Book Review: The Liberator by Alex Kershaw

November 8, 2012
Article first published asBook Review:The Liberator: One World War II Soldier’s 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachauby Alex Kershawon Blogcritics.

About:
The Liberator: One World War II Soldier’s 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachauby Alex Kershaw is a non-fiction book about the amazing journey of officer (later General) Felix L. Sparks. The book is an excellent, well researched account of soldiers on the ground and the liberation of Dachau.

The pub­lisher is giv­ing away one copy to three (3) winners of this book –to enter fill out the Raf­fle­copt­ter form at the end of the post.

  • 448 pages
  • Publisher: Crown
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0307887995

Book-Review-The-Liberator-One-World-War-II-Soldier's-500-Day-Odyssey-from-the-Beaches-of-Sicily-to-the-Gates-of-Dachau-by-Alex-Kershaw

My rat­ing for The Liberator5

Buy this book inpaperorelec­tronicformat*

More Book by Alex Kershaw
Check out this & more World War II books onMan of la BookStore

Thoughts:
The Liberator: One World War II Soldier’s 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau by Alex Kershaw is a dramatic narrative which follows Felix L. Sparks from joining the Army as a way out of the Great Depression to his death in 2007. Mr. Kershaw interviewed Sparks before he died which adds to the authenticity and reliability of the story.

Sparks, the only man to survive the war from his original company, is portrayed as a man of courage, intelligence and integrity. There are numerous times when Sparks, commander in the 45th “Thunderbird” Division of the National Guard, risks his life to save his men, protecting them and flirting with danger instead of sitting on the sidelines.

Felix L. Sparks

Felix L. Sparks

The book describes the day to day grind that the soldiers had to endure, choke full of details not only of the big picture, but the small stuff that matters every day. A very poignant part is the liberation of the concentration camp Dachau, the soldiers couldn’t believe what they were seeing, and even I had a difficult time reading about the horrors which ensued in the camp.

The book is fast paced, telling a remarkable story in an easily read narrative. The story is not always easy to read, but always exciting and interesting celebrating one of the many heroes of “The Greatest Generation”.

Related Reads:
Citizen Soldiers by Stephen Ambrose

Gated Grief by Leila Levinson

Synopsis:
Joining the Army to get away from the depression, 25 year-old Felix Spars arrives in Italy as a captain in the 157th Infantry Regiment of the 45th Division – the Thunderbirds. Sparks proves to be a natural leader and a man of high intelligence, moral and respectability leading his men in 4 amphibious invasions, through the rough mountainous terrains of Italy and France and winter combat against the SS on the German border.

Somehow Sparks survives, one of the few in his unit to survive the bloody march, and is put in charge to lead the hunt for Hitler into Bavaria. However, Sparks and his man stumble onto the notorious concentration camp Dachau whose horrors force them to struggle with their humanity and sense of revenge.

Buy this book inpaperorelec­tronicformat*

More Book by Alex Kershaw
Check out this & more World War II books onMan of la BookStore

Give­away

  • Give­away ends: Novem­ber 15, 2012

  • US/Canada Ship­ping Addresses Only

  • No PO Boxes

  • Win­ners will have 24 hours to write back with their address, oth­er­wise an alter­nate win­ner will be picked

Congratulations: mbaron@, sammycoville@, name as email, bethvollbach@

Zohar — Man of la Book
Dis­claimer: I got this book for free.
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account

BOOK BLOGGERS – Have you read The Liberator? If so link up your review below:

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10 Comments

  • techeditorNovember 8, 2012 at 9:24 am

    My email: bethvollbach(at)sbcglobal(dot)net

    I’m so glad this post is up! I guess I was too anxious last night and this morning when I looked for it because I’d really like to win this book. Thanks!

  • techeditorNovember 8, 2012 at 9:30 am

    I follow this blog by email, and I also follow/like on Facebook (although I’m not techeditor on Facebook). I’d give my name in the Rafflecoptor form, but you didn’t have a dialog box for it. I won’t leave it here because I use my real name on Facebook.

  • Danielle VNovember 8, 2012 at 5:57 pm

    Would love to win! This book looks fantastic.

    Best,
    Danielle
    http://thereaderscommute.blogspot.com

    thereaderscommute@gmail.com

  • Wayne LecoyNovember 9, 2012 at 9:59 pm

    Please Enter Me In Your Book Giveaway.
    It Would Be Great To Win A Copy Of
    The Liberator By Alex Kershaw
    I Don’t Know If You Wanted Me To Put My Email In My Comment
    But I Don’t Feel Comfortable Doing That.
    Thank You For Having This Giveaway.

  • EileenNovember 10, 2012 at 6:40 pm

    erkrueger at hotmail dot com

  • Aliya D.November 11, 2012 at 12:35 am

    Thank you for doing a Remembrance Day giveaway… They truly were the Greatest Generation. Thank you.

    Aliya D.
    aliyadaya(at)shaw(dot)ca

  • Anna (Diary of an Eccentric)November 11, 2012 at 7:48 am

    I have a copy of this book but haven’t read it yet. Glad to see it’s well done.

  • Andrew T. KuligowskiNovember 12, 2012 at 6:29 am

    Sounds like an interesting book, Zohan. You always find interesting and occasionally esoteric (auto)biographies / memoirs.

  • Andreas MoserMay 15, 2014 at 2:27 am

    I wrote a somewhat critical review of “The Liberator” and author Alex Kershaw sent me a message to “f*** off”: http://andreasmoser.wordpress.com/2014/05/14/the-liberator-by-alex-kershaw/

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