Bill Bradley Books

The photographer has really captured the feel of Ellis Island. A visit to the island is a must for people visiting New York. Whether this was the first stop for your ancestors on their arrival to the new world, or they came through other ports of entry, I think the general experiences were the same. All the feelings of expectation, fear, joy or the disappointment of making such a long journey only to be detained or turned back while in sight of the "promised land" are tangible in Stephen Wilkes' images.

As an artist, I purchased this after my artist friend showed it to me, to use as a guide for selecting particular colors and/or color combinations in abstract paintings. It is amazing that the light in the photos has been captured as it truly was--not altered or enhanced with SW to convey a particular mood. Everyone I have showed this to has been propelled to stop and look through every image in the book--it draws you in as you flip through the pages. The colors portray emotion. Content is one of a kind. Highly recommended.

I found this book to be stunning and thought provoking-I wondered about how frightened and angry immigrants must have been to be treated in such a way after what they went through before.

The pictures speak of the passing of time with such a quietness. One can only imagine the complete opposite when Ellis Island was a sea of humanity speaking and crying and hoping while glimpsing NY's famed skyline so nearby. So many hopes realized, so many unfulfilled.

I Love this book, the pictures are beautiful, the design and layout make the pictures and quotes very moving. As a photographer I admire the quality of the work, and the bright vivid prints. I love that most of the images are full pages, sometimes spread across two pages, with small text labeling the room, or part of the property. There are no frames, page designs, or paragraphs to take away from the imagery. For more information and details the photographer includes a section of thumbnails with descriptions, stories about the room, or the shooting conditions, or even bitd of history. The thumbnails and text are at the back of the book with an arial shot and map showing the layout of the buildings. It really helps to peice together the history of Ellis Island. The quotes including add to the emotion behind the images, and I like that they were on parchment paper, so that you can see the pictures behind it. The books are being enjoyed by me and my mother, who is very interested in the hostory of Ellis Island, while I enjoy it for the photography. Great book to own, everyone should have a copy.

Blood Bankers collates vivid insider stories on the pillage of developing countries by international banks and the piracy of finance by corrupt leaders. The book accounts for the fact that, in spite of immense financial flows to the Third World, many countries have not witnessed the expected benefits, and indeed have been damaged by corruption and debt.

An Amazing read! I didn't know what I never knew! After reading this book twice, I realize that International Bankers of all varieties dominate the buisness world and are at fault for irresponsible lending to many 'developing' nations. A result of which is massive poverty and wealth inequality througout the world.
A timely and revealing look at the origins of the Iraq war are an excellent reminder of power of these wealthy few.

Everyone should buy this book.

This book is an eye-opening account of the financial chicanery that lay behind countless poorly planned, badly executed, over-priced and economically unviable development projects that were undertaken in Africa, Asia and Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s. Henry exposes the role played by leading international financial institutions in fueling the growth of dubious forms of transnational economic activity and shows how their behavior has been tolerated and even encouraged by the IMF, the World Bank and the US Treasury. He also sheds light on the influence that international financial interests have had on political developments in the third world - from the overthrow of Allende's elected government in Chile and the funding provided to Nicaragua's Contra rebels, to the support of thieving dictators like Ferdinand Marcos, General Somoza and Carlos Salinas, just to mention a few.

"The Blood Bankers" is an important contribution to our understanding of global financial instability. Most often, liberalized (legitimate) capital markets, international trade, state power, and international regulatory institutions are cited as the causes of destabilization. However, J. Henry allows us to look behind these forces and bodies to see how the liberalization of the global economy has unleashed illicit and/ or immoral financial forces, often acting through otherwise legitimate enterprises. Thus, "The Blood Bankers" gives us another level of understanding and critique of the agents of globalization. Without understanding the underground players, it would be impossible to fully understand the instability of modern international markets.

