Content area
Full text
Tom Brokaw, The Greatest Generation. New York: Random House,1998. Pp. 442. $24.95, hardcover.
They have been gathering among themselves for decades, these war veterans of what Tom Brokaw calls the "greatest generation that any society has ever produced." They have been gathering quietly, without fanfare, as they grow grayer. Sometimes they meet at various locations here at home to honor those no longer among them, other times in the distant lands where they struggled to honor the colors under which they fought. Those privileged to witness any of these assemblies are struck by the gaiety, the nonchalance, the modesty of the members of this evershrinking fraternity. The stories told are those relating the gaffes of young officers, the biliousness of senior officers and of distilleries "liberated." The ribbons they wear with such equanimity are at odds with this outward appearance, bearing mute testimony to the steadfastness, selflessness, and courage of these remarkable men.
More recently, scholars, writers, and entertainers have become fascinated with the generation that produced these veterans. To be sure, there are mountains of material about World War II. Before the war was even a year old, movie producers were hard at it creating film versions of the fighting. Since then thousands of miles of film have been devoted to features and documentaries about the greatest war in history. Library shelves groan beneath...