An Army At Dawn: The War In North Africa, 1942-1943, Volume One Of The Liberation Trilogy (The Liberation Trilogy, 1)

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER"A splendid book... The emphasis throughout is on the human drama of men at war."?The Washington Post Book WorldThe liberation of Europe and the destruction of the Third Reich is an epic story of courage and calamity, of miscalculation and enduring triumph. In this first volume of the Liberation Trilogy, Rick Atkinson shows why no modern reader can understand the ultimate victory of the Allied powers without a grasp of the great drama that unfolded in North Africa in 1942 and 1943.Opening with the daring amphibious invasion in November 1942, An Army at Dawn follows the American and British armies as they fight the French in Morocco and Algiers, and then take on the Germans and Italians in Tunisia. Battle by battle, an inexperienced and sometimes poorly led army gradually becomes a superb fighting force. At the center of the tale are the extraordinary but flawed commanders who come to dominate the battlefield: Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, Montgomery, and Rommel.Brilliantly researched, rich with new material and vivid insights, Atkinson's vivid narrative tells the deeply human story of a monumental battle for the future of civilization.Review?A splendid book... The emphasis throughout is on the human drama of men at war.? ?The Washington Post Book World?Exceptional... A work strong in narrative flow and character portraits of the principle commanders... A highly pleasurable read.? ?The New York Times Book Review?A master of the telling profile... This vivid, personality-driven account of the campaign to drive Axis forces from North Africa shows the political side of waging war, even at the tactical level.? ?Chicago Tribune?In his gripping An Army at Dawn, Rick Atkinson skilfully chronicles... the invasion of North Africa in World War II... [This is] the first volume of the Liberation Trilogy, in which Mr. Atkinson intends to tell the entire story of the U.S. armed forces in the European theatre. Based on this book, he is off to a rip-roaring start. An Army at Dawn may be the best World War II battle narrative since Cornelius Ryan's classics, The Longest Day and A Bridge Too Far.? ?Max Boot, The Wall Street Journal?A book that stands shoulder to shoulder with the other major books about the war, such as the fine writing of Cornelius Ryan and John Keegan.? ?Associated Press?Atkinson's book is eminently friendly and readable, but without compromising normal standards of accuracy and objectivity. More than a military history, it is a social and psychological inquiry as well. His account of the Kasserine Pass disaster is alone worth the price of the book and stands as an exciting preview of the rich volumes to come. I heartily recommend this human, sensitive, unpretentious work.? ?Paul Fussell, author of Doing Battle and Wartime?This is a wonderful book--popular history at its best. It is impressively researched and superbly written, and it brings to life in full detail one of the vitally important but relatively ?forgotten' campaigns of World War II. What Bruce Catton and Shelby Foote did for the Civil War in their trilogies, Rick Atkinson is doing for World War II in the European Theater.? ?Professor Mark A. Stoler, author of Allies and Adversaries?One of the most compelling pieces of military history I've ever read, An Army at Dawn will become a military history and strategy studies classic. Atkinson writes with incredible insight and mastery of the details, and he is always mindful of the larger picture. He goes from the highest political levels to the deepest foxhole without missing a beat. This is history at its finest.? ?Gen. Wesley K. Clark, U.S.A. (ret.), former NATO supreme commander?Rick Atkinson has done a beautiful job of research and writing in An Army at Dawn. This is the North African campaign--warts, snafus, feuding allies, incompetence--unvarnished. It whets my appetite for the rest of the Liberation Trilogy Atkinson has promised us.?