Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest (Thorndike Press Large Print American History Series)

From D-Day to victory in World War II with the men of Easy Company: Utah Beach, Market-Garden, the Bulge, and on to Hitler's Eagle's Nest in Berchtesgaden.

They came together, citizen soldiers, in the summer of 1942, drawn to Airborne by the $50 monthly bonus and a desire to be better than the other guy. And at its peak -- in Holland and the Ardennes -- Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, U.S. Army, was as good a rifle company as any in the world. From the rigorous training in Georgia in 1942 to the disbanding in 1945, esteemed WWII historian Stephen Ambrose tells the story of this remarkable company. In combat, the reward for a job well done is the next tough assignment, and as they advanced through Europe, the men of Easy kept getting the tough assignments, from parachuting into France early D-Day morning to capturing Hitler's Barvarian outpost.

Band of Brothers is a story of the men who fought, of the martinet they hated who trained them well, and of the captain they loved who led them. E Company was a company of men who went hungry, froze, and died for each other, a company that took 150 percent casualties, a company where the Purple Heart was not a medal -- it was a badge of office.