But perhaps I can point out an additional, less-commented-on lesson from the book: Despite the consistent themes of responsibility and duty which underlie almost every account, these people were far more diverse than we today have given them credit for. They were not monolithically conservative, worshipers of the Establishment, traditionally religious, obsessed with making money, conformist gray-flannel people with 2.6 kids and a stay-at-home mom in each family. For example, when the Viet Nam war and the associated 60s protests arrived, the reactions and tolerance levels of these people varied widely. Their values and lifestyles were about as diverse as those we find in our new century.

The one clear difference between that generation and subsequent ones can be summed up in two words: no whining. In the entire book, I don't recall a single individual even mentioning the word "rights" as they applied to himself or herself. No one believed that he or she was entitled to special privileges or to live at the expense of anyone else. No one expected the world to be fair. They took the world as they found it, and made the best of it.

The only failure that the Greatest Generation can be charged with is that they were so successful in building a society where everything came easily. That in turn gave rise to the generations of adult brats who gave this book negative reviews because they couldn't believe some of the UNsolved problems could have been so hard to solve. The life of ease bequeathed to us by the Greatest Generation has obscured the natural hardships of life that made loyalty and hard work a necessary trait for survival. People now have the luxury of sitting back and leisurely lecturing their forebears on how THEY would have done everything better. When we hear (or read) such nonsense, I don't know whether the proper reaction is to laugh condescendingly or to throw up.


A legacy to our children   December 13, 1999
 62 out of 64 found this review helpful

I bought this book for my children. I am so thankful that someone told this story. This Greatest Generation is slowly slipping away. I am a baby boomer and my father [their grandfather] was an Italian immigrant. He was very aware of the freedom he enjoyed in this country and was willing to fight against the tyrrany of a very sick dictator! Their other grandfather fought at Pearl Harbor. Their future wives worked hard here at home for the war effort. Both men thankfully survived to go on and help rebuild this country where their families could grow up safely and with more opportunities than they knew. These dear family members have now passed on. I wanted my children to understand what their grandparents endured and to be very proud of the unselfishness of that Greatest Generation. They didn't have state-of-the-art everything, but they had loyalty, integrity, determination and grit that far overshadowed any doubts or fears. Their example of selflessness was an honorable trait. We should all strive to emulate their noble character.


A Great Tribute To A Great Generation But Mediocre Writing!   May 16, 2000
 57 out of 68 found this review helpful

Brokaw deserves credit for providing a major tribute to a generation that for too long has been underappreciated. Unfortunately, people in their late 70s and older are just seen -- particularly by Gen Xers and Gen Yers -- as OLD; with most of us having little understanding of the sacrifices and contributions they made towards making America what it is today. I agree with Brokaw that the WWII generation may be the greatest generation in America's history for the various reasons he cites in his book. As a book, however,The Greatest Generation, while interesting, does not fulfill the promise I was anticipating. Basically, what Brokaw has done is provide a series of short, somewhat fluffy chronicles of the lives of WWII veterans from various cross-sections of the United States. While these chronicles, as I said, are interesting, they do not provide enough depth and insight into how these individuals' wartime achievements contributed to what they accomplished after the war. Nonetheless, The Greatest Generation is a book worth reading for the main value it provides -- making each of the post-WWII generations understand and appreciate better a generation which, sadly, will not be with us for too much longer.


Typical-heart in the right place, head stuck elsewhere...   December 9, 1999
 41 out of 75 found this review helpful

I would have thought it universal among the baby boomer generation that one day we all would realize that our fathers were better men at 16 than we were at 30. Now that I am 45, I am beginning to see that perhaps my intuition was too broad based. Few of my peers ever really left the embarrassingly immature views espoused during the sixties in the sixties where they belong.

Tom Brokaw is absolutely right in characterizing "The Greatest Generation". Had he managed to do so in an objective manner, the book would have weathered it's poor editing more handily. As it is, Brokaw's apparent inability to not project his own politics into a story is as pronounced here as it is on the Clinton Administrations favorite propaganda outlet, the NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw.

Take the good with the bad-there are moments even Brokaw cannot spoil for us. For a more useful look at the "greatest" generation and the true mettle of our nations resolve and courage, I would suggest "Once an Eagle" is a good place to start.

Jerry Furland, Author of "Transfer-the end of the beginning..."