Will I love The Longest Day?

First published in 1959, some 15 years after the Allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day, Cornelius Ryan’s book stands as a classic narrative of that amphibious assault. Writing in the vivid prose of an experienced journalist, Ryan also conducted research like a seasoned historian. He interviewed combatants of every nation and rank and sent questionnaires to many others. I feel like I am in the thick of the fight alongside Allied soldiers in the landing craft approaching the beach and with Germans hunkered down in the fortifications trying to stop their amphibious assault. Throughout his narrative, Ryan blends analyses of… show more.

If Cornelius (or ‘Connie’) Ryan were ever to stumble across one of my war histories (too late, I fear… he died in November 1974.) then he might recognize it as an act of hero-worship. Certainly, he’s my hero. The Longest Day is history as it should be told:: exciting, detailed, clear-headed, and page-turning. It’s the story of the D-Day landings, which marked the beginning of the end of World War 2 in Europe, told from both the Allied and the German perspectives.

It derives its title from a famous remark by Germany’s Field Marshal Erwin Rommel before the very risky… show more.