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Comrades | 
 enlarge | Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
Category: EBooks
List Price: $9.99
Buy New: $7.99
You Save: $2.00 (20%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  34 reviews
Sales Rank: 24126
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Edition: 1st Touchstone Ed
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 144
Dewey Decimal Number: 920.710973
ASIN: B000FBJHBC
Publication Date: January 7, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
This tender book about male friendship will probably surprise those readers who know Stephen Ambrose best for his histories of World War II and biography of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Born in 1936, Ambrose acknowledges in the introduction to his memoir that men of his generation do not speak or write easily about their feelings. Yet male bonding is a strong theme in all of his work, as selections from previous writings on Lewis and Clark, Richard Nixon, Crazy Horse, and General Custer that are included in Comrades prove. What is more interesting, however, is the more personal material on Ambrose's two brothers (their youthful competitiveness mellowed into mature devotion), fellow historian Gordon Mueller ("my dearest and closest friend"), and several college buddies. After losing touch with each other during the harried years of career building and child rearing, these men rediscovered intimacy in middle age. Most moving of all is the closing chapter on Ambrose's father, an old-fashioned authority figure and disciplinarian quick to criticize his sons, but always available to sustain and guide them. The warming of that rather stern relationship is clearly one of the great joys of his son's adult life. It makes a fitting finale to a dignified but strikingly sweet memoir. --Wendy Smith
Product Description
Historian Stephen Ambrose begins this celebration of friendships with his own brothers. He then writes of brothers Milton and Dwight D. Eisenhower. He writes of soldiers in combat from Normandy to Germany. He recounts Lewis and Clark, Crazy Horse and He Dog, the Custer brothers, and more. Finally, he writes of his own friendship with his father.
Download Description
Eminent historian Stephen Ambrose pays tribute to the friends of his lifetime and reflects on what they have meant to him.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 29 more reviews...
 A great theme treated without much depth September 7, 2007
Stephen Ambrose wrote some good, seriously researched history books, but intermittently would publish some short volumes that seemed excerpted from his ambitious ones. They seemed to have been published for gift-giving occasions, like Christmas or birthdays. This short book seems to be one of them. His examination of some 'male bonding' between and among biological and comradely brothers is a bit thin, except perhaps for the chapter about himself and his own "brothers." He may have done it for the money; that's fine. Regardless, this book suffers from a cursory examination of some important relationships (Eisenhower brothers, Lewis & Clark, etc.) Toward the end of his career he told Charlie Rose on the latter's interview show that he was 'going to study war no more' and focus on writing about other aspects of history. Well, Christmas time rolled around and there was yet another retelling of some WWII material. The value in a book with an excellent theme of the nature of male friendship is that it may get some people interested in the subject matter history so it motivates them to read and learn more--which right now in our country would be a definite boon.
 The audio version is very good April 5, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Ambrose's stories of male friendship would be good in any format, but why read what Ambrose wrote when you can hear him read it to you? There is the added benefit of hearing Ambrose's emphasis on a phrase, his light-hearted tone in some areas and, even more important to the emotional punch of some of the stories, hearing his voice break at particularly touching moments (perhaps the most touching was a comment that is highlighted in HBO's 'Band of Brothers'. A veteran of Easy Company is asked by his grandson, "Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?" "No. I served in a company of heroes.")
Ambrose focuused on the friendship he and his brothers share, his friends from college, from work, the friendships of Lewis and Clark, Dwight Eisenhower and his brother Milton, Lewis and Clark, the men of Easy Comapny in 'Band of Brothers', the friendship of men who fought against one another in war but meet again as old men and the friendship between Ambrose and his father. I was surprised that he did not mention the friendship that he shares with his sons since he did the friendship between he shared with his father.
Ambrose comments on the beauty of friendship between old men - no rivalry, nothing but support and love. He notes that he can't wait until he is old and can enjoy such friendships. Sadly, Ambrose died of cancer in 2002 at the age of 66.
I give this one a grade of A-
An easy read, good but not great March 22, 2007
This is a very short book, more a collection of short essays than a cohesive treatise on male friendships. The book praises male friendships, using the friendships between Eisenhower and Patton, Custer and his brothers, and Crazy Horse and He Dog as examples. But most of the book deals with the author, his friendships, and his relationships with his father and brothers. These parts of the book are somewhat self-congratulatory yet sad at the same time, because it seems that Ambrose 's relationship with his father was ultimately unsatisfying, though he claims otherwise. For example, the only conversation that the author had with his father about God or faith, apparently, was a brief conversation during a car ride in which they both agreed that there must be a heaven, since Abraham Lincoln would surely have gone to heaven. The author also alludes to, but ultimately skims over, his own alcohol abuse. (If his friendships were so great, as he claims, why did he need to drink so much?) Overall, though, the book was enjoyable and thought provoking.
A Little Diffirent November 19, 2006
This is an easy, one day read about friendships. Not a bad book, but we are so used to the brilliance of Ambrose that we, or me anyway, may have had higher expectations than this book brought. It was a pretty good read, but most of all it made me want to read more of some of the friendships included. I'm an Ambrose fan so am glad to have this effort in my library.
 Different for Ambrose September 22, 2005
Ambrose normally gives much detail to popular history when he writes, but this book was a very different approach. Some historic details were given, most of which can be found in his other books. The thing that was different about this one was the brief glimpse of Ambrose's personal life. We heard much of his relationships with other men. These are manly relationships, the kind we all need. It dealt with his two brothers and how they were close as well as some of his best friends through life. The most inspirational was the chapter that told of his relationship to his father. I wasn't deeply moved or anything, but I did appreciate the personal side of Ambrose. You will enjoy this written picture of proper male bonding.
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