Major U.S. banks have knowingly dealt with the corrupt elites of the world's developing countries.
They have harbored capital flight from wealthy investors who had lost confidence in their country.
They have extended loans to corrupt industrialists, who promptly skimmed the profits and, through their political connections, convinced the national governments to guarantee the loans, placing the burden on the backs of the poor.
They have lent money to violently repressive military dictators.
They have accepted bribes; they have offered bribes; they have turned a blind eye to untold human suffering.

There are few books I've read over the past few years that have really stuck with me, and this is one of them. With the economy in a downturn, I find myself wondering what's happening to the families whose lives the authors tracked for a couple of years in the late 90s. The real-life families that are profiled here are truly memorable. Fans of "Nickel and Dimed" will like this book because it fills in a lot of the blanks about how poor families cope. The authors keep themselves out of their subjects' stories and basically let the families'words and actions demonstrate how difficult it is to live in poverty. I was inspired by the resourcefulness most of them bring to the challenge.

Review From Publisher's Weekly - Almost half of the nation's children live in officially defined poverty or near-poverty. Putting a human face on this and other statistics, the authors present a disturbing and provocative composite portrait of 10 families struggling to make ends meet--four white, two Hispanic, three black and one Hawaiian/Samoan. Bennett and Aber, both directors of Columbia University's National Center for Children in Poverty, and freelance journalist Shirk (a veteran St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter), identify three factors--teen parenthood, low educational achievement and temporary or low-wage work--that they call "the `Bermuda Triangle' of family poverty." Add the associated risks of domestic violence, poor child care and damage to early brain development from malnutrition, preventable birth complications, environmental toxins, etc., and readers will begin to see why poverty cuts across urban, suburban and rural areas. A few of the parents profiled here battle drug addiction; one gambles; several suffer from disabling depression; one single mother bravely raises a severely disabled five-year-old son afflicted with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy and a 234-pound, 12-year-old daughter. In almost all the profiled families, one or both parents work, contradicting the widespread stereotype of the poor as lazy or irresponsible. In a succinct closing chapter, the authors call for a combination of public- and private-sector measures to help prevent or reduce child poverty. The issues they raise should fuel election-year debate. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

The Los Angeles Union passenger Terminal was the last of the great passenger railway stations built in the United States, opening in 1939. Bill Bradley has prepared a significant work in text and illustrations which includes information on predecessor depots, the political ramblings surrounding the site selection and plans, and the celebration of the opening of this great station. Model railroaders will find ample photos and track plans to help them recreate the station. Santa Fe, Southern Pacific, and Union Pacific fans will delight at the photos of their favorite consists Paper, 120 pages.

The Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal was the last of the great passenger railway stations built in the United States, opening in 1939. Bill Bradley has prepared a significant work in text and illustrations which includes information on predecessor depots, the political ramblings surrounding the site selection and plans, and the celebration of the opening of this great station. Model railroaders will find ample photos and track plans to help them recreate the station. Santa Fe, Southern Pacific, and Union Pacific fans will delight at the photos of their favorite consists. Paper, 120 pages.

The take over of Chrysler by Diamler-Benz was heralded as the "merger of equals". This merger was a joke that was really a buyout of an American icon. The story of the merger is one of intrigue on two continents and is told very well here. It is an interesting book and very well written. I highly recommend it for those who want to see what happened at Chrysler after Iacocca retired.

I don't know how Vlasic was able to get the information in this book. The conversations ring true to me and this story feels as if it really could have occurred the way Vlasic describes it. This is one of the best books I have read in the past year. He is able to take a somewhat chaotic true story and assemble a story that flows smoothly yet also seems accurate. His ability to draw a picture of the characters is outstanding and they have proven quite prescient as time has passed.

Sometimes the reading gets boring in too many details, but the facts in this book are INCREDIBLE!
It shows that Juergen Schrempp never wanted to merge, but to buy, Bob Eaton was totally involved and everybody else was taken by surprise. Bob Eaton never actually ran the company, maybe that is why he sold it.

