Six Armies in Normandy: From D-Day to the Liberation of Paris; June 6 - Aug. 5, 1944; Revised

The man "who writes about the war better than almost anyone in our century" ( The Washington Post Book World) here details how the armies of six nations met on the battlefields of Normandy in what was to be the greatest allied achievement of World War II.

John Keegan's innovative approach to the invasion of Normandy correctly observes that the invasion, while colossal, was merely the beginning of a series of furious battles in northern France, and Keegan accordingly tackles not only the actions of June 6, 1944, but the subsequent Normandy campaigns by five Allied nations and their German opponents. Focusing on specific actions, such as the U.S. 101st Airborne night drop into France and the British infantry battles surrounding the city of Caen, he provides an exciting chronological account of the action in Normandy with considerable depth about tactical decisions.

Keegan is a skilled writer and his battle accounts are stirring. But beyond the vivid battle stories, this is also a book that will engage intellectually those who study battles and tactics, as well as the diplomatic activity that was necessary for the Allied victory in the Second World War's European theater of operations. --Robert McNamara