Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose :: American History

Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose I. Authors Background Stephen Ambrose was born in 1936 and grew up in Whitewater, Wisconsin, a small town where his father was the M.D. At the University of Wisconsin, he started as a pre-med, but inspired by a great professor he changed his major to History. After getting his M.A. degree at Louisiana State University, he returned to the University of Wisconsin to complete a Ph.D. Ambrose began teaching at the University of New Orleans. He started as a Civil War historian but changed to political history after President Eisenhower asked him to become his biographer. Since then, Ambrose has written more than twenty books. Among his best sellers are D-Day, Citizen Soldiers, Band of Brothers, Undaunted Courage and Nothing like it in the World. He was also a consultant for Steven Spielberg’s movie Saving Private Ryan. He is a retired Professor of History. Ambrose is now the director of the Eisenhower Center in New Orleans and is the founder of the National D-Day Museum. He is also a contributing editor of the Quarterly Journal of Military History. II. Synopsis Band of Brothers is a fascinating book that captures moments lived by soldiers during World War II. It specifically relates to the History of a small unit of paratroopers known as Easy Company, 506 Regiment, 101st Airborne. It is a story that follows the company from its inception to the capture of Hitler’s nest. It begins with the training of these soldiers at Camp Toccoa, Georgia. The 140 members of easy company who were young men from different social levels were physically and mentally trained. This particular company had an extremely harsh training, but many believe it is because of this training that they were considered as one of the best rifle companies in the army. Their trainer was Captain Sobel who they disliked but was later replaced with Lieutenant Winters. Two of the many things these soldiers learned were brotherhood and leadership. The first drop done by the paratroopers was on June 6, 1944 in Normandy. This drop did not result as planned. Planes were flying at a high velocity and at a short distance from the ground. Therefore one of the planes got hit. They arrived at Carentan which they captured and flew back to Aldbourne. Their second drop was on September 17, 1944 in Holland. This time it was perfectly done.