We Who Are Alive and Remain: Untold Stories from the Band of Brothers

Another great book by Brotherton. His other book, A Company of Heroes, tells each individual's story completely, then moves to the next person. In We Who Are Alive, we go through each leg of Easy's journey and hear from each of the guys in turn, then jump into the next section of time. To me, it got overwhelming sometimes to be in so many different POV's. I can see the appeal of getting everyone's views on an event or time period at once, but it wasn't for me. This is purely a personal preference, mind you, and doesn't reflect on the content. This was beautifully researched and I applaud Brotherton's efforts (with both books) to do Easy Company justice and tell the actual stories (as they should have been done from the start).

We Who are Alive and Remain is the excellent latest effort in a kind of cottage industry of Band of Brothers books spawned by Stephen Ambrose's book and the HBO series. I have come to Band of Brothers fairly recently, and I admit to being absorbed in the books and the DVD set. Plus, we visited the D-Day sites in Normandy in late May, so all of this is more meaningful to me now. Mr. Brotherton's book is billed as the "Untold Stories from the Band of Brothers" and that description is entirely accurate. Mr. Ambrose focused on Easy Company as a whole as did the DVD, but since then several books have been published about individual members of Easy. In this book, Mr. Brotherton gives us stories of war and post-war from 23 members of Easy Company that we have not read individual books about previously. The stories are direct quotes from the soldiers and are organized by chronological chapters. The book also has a very good section at the end called Memories of My Father written by children of three of the deceased members of Easy Company, I found the one written by Captain Sobel's son to be particularly interesting. Several other useful appendices round out the book. If you are interested in Band of Brothers and the exploits of the men of Easy Company, you will very much enjoy the firsthand accounts in We Who are Alive and Remain.

We Who Are Alive and Remain: Untold Stories from the Band of Brothers (Hardcover) (I would like to dedicate this review to the memory of Shifty Powers, who died in June,2009 of cancer.) There have been many books written about the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion, Easy Company. Easy is the subject of an HBO miniseries, and is known the celebrated "Band of Brothers." The men, in their 80s, are now stars, and they are asked for stories, autographs, and memorabilia. There have been so many hounded for their individual stories--so many personal, buried stories--that they have become a part of the man, that is, until NOW. "We Who Are Alive and Remain: Untold Stories from the Band of Brothers," by noted American historian Marcus Brotherton tells these stories, and in the best way possible--by using personal narrative from each man. It is very hard to find war books that feel like you're sitting in your den and swapping stories with your buddy over a beer. It is what you find after Hollywood packs up its cameras and goes home, leaving you with the "I wonder what happened to...?" This book mops up some of the things "Band of Brothers" leaves behind. This shares the men's stories from Normandy, Market-Garden, the Battle of the Bulge, the Rhine, and the Peacetime Force in Germany and Austria. Because this is basically written BY the men of Easy Company, and edited by Marcus Brotherton, I give this book a five-star, thumbs way-up, rating. Read it and weep. Seriously.

First the Nation called on these men to give in the fight against the nazis. They endured their training, their burdens and hardships and the hell of war with humility and without complaint. They were all changed by the experience and some gave their lives. When the war ended and the unit dissolved they got on with their lives, found careers and started families. They kept the memory of what they did among themselves and preserved their wartime friendships through reunions, visits, and correspondence. A few of the men published accounts of their experiences; David Webster and Don Burgett among them. The writer, historian Stephen Ambrose told their story in the book "Band of Brothers." That story became the basis for the HBO miniseries, "Band of Brothers" which was produced by Tom Hanks. The film's appeal brought a renewed interest and public desire to know more. The men continued to publish their stories; among them are Dick Winters (Kingseed and Alexander), Bill Guarnere and Babe Heffron(Post), Jake McNiece (Killblane), Buck Compton (Brotherton), and Don Malarkey (Welch). And now through the efforts of Marcus Brotherton the stories of many more of these men are revealed to us. The book organizes their stories in chronological phases. The style creates an intimate experience for the reader to be able to nearly hear the men's spoken accounts in a very personal way. Thank you, Mr. Brotherton and thank you to the men who gave so much to the country and continue to inspire us and give "us who remain" the chance to hear their personal remembrances of war and life stories! Currahee!

This book is a great read! Especially for men. I highly recommend it for a Father's Day gift cause for "the man whose got everything" doesn't have these real, vivid, pictures of courage and sacrifice. These are the stories of 20 of the surviving men from E Co, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne, the original Band of Brothers. It's a companion piece to Ambrose's book, and if you've read the original or seen the DVDs on HBO, be sure to get this. But it also works as a stand-alone book, even if you're brand new to the subject. I've got a son who's a sheriff's deputy, and he and I are both long-time fans of the Band of Brothers, and of well-told military non-fiction like this. These are stories of bravery, grit, determination, courage, brotherhood, and loyalty, and anyone who's in this line of work or knows somebody who is can relate to this.

Band of Brothers has spawned a mini-industry of art prints, books and magazines and this book is the latest Easy Company work to hit the market. So if you have all these other books, is this new one worth buying? Well my answer to that is a big resounding YES. As great as the TV series was and the original Ambrose book too, you always felt that for every featured character, there were others who's ommission meant we missed hearing their tales. Well here Marcus Brotherton offers us the stories, memories and anecdotes of 20 more Easy company veterans. Some were included in the TV series - Shifty Powers, Earl McClung and Herb Suerth Jnr, but many weren't and most readers will find the memories of Al Mampre, Dewit Lowrey, Hank Zimmerman and Norman Neitzke (for example) new and fascinating. Marcus allows the vets to the talk about their lives from childhood to old age in their own words and style. But ordered into chapters covering from before the war into enlisting, training and combat in Normandy through to Austria and also their post-war years. This is not a battlefield study, it won't tell you which battalion was located at what point in any given campaign. It's all about the men and how they viewed the events that shaped the 20th Century. It tells of their fears and hopes, their pride and determination and the horrors and joys of serving in the European campaign in WWII - all in their own words and in easy to read short anecdotes some of which are also very funny. But the best part of the book is the appendix, where the children of 3 Easy company veterans write passionately about their fathers. Michael Sobel writes about his father's negative portrayal in the TV show, George Jnr and Lana tell us about the Company's resident comic their father - George Luz. And Susan shares intimate memories of life with her father Burr Smith who after WWII continued to serve his country in further conflicts. These recollections alone are reason enough to buy this book, and I for one will treasure the book for years to come.