Ambrose, Stephen E. Citizen Soldiers. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997.

ISBN 0-684-81525-7
512 pages

Maps; Introduction and Acknowledgments; Prologue; photos; maps; Epilogue; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Stephen Ambrose is a popular author whose recent works have been well-received in the media and have sold well. His new book, subtitled "The U.S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany, June 7, 1944 - May 7, 1945", will almost certainly enhance his popularity, receive more favorable media attention, and sell many copies.

That being the case, I hope no one will mind too much if I toss out a dissenting opinion.

As with his D-Day, the new book is largely constructed from the voices of American combat veterans. These are the aging men whose willingness to serve dutifully allowed the buildup of the military machine that contributed significantly -- some would say decisively -- to the defeat of Nazi Germany. Individually, their stories provide fascinating and poignant glimpses of an era as remote and unfamiliar to most Americans today as the Civil War.

Unfortunately, Ambrose has a tendency to stitch these stories together in a fashion that scrubs and disinfects and idealizes his subjects. It may be a gritty snapshot of men at war, but in his hands it seems somehow staged and artificially lit and processed and airbrushed. I don't approve of glorifying or mythologizing the brutal reality of war, and that seems to be what he's doing. I also have the queasy feeling that a certain jingoistic nationalism lurks betwen the lines in many of his paragraphs.

But mine is assuredly a minority view.

Readers who enjoyed D-Day will find that Citizen Soldiers picks up literally and figuratively where that volume left off.

Available from online booksellers and local bookshops.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster for providing this review copy.