed in Normandy. And so it has been, for six-plus decades. The fight for Sicily and then up the rugged, heavily defended Italian coastline to Rome and beyond largely is forgotten beneath the avalanche of journalism and moviemaking that chronicles the grand crusade from the beaches at Normandy to Hitlers bunker in Berlin. If the Allies middle campaign, between defeating Rommel in North Africa and storming ashore at Normandy, is to get its due, it well might be from The Day of Battle, the second volume of Atkinsons intended trilogy of World War II. His first in the series, An Army at Dawn, won him his second Pulitzer Prize in 2003. The reporting is meticulous and heavily footnoted . . . The Day of Battle does not glamorize incidents that today would have been instant scandals, like the conduct of individual soldiers or the failure to block German soldiers from fleeing Sicily . . . One of Atkinsons triumphs is his ability to capture the specific incident and the lesson that lurks beneath.”Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times
During World War II, Winston Churchill famously called the Mediterranean the soft underbelly of Nazi-occupied Europe. The Day of Battle, Rick Atkinson's horrifying, fascinating account of the war in Sicily and Italy, shows the British prime minister could not have chosen a less apt adjective.”Rick Hampson, USA Today
"[Atkinson] combines an impressive depth of research with a knack for taut, compelling narrative.”Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul)
"With The Day of Battle, Atkinson again proves himself to stand among the ranks of our most talented popular historians . . . Required reading for anyone with an interest in the battles of World War II.”Austin American-Statesman
A seamless, stunning narrative that is the equal of An Army at Dawn . . . Atkinsons success lies in his ability to render bare wars wretched realities in astounding prose.”Contra Costa Times
Review
"[A] triumph of narrative history, elegantly written, thick with unforgettable description and rooted in the sights and sounds of battle." William Grimes, The New York Times
Review
"[H]orrifying, fascinating....The Day of Battle would be harder to read if Atkinson did not leaven the war's horrors with its consolations: the beauty and history of the countryside, the smell of its flowers, the taste of its wines. And there are great characters." USA Today
Review
"Atkinson conveys the confusion and grinding difficulty of the Allied advance as experienced by ordinary soldiers while also providing interesting insights into the character of some of the top commanders." Booklist
Review
"Atkinson's clear prose, perceptive analysis, and grasp of the personalities and nuances of the campaigns make his book an essential purchase." Library Journal
Review
"Literate, lucid, fast-paced history an excellent survey of the Mediterranean campaign." Kirkus Review
Review
"Anyone who devoured An Army at Dawn with relish will be delighted with his account of the Sicilian and Italian campaign. All the same ingredients are here, from sharp one-liners...to brilliantly observed character portraits." James Holland, The New York Times Book Review
Synopsis
In the second volume of his epic trilogy about the liberation of Europe in World War II, Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson tells the harrowing story of the campaigns in Sicily and Italy.
In An Army at Dawn winner of the Pulitzer Prize Rick Atkinson provided a dramatic and authoritative history of the Allied triumph in North Africa. Now, in The Day of Battle, he follows the strengthening American and British armies as they invade Sicily in July 1943 and then, mile by bloody mile, fight their way north toward Rome.
The Italian campaign's outcome was never certain; in fact, Roosevelt, Churchill, and their military advisers engaged in heated debate about whether an invasion of the so-called soft underbelly of Europe was even a good idea. But once under way, the commitment to liberate Italy from the Nazis never wavered, despite the agonizingly high price. The battles at Salerno, Anzio, and Monte Cassino were particularly difficult and lethal, yet as the months passed, the Allied forces continued to drive the Germans up the Italian peninsula. Led by Lieutenant General Mark Clark, one of the war's most complex and controversial commanders, American officers and soldiers became increasingly determined and proficient. And with the liberation of Rome in June 1944, ultimate victory at last began to seem inevitable.
Drawing on a wide array of primary source material, written with great drama and flair, this is narrative history of the first rank. With The Day of Battle, Atkinson has once again given us the definitive account of one of history's most compelling military campaigns.
Synopsis
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
In the second volume of his epic trilogy about the liberation of Europe in World War II, Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson tells the harrowing story of the campaigns in Sicily and Italy
In An Army at Dawn--winner of the Pulitzer Prize--Rick Atkinson provided a dramatic and authoritative history of the Allied triumph in North Africa. Now, in The Day of Battle, he follows the strengthening American and British armies as they invade Sicily in July 1943 and then, mile by bloody mile, fight their way north toward Rome.
The Italian campaign's outcome was never certain; in fact, Roosevelt, Churchill, and their military advisers engaged in heated debate about whether an invasion of the so-called soft underbelly of Europe was even a good idea. But once under way, the commitment to liberate Italy from the Nazis never wavered, despite the agonizingly high price. The battles at Salerno, Anzio, and Monte Cassino were particularly difficult and lethal, yet as the months passed, the Allied forces continued to drive the Germans up the Italian peninsula. Led by Lieutenant General Mark Clark, one of the war's most complex and controversial commanders, American officers and soldiers became increasingly determined and proficient. And with the liberation of Rome in June 1944, ultimate victory at last began to seem inevitable.
