Book review

I finished reading Citizen Soldiers last night to ring in the new year. Just as good a way as any for me....not standing outside to watch ANYTHING drop all the while freezing my kiester off, no sirree!

Overall I give the book an A. It's good and once you get into it, fairly easy to read. The first hundred pages or so are a bit dry and boring (for me anyway). It was difficult for me to keep tabs in my mind on who is where at which point in the story. If you're a good mapreader (I am not) it might not be so difficult, as there are plenty of maps.

After that, the author goes on to tell the soldiers' stories, which is the reason I bought the book to begin with. It is amazing the similarities between the GIs' accounts and those of the German soldiers, which goes to reinforce my belief that on both sides of any war are just human beings.

Some memorable quotes:
[during a shelling] "We were helpless...and all alone and there was nothing we could do, so I prayed to God. The time went by very slow as I tried to keep warm but that wasn't possible so I thought about my mother and hoped she didn't know where I was or what I was doing. I was glad I was not married."

[after watching a particularly gruesome death] "He wasn't twenty years old. He hadn't begun to live. Shrieking and moaning he gave up his life on a stretcher. Back in America, the standard of living continued to rise. Back in America the race tracks were booming the night clubs were making record profits, Miami Beach was so crowded you couldn't get a room anywhere. Few people seemed to care. Hell, this was a boom, this was prosperity, this was the way to fight a war. We wondered if the people would ever know what it cost the soldiers in terror, bloodshed, and hideous, agonizing deaths to win the war."

[after meeting German civilians in Germany] ""The enemy could not have changed so quickly from a beast to a likable human being. Thus, the conclusion is nearly forced upon the GIs that they have been previously blinded by fear and hatred and the propaganda of their own government."