If you are looking to find out exactly how the Germans came in and stole Chrysler out from under its American leadership, this is the book for you. Superbly written and researched, the book is a page turner that kept me up till the early morning hours. I highly recommend it and hope that nothing like this ever happens again in corporate America. "Taken for a Ride" couldn't be a more fitting title.

In 2000, hot on the heels of the Daimler-Chrysler merger, Bill Vlasic and Bradley A. Stertz, both of the Detroit Free Press, chronicled the merger and the run-up to it. Being from Detroit, lament pervades an otherwise riveting story full of intrigue from the Chrysler executives fending off raider/financier Kirk Kerkorian, through the unrelenting pace of the merger talks, and finally the aftermath where the former Chrysler executives started to roll over or jump ship.

At the book's core are the merger negotiations and the power struggle that followed. Starkly contrasted are the styles of Jurgen Schrempp, the awesome Daimler-Benz Chairman, and Bob Eaton, his diffident Chrysler counterpart. From the outset, Eaton is cast as a weakling who crumbles in the face of bigger personalities. The horrendous miscommunication between Eaton and Kerkorian on the eve of Kerkorian's acquisition announcement foreshadows Eaton's flaky approach to the negotiations with Daimler. Throughout the book, Eaton is portrayed as hapless and hopeless. An outsider, chosen as CEO because of a clash of egos that disqualified the vastly more talented Bob Lutz (now the septuagenarian Vice-Chairman of General Motors), he, by all the books accounts, failed to ever become part of Chrysler. Time and again, Eaton is shown to be a ditherer and a weakling - indeed he is reported to have broken down in front of hundreds of senior managers no fewer than three times.

Across the table from Eaton is Jurgen Schrempp, a big man with an insatiable appetite for action. Whether against internal Daimler rival Helmut Werner or at the table with Eaton, he comes off as a brilliant strategist with an unrelenting drive who lives for the big moments.

Irrespective of how the market will judge the merger, the book offers useful lessons for negotiators. The Americans proved the negotiator's adage that failing to prepare is preparing to fail. The Daimler executives set their objectives and then prepared their strategy meticulously. Schrempp created alternatives to a negotiated solution, including the unlikely possibility of an alliance with the Ford Motor Company. At every step, by the Chrysler management team's own admission, they were out-prepared by as much as eighteen months.

The weakness of the book is the authors' undisguised disappointment with the "loss" of an American industrial icon. It is an absolute hatchet job on Eaton who cannot possibly be as pathetic as he is made out to be. After the merger, the German executives are cast as jealous bureaucrats defending their turf. It is hard to determine whether this is an accurate description or the ever-present regret of the authors.

Deeply thoughtful and wonderfully wise, Mr. Bradley leads us through the major issues facing the United States in the 21st century with clarity, an engaging style, and the kindness/gentleness that we were taught to expect from our leadership. He proposes solutions that are sensible. I pray that his wisdom will be used to change our domestic and foreign policies in the coming years, for the sake of our great nation and its future citizens.

Bradley has done a brilliant job of describing how Americans have gone stray by allowing our leaders to take us off on a tangent in conflict with our founders' vision. The situation isn't hopeless but rapid action is called for. Congratulations to the ex-senator for a vision of hope and possibility. Well done, Bill!!

I loved this book.
It is really revealing about what he is thinking. He has some pretty crazy ideas - like the fee-bate, the (new) gas tax, and it's explanation and plan for the money??? It sounds good on paper, but I don't think it would ever fly. However, he is a really likeable guy and seems to be genuine in his efforts to make our country greater. I might even vote for him.

Why should you read this?

- If you care about our democracy and want to help make it strong again

- If you want to understand the big domestic challenges we face today

- If you want thoughtful proposals to addresses those challenges

- If you want to better the understand the Democratic and Republican parties; what makes them function, what makes them DYSFUNCTIONAL

- If you want to hear an insider's take on what makes our democracy tick, what makes it great, and what threatens its survival

This is a terrific book. If I had the money, I'd buy one for every member of Congress.