Drawing on a wide array of primary source material, written with great drama and flair, this is narrative history of the first rank. With The Day of Battle, Atkinson has once again given us the definitive account of one of history's most compelling military campaigns.
Synopsis
In the second volume of his epic trilogy about the liberation of Europe in World War II, Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson tells the harrowing story of the campaigns in Sicily and Italy In
An Army at Dawnwinner of the Pulitzer PrizeRick Atkinson provided a dramatic and authoritative history of the Allied triumph in North Africa. Now, in
The Day of Battle, he follows the strengthening American and British armies as they invade Sicily in July 1943 and then, mile by bloody mile, fight their way north toward Rome.
The Italian campaigns outcome was never certain; in fact, Roosevelt, Churchill, and their military advisers engaged in heated debate about whether an invasion of the so-called soft underbelly of Europe was even a good idea. But once under way, the commitment to liberate Italy from the Nazis never wavered, despite the agonizingly high price. The battles at Salerno, Anzio, and Monte Cassino were particularly difficult and lethal, yet as the months passed, the Allied forces continued to drive the Germans up the Italian peninsula. Led by Lieutenant General Mark Clark, one of the wars most complex and controversial commanders, American officers and soldiers became increasingly determined and proficient. And with the liberation of Rome in June 1944, ultimate victory at last began to seem inevitable.
Drawing on a wide array of primary source material, written with great drama and flair, this is narrative history of the first rank. With The Day of Battle, Atkinson has once again given us the definitive account of one of historys most compelling military campaigns. Rick Atkinson was a staff writer and senior editor at The Washington Post for twenty years. He is the bestselling author of An Army at Dawn, The Long Gray Line, In the Company of Soldiers, and Crusade. His awards include Pulitzer Prizes for journalism and history. He lives in Washington, D.C. A New York Times Notable Book of the Year In An Army at Dawnwinner of the Pulitzer PrizeRick Atkinson provided an authoritative history of the Allied triumph in North Africa. Now, in The Day of Battle, he follows the strengthening American and British armies as they invade Sicily in July 1943 and fight their way north toward Rome.
The Italian campaigns outcome was never certain; in fact, Roosevelt, Churchill, and their military advisers engaged in heated debate about whether an invasion of the so-called soft underbelly of Europe was even a good idea. But once under way, the commitment to liberate Italy from the Nazis never wavered, despite the agonizingly high price. The battles at Salerno, Anzio, and Monte Cassino were particularly difficult and lethal, yet as the months passed, the Allied forces continued to drive the Germans up the Italian peninsula. Led by Lieutenant General Mark Clark, one of the wars most complex and controversial commanders, American officers and soldiers became increasingly determined and proficient. And with the liberation of Rome in June 1944, ultimate victory at last began to seem inevitable.
Drawing on a wide array of primary source material, written with great drama and flair, this is narrative history of the first rank. With The Day of Battle, Atkinson has written the definitive account of one of historys most compelling military campaigns.
"Rick Atkinson . . . excels at describing the furor of battle, and the Italian campaign provides him with abundant raw material . . . Mr. Atkinson, a longtime correspondent and editor for The Washington Post, conveys all of this with sharp-edged immediacy and a keen eye for the monstrous and the absurd."William Grimes, The New York Times
"In The Day of Battle, Rick Atkinson picks up where he left off in An Army at Dawn, his history of the North African campaign, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2003. A planned third volume, on the Normandy invasion and the war in Europe, will complete The Liberation Trilogy, which is shaping up as a triumph of narrative history, elegantly written, thick with unforgettable description and rooted in the sights and sounds of battle . . . He excels at describing the furor of battle, and the Italian campaign provides him with abundant raw material . . . Mr. Atkinson, a longtime correspondent and editor for The Washington Post, conveys all of this with sharp-edged immediacy and a keen eye for the monstrous and the absurd."William Grimes, The New York Times
“Monumental . . . With this book, Rick Atkinson cements his place among Americas great popular historians, in the tradition of Bruce Catton and Stephen Ambrose.”The Washington Post
“The majestic sequel to his Pulitzer Prize-winning An Army at Dawn . . . Atkinsons achievement is to marry prodigious research with a superbly organized narrative and then to overlay the whole with writing as powerful and elegant as any great narrative of war."The Wall Street Journal
“Atkinson proved what a determined and assiduous researcher could achieve in An Army at Dawn, his bestselling account of the North Africa campaign, and he has been no less thorough in The Day of Battle . . . But while there is new material herelike information about the death of Allied servicemen from American mustard gas at Bariit is his ability to ferret out astonishing amounts of detail and marshal it into a highly readable whole that gives Atkinson the edge over most writers of this field. Anyone who devoured An Army at Dawn with relish will be delighted with his account of the Sicilian and Italian campaign. All the same ingredients are here, from sharp one-liners (‘Camaraderie and good fun, he says of the resumption of negotiations at the Trident conference in Washington, ‘promptly pooped like soap bubbles) to brilliantly observed character portraits . . . The minutiae of events combined with telling character observation enables Atkinson to write about Eisenhowerand others, like General Patton, Clark and Truscottin a way that makes readers feel they knew these men personally. Opening with a fine account of the Trident conference between Roosevelt, Churchill and their chiefs of staff, Atkinson notes that the Italian campaign was really all about Allied strategy, or rather diverging views on strategy between American and Britian . . . The Day of Battle of is a very fine book indeed. ‘Here the dreamless dead would lie, Atkinson writes in a very moving passage about the aftermath of the bloody Rapido, ‘leached to bone by the passing seasons, and waiting, as all the dead would wait, for doomsdays horn. Even the great Ernie Pyle would have liked to have written that one.”James Holland, The New York Times Book Review
