Book Review: The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw

About:
The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw is a non-fiction book which the author collects stories from individual Americans of the generation. These are not historical figures, but everyday people who were called on to do nothing less than save the world.

• 464 pages
• Publisher: Random House
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400063140

My rating for The Greatest Generation – 5
Buy this book in paper or elec­tronic (Kin­dle) format*
More Books by Tom Brokaw*

 

Thoughts:
The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw is truly a remarkable book, I ran through it like a steam train, and could not put it down. This is a moving book that teaches lessons represented through those who lived during the great depression and fought, what many call, the last justified war.

These stories makes you appreciate where you came from, and what people have done to preserve our way of life. The most fascinating parts are not the stories of the men and women who went on to bigger and better things, but the stories of those who came home, settled down, and lived a full life.

The people Mr. Brokaw writes about are not cutboard cutouts of soldiers who are duty bound, responsible conservatives or any other stereotype, real or imagined. These were real people, who cared about themselves and others and who had families care about them a well.

The legacy of the greatest generation is that they built a society which is too easy. Everything comes easy and everyone demands success and riches. If you can’t have it from working, you just make a fool of yourself on national TV and watch the dollars stream in. That generation did not feel entitled to anything, they didn’t feel privileged or wanted to live on someone else’s expense account. Come to think of it, I cannot think of a single person complaining throughout this book.

This is not a history book of WWII, but it does give you a great appreciation for the men and women of that generation. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things could very well describe this book, but I’m afraid that might be an understatement.

Buy this book in paper or elec­tronic (Kin­dle) format*
More Books by Tom Brokaw*

 

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