I listened to this book unabridged on audio, narrated by Michael Prichard. He does a good job capturing Bill Bradley's dignity, but to my ear doesn't quite capture his enthusiasm and passion for good government.

All of us are prisoners of the way we talk about things. Greed, fear, ambition and- occasionally- love and kindness shape the stories we tell about our reality and about our lives. Once the stories are told-in person or in the media-they become the reality to which we relate.
The most extreme example of this is the process of story-telling by which we turn other people into one-dimensional demons. `Liberals are unpatriotic' is the title of one such story. `Conservatives are selfish' is another. There are dozens of smaller stories. Most of the stories are about `us' or `them' although there are also stories with titles like `possible' and `never'.
The great strength of The New American Story lies simply in Bill Bradley's recounting of The Story We're Told. That is, he makes explicit the assumptions behind the heavily-funded discourse that shapes the way we Americans think and feel. In the process of simply making that story explicit, he makes it less powerful and clears the way for another, more generous story.

What's the difference between the Story We're Told and The New American Story? Essentially it's a matter of sentence structure. TSWT says that the market is the best allocator of resources, so we should leave it to operate without government interference. TNAS says that while the market is indeed efficient and the proper engine of economic growth, it's not the answer to every economic problem. TSWT says that you're either a patriot or a peacenik, TNAS says you can be both. The New American Story, at its simplest, sounds like the story most of us would tell if we stopped shouting and spoke in sentences instead of slogans.

Bradley doesn't stop with demolishing the power of current political stories and their titles: He injects into his discussion a few titles that haven't been co-opted or demonized yet. He re-introduces the word `progressive' (perhaps hoping that no one will mistake it for the now thoroughly ruined term `liberal') He talks about the need for action as a `community' (maybe hoping to avoid the stigma of the word for the formal expression of community that we call `government')Bradley's writing has often been accused of being clumsy and indeed the book is slow-going at times, but at least we can be sure that there was no professional ghost-writer involved.

Bill Bradley is a man of obvious good will and manifest frankness. It may be difficult for him to acknowledge that the stories we're told are supported by the economic self-interest of financial giants like the oil and auto industries. It may also be dispiriting for him to struggle with the fact that as long as media are both persuasive and purchaseable, stories will rise and fall according to the same logic by which hemlines, movies and pop music move in and out of public awareness. In any case, he isn't hopeless in the face of these realities.

Will new stories, or even The New Story set us free from the inefficient, slogan-based `discussion'? Can our political `debate' become more than a discourse between competing advertising agencies and focus-group watchers? For Bradley's New Story to take hold, a ground-level shift in American culture is necessary. Having just written a novel that tries to make a change in the culture of guns in this country, I'm very sympathetic and even a bit hopeful. Along with the predictable calls for citizen participation, he focuses attention on the places in the world where stories are created and shared. Internet communities like Gather.com and consensus and community builders like Essembly.com. are the places where we talk to each other and shape our understandings of things, the places where we get together, create communities and yes, tell new stories.

--Lynn Hoffman, author of New Short Course in Wine,The and
the New American Story about Guns bang BANG: A Novel

Bill Bradley has led a remarkably distinguished and successful life -- an All-American at Princeton, an Olympic gold medallist, a Rhodes Scholar, a two-time world champion as a member of the New York Knicks, a Hall-of-Famer, a Senator for 18 years, and a Presidential candidate. Not to mention author, educator, husband, father, and Eagle Scout. It's been a full life.

In "Values of the Game," Bradley credits much of his success to the game of basketball and the life lessons he learned on the court. Passion, discipline, selflessness, respect, perspective, courage, leadership, responsibility, resilience, and imagination -- these are the qualities that separate the celebrated players from those who have been forgotten. And those same values that brought success on the court can do the same in life.