“The Day of Battle is the second volume of Rick Atkinsons monumental history of the US Armys western experience in World War II. It chronicles, with all the verve, perception, and insight for which he has become celebrated the painful advance of Allied forces from the beaches of Sicily to the grand piazzas of Rome . . . Atkinsons book is a model of historical narrative and analysis. His accounts of the great battles evoke in vivid detail the horrors endured by the pa
Synopsis
In the second volume of his epic trilogy about the liberation of Europe in World War II, Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson tells the harrowing story of the campaigns in Sicily and Italy In
An Army at Dawn--winner of the Pulitzer Prize--Rick Atkinson provided a dramatic and authoritative history of the Allied triumph in North Africa. Now, in
The Day of Battle, he follows the strengthening American and British armies as they invade Sicily in July 1943 and then, mile by bloody mile, fight their way north toward Rome.
The Italian campaign's outcome was never certain; in fact, Roosevelt, Churchill, and their military advisers engaged in heated debate about whether an invasion of the so-called soft underbelly of Europe was even a good idea. But once under way, the commitment to liberate Italy from the Nazis never wavered, despite the agonizingly high price. The battles at Salerno, Anzio, and Monte Cassino were particularly difficult and lethal, yet as the months passed, the Allied forces continued to drive the Germans up the Italian peninsula. Led by Lieutenant General Mark Clark, one of the war's most complex and controversial commanders, American officers and soldiers became increasingly determined and proficient. And with the liberation of Rome in June 1944, ultimate victory at last began to seem inevitable.
Drawing on a wide array of primary source material, written with great drama and flair, this is narrative history of the first rank. With The Day of Battle, Atkinson has once again given us the definitive account of one of history's most compelling military campaigns.
Synopsis
“A triumph of narrative history, elegantly written, thick with unforgettable description and rooted in the sight and sounds of battle.”—The New York Times
In An Army at Dawn—winner of the Pulitzer Prize—Rick Atkinson provided a dramatic and authoritative history of the Allied triumph in North Africa. Now, in The Day of Battle, he follows the strengthening American and British armies as they invade Sicily in July 1943 and then, mile by bloody mile, fight their way north toward Rome.
The Italian campaigns outcome was never certain; in fact, Roosevelt, Churchill, and their military advisers engaged in heated debate about whether an invasion of the so-called soft underbelly of Europe was even a good idea. But once under way, the commitment to liberate Italy from the Nazis never wavered, despite the agonizingly high price. The battles at Salerno, Anzio, and Monte Cassino were particularly difficult and lethal, yet as the months passed, the Allied forces continued to drive the Germans up the Italian peninsula. Led by Lieutenant General Mark Clark, one of the wars most complex and controversial commanders, American officers and soldiers became increasingly determined and proficient. And with the liberation of Rome in June 1944, ultimate victory at last began to seem inevitable.
Drawing on a wide array of primary source material, written with great drama and flair, this is narrative history of the first rank. With The Day of Battle, Atkinson has once again given us the definitive account of one of historys most compelling military campaigns.
Synopsis
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
"Majestic... Atkinsons achievement is to marry prodigious research with a superbly organized narrative and then to overlay the whole with writing as powerful and elegant as any great narrative of war.” —The Wall Street Journal
In An Army at Dawn—winner of the Pulitzer Prize—Rick Atkinson provided an authoritative history of the Allied triumph in North Africa during World War II. Now, in The Day of Battle, he follows the strengthening American and British armies as they invade Sicily in July 1943 and then, mile by bloody mile, fight their way north toward Rome.
The decision to invade the so-called soft underbelly of Europe was controversial, but once under way, the commitment to liberate Italy from the Nazis never wavered. The battles at Salerno, Anzio, the Rapido River, and Monte Cassino were particularly lethal, yet as the months passed, the Allied forces continued to drive the Germans up the Italian peninsula. And with the liberation of Rome in June 1944, ultimate victory at last began to seem inevitable.
Drawing on a wide array of primary source material, written with great drama and flair, The Day of Battle is a masterly account of one of historys most compelling military campaigns.
About the Author
Rick Atkinson, recipient of the 2010 Pritzker Military Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing, is the bestselling author of An Army at Dawn, The Long Gray Line, and In the Company of Soldiers. He was a staff writer and senior editor at The Washington Post for twenty years, and his many awards include Pulitzer Prizes for journalism and history. He lives in Washington, D.C.