Full of brilliant photographs and Bradley's own recollections and insights, "Values of the Game" is a real treat for anyone who loves and respects the game of basketball. Bradley obviously does. He peels away all the greed, glamour, fame and infamy that clouds the NBA today and shows us the bare essence and beauty of this uniquely American game, reminding us why we ever liked the sport in the first place.

This book is about the values of basketball, and is divided into chapters with titles of values. There is a chapter called discipline, for example. The names of the chapters are passion, discipline, selflessness, respect, perspective, courage, leadership, responsibility, resilience, and imagination.

I really enjoyed this book because of it's easy readability and the wonderful pictures. There were many interesting anecdotes about basketball. Bill Bradley talks about his development as a player, and about the values of the game. The importance of teamwork and hard work is stressed. I found Bill Bradley's story fascinating, because of how the values of the game helped him win. This book related the values to many contemporary and old players, like Julius Erving, Michael Jordan, Steve Kerr, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, and many others. If you are a basketball fan, I strongly suggest this book.

I've long been a Bill Bradley fan . . . his talent on the
basketball court always impressed me, in large part because
he seemed to have to work so much harder than many
other players . . . then when he entered the political
arena, I continued to follow his career with interest . . . my
only regret is that he never got past the Senate . . . I still
think he would have made a fine President.

Hearing his book, VALUES OF THE GAME, impressed me
even more . . . it is not a standard spots autobiography, but
rather a collection of essays by Bradley that deal with such topics as
passion, discipline, responsibility, and resilience . . . he shows
how these all became key parts of his life, citing examples
of such greats as Cousy, Chamberlian, Iverson, and Pippen . . . I
got a particular kick out of what he said about Dennis Rodman: he
admired his rebounding tenacity, but noted that Rodman
"isn't everybody's cup of tea" because of his behavior.

This would be a great gift for any basketball fan, young or
old . . . nevertheless, I'd recommend giving the book rather than the
audio version that I heard . . . though the narration by John Randolph
Jones was fine, I would have much preferred Bradley doing the reading
himself.

The Values of the Game
By, Bill Bradley


The Values of the Game is very motivating. It is about what you get out of sports (specifically Basketball). The book talks about why you get these values, too. The values it talks about (each a chapter) passion, discipline, selflessness, and many more. It teaches people what is important in life. I think it is a spectacular book to learn from.
I really enjoy the book the values of the game, but some people wouldn't. Mostly basketball players would like it because it's about basketball. Also, I think in most cases it is geared for 18-50 year olds, but in some cases it may vary. Also, to understand it you must be someone who knows a tiny bit about present and retired famous basketball players. I think many people will like this book.

PUTTING NATURAL ABILITY ASIDE, BRILLIANT BILL BRADLEY DIPLAYS FOR US WHY HE WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST BASKETBALL PLAYERS AND TEAMMATES THAT EVER EXISTED, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME SHOWING US HOW THESE SAME QUALITIES CAN SERVE AS THE FORMULA FOR SUCCESS IN EVERYDAY LIFE. INTERESTINGLY, HE TELLS US OF CERTAIN OTHER PLAYERS (ALBEIT FEW) PAST AND PRESENT, WHO POSSESS THESE INGREDIENTS. MARVELOUS, THOUGHT PROVOKING BOOK.

Bradley takes a thoughtful look at his life and many issues that face America. I liked reading of his Missouri youth and NBA days, plus his analysis of economic change, media sensationalism, and the corrosive influence of money on politics. Bradley's superb (if short) discourse on the inner workings of the U.S. Senate provides the type of useful information one never gets from our sound-bite media. Bradley even takes issues like water policy and shows why they matter. The Senator's blame-whites-only view of racial divisions was rather naive, but even here he makes some points. This book is more than a readable memoir; it's a compassionate, thought-inspiring look at America.

book with tremendous depth, dedication and ideas.. America is unfortunate to not to have man like Senator Bradley as President

This is a very well- written and thoughtful book. Bill Bradley wrote it just as his third Senatorial term was coming to a close. Unfortunately close to that time he had to deal with a number of personal tragedies, including his wife's breast cancer, the severe illness of both of his parents. Bradley tells of his Chrystal City childhood, the only child of his arthritically disabled Presbyterian banker father, and his strongly Methodist mother. He does not revel in his own personal athletic feats and accomplishments. Rather he presents us with a picture of small- town life in that era, and the kind of world he grew up in.
One of the strengths of the book is that it tells much about different regions and populations of America. As a Senator and Presidential candidate he visited eventually every state in the Union and he for instance in his chapter on his Scotch- Irish family background describes the economy and social world of the Appalachians.
Bradley is eager to present to the reader his vision of what America should be. He speaks a lot about responsibility and discipline, and communal obligation. These are virtues he himself personally exemplifies, and one feels how strongly he is repelled by an America gone too soft and self- indulgent, too hedonistically obsessed with short- term pleasures.
He tells of his work in bringing about the Tax Reform Bill of 1986 which eliminated many loopholes, and simplified the system so that it had only two tax brackets. He talks about other public initiatives of his related to helping the poor, the one - parent families. He gives a chapter of the book to considering the difficulties the great American middle- class has faced over recent years.
One has the sense in reading the book of his being a thoroughly decent, hard- working and fair person.
Bradley has an amusing little section in which he talks about his efforts at improving his own public speaking. Here of course was his major failing as a political figure, his lack of charisma. He was eclipsed almost instantaneously by the charismatic Clinton.
Bradley is the work- horse of Orwell's fable. The solid honest good person who does the drudgery and certainly does not get a final good reward for it.
This is not to say that Bradley complains . He doesn't. He does not in fact put great emphasis in the work on his own feelings. He does however show how much he cares for America, and is devoted to its well- being.
This is an outstanding political autobiography not because it overwhelms emotionally but because it rationally clearly gives a 'picture' of what America is and might be. And it tells the story of a highly devoted public servant who did his best to make a better America.

In this intelligent, thoughtful, witty,and captivating memoir Bill Bradley tells stories about America and indivdual Americans while espousing his beliefs about what the nation has become and what it should be. The book transcends the traditional memoir of a politician as it chooses to speak more about the effects of policy rather than what particular policy can benefit our society. The reader feels the former Senator's compassion for the human condition and understands why he would be a wonderful leader. It is a must read for anyone who believes the hardships that face the nation can be overcome.

Bill Bradley and John McCain may go down in history as the two smartest men who should have been President, but could not get elected. This is an extraordinarily thoughtful book, and it makes one almost cry out in despair. America has given up the idea of an informed democracy led by informed representatives of the people, and as the author concludes his book, given over all the power to two kinds of technocrats: political technocrats like Karl Rove who will do anything to get their man elected, including unethical misrepresentations against Republicans like John McCain, never mind Democrats; and corporate technocrats, who will kill off the middle class and increase the working poor in the name of corporate bottom lines that pass off the social and economic costs to the very taxpayers being disenfranchised.

The current Congressional and Executive systems do not work as intended. Congress has become insular and corrupt, and the Executive--at the political level--has become ideological and corrupt. Bill Bradley's writing makes it clear that there are solutions, but men like Bill Bradley will not get elected--nor even heard--until sufficient catastrophe befalls America and the people rise up in desperation to reclaim their heritage.

The index is helpful in looking up specific views of the author, e.g. on health care, national security, etcetera.

The New American Story
Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming

A well written account of high command in the Med and Eurpoe during the Second World War, but biased towards the writer. This book serves better as memoir because of the way Bradley puts his his version of events.

The battle of the Falaise gap and the Ardennes offensive are points to consider. Bradley lauds the pedestrian Courtney Hodges but derides Patton who admittedly had his faults and for his actions was treated accordingly.

I have rarely enjoyed a book so much. It is thoroughly engrossing, illuminating us to so many aspects of the European Theater, many of the great men of the war, and general command principles.

Bradley recounts, in some detail, battle by battle the move through Africa, Sicily, France and Germany. His account seems straightforward and humble, tackling failures of Monty (including Market Garden) Patton, and even himself in his failure to anticipate the Ardennes Offensive that led to the Battle of the Bulge.

His accounts of interactions with great men of the era such as Eisenhower, Monty, and Patton are worthwhile, but what I found fascinating were the figures new to me such as Hodges, Middleton, Ridgeway, Heubner, Gerow, Devers, and even Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. The hard-charging, do your duty feeling that was evident in this book makes me proud to be an American. It is simply amazing to see that men such as Eisenhower and Bradley moved from relative obscurity as colonels to leaders of enormous armies in some of the most important battles of history in a period of only 5 or 6 years.

An added plus are the motivational and management lessons learned from Bradley.

One suggestion: While the book is filled with helpful maps, search for WW2 Battlefield maps online and print them for reference. Keep them with you when you read Bradley's accounts. They will make following the detail of movement much easier.

This is one of the finest historical accounts ever written. There is
little room for boredom here. I have seen the movie "Patton" many
times, and while it is one of the best war films of all time, it is
always interesting to learn more about one of the key components behind
it. General Bradley takes the reader through each phase of the war,
explaining the fundamentals of each stage, as if we were right there
at that moment in time. I highly recommend this book to any serious
student of American History.

General Bradley gives us the reasons and the inside look at interactions between a commanding general and his subordinate commanders. There are plenty of issues such as logistics, strategy, and management of the battlefield that are detailed in this book. We get a bird's eye view of the strategy. Reasons are given for moving Terry Allen and Theodore Roosevelt Jr. from the command of the 1st Infantry Division to the halting of Patton from closing the Falaise Gap. In addition to this, there is plenty of anecdotes and thoughts on the leadership and characteristcs of his subordinate generals like General Hodges and General Patton. General Bradley does not spend too much time reflecting on the losses and tragedies of the war. He moves fairly quickly on the actions of the U.S. Army.

For the most part, General Bradley tends to be as objective as he can until he deals with Field Marshal Montgomery. Bradley does not hide his irritation towards Field Marshal Montgomery, who is pictured as a commander who is somewhat coddled by General Eisenhower. Field Marshal Montgomery does not seem to be a team player in the Allied command structure. Bradley gives us hints at Montgomery's selfish nature in his descriptions of the Field Marshal.

The impressive aspect of this book is General Bradley's sharp attention to details. He seems to have his handle from everything from logistics to personnel to the frontline situation.

There is plenty of discussion of the different levels of command and the units. This is balanced with numerous maps and diagrams. There are also charts on the content of a U.S. Field Army, Infantry Division, and Armored Division. These maps and diagrams help out those who are not so familiar with basic military unit sizes.

The book would be fine for both the experienced military historian or someone who is a beginner reader of World War II in the European Theater.

"A Soldier's Story" by Gen. of the Army Omar Bradley is a impressively engaging book dealing with his experiences in Europe and Africa during World War II. Being in every major engagement from Algeria to the Elbe, Bradley retraces the steps of the American and British armies from TORCH and the thrust in North Afica through Sicily and finally into mainland Europe in OVERLORD and subsequent battles.

General Bradley offers excellent advice on command and his views and Allied views on the war. Throughout the book, frequent maps illustrate the battle plans and make for a better situational awareness.

As a valuable war book, "A Soldier's Story" is an excellent choice to learn about WWII in detail. It offers excellent command advice and allows the reader to form his personal viewpoints on our role in the fight. An excellent read.