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Biggest Brother: The Life of Major Dick Winters, the Man Who Led the Band of Brothers
They were Easy Company, 101st Army Airborne-the World War II fighting unit legendary for their bravery against nearly insurmountable odds and their loyalty to one another in the face of death. Every soldier in this band of brothers looked to one man for leadership: Major Dick Winters.
This is the riveting story of an ordinary man who became an extraordinary hero. After he...more
This is the riveting story of an ordinary man who became an extraordinary hero. After he...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
May 2nd 2006
by NAL Trade
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The Biggest Brother is no question, one of the best books I’ve ever read. I was constantly on edge and felt as if I was there with the paratroopers of the 101st. I think the author portrayed those men’s experiences fairly well, I felt all of the emotions that Dick Winters seemed to feel: Anger, fear, anguish, and relief. I’ve always liked books and stories about the World War II time period, mainly because it is the largest war in the history of mankind, but this book was definitely the best o...more
Biggest Brother: Major Dick Winters
Biggest Brother: The Life of Major Dick Winters, The Man Who Led the Band of Brothers
written by Larry Alexander, '09, (hist/bio)
Best read after reading "Band of Brothers" by Stephen Ambrose. Winters was an exceptional leader of Easy Company, 101st Army Airborne, from D-Day, Normandy, to Market Garden, Holland, to Battle of the Bulge, Bastogne, Belgium, on to Berchtesgaden, Austria. He was a non-drinker, non-fr...more
I have to say it is an excellent read. I can recommend it for everyone who wants to know more about Richard Winters, as a person, a soldier and a man.
I picked this book over Winters own (for now, I might still read that), simply because it seemed like it would be better, and perhaps because I often prefer biographies when they're written by someone other than the person they're about.
Larry Alexander did a great job. The book keeps you interested all the way through, it's ...more
I picked this book over Winters own (for now, I might still read that), simply because it seemed like it would be better, and perhaps because I often prefer biographies when they're written by someone other than the person they're about.
Larry Alexander did a great job. The book keeps you interested all the way through, it's ...more
This book filled in a lot of information about Major Dick Winters who famously led THE BAND OF BROTHERS in the book and television series. It is impossible for me to read anything about Major Winters without feeling awe and admiration for him and how he handled himself in the war. This book is not nearly so well written as BAND OF BROTHERS but it does fill in a lot of details about his personal life before and after the war. It brings several things together from the earlier book, particularl...more
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Anyone who has read Band of Brothers or watched the HBO miniseries would have to be lacking in any judgment of character if they did not instantly fall in love with Major Dick Winters. Still highly respected by nearly anyone who comes in contact with him, Winters personifies leadership. Larry Alexander has provided an excellent biography of Winters, paying attention to his life before enlisting in the Army and after, including the portion where he led the men of the 506th Parachute Infantry Re...more
This is a biography of Major Richard Winters, the commanding officer of Easy Company.
An interesting book to read after Band of Brothers as it deals largely with the same events but from Winters' perspectives. You learn what he thought about, for example, Speirs, the officer believed to have killed POWs in cold blood and who eventually took over command of Easy Company.
One interesting factoid I picked up was the fact that Operation Market Garden may have failed, not becau...more
An interesting book to read after Band of Brothers as it deals largely with the same events but from Winters' perspectives. You learn what he thought about, for example, Speirs, the officer believed to have killed POWs in cold blood and who eventually took over command of Easy Company.
One interesting factoid I picked up was the fact that Operation Market Garden may have failed, not becau...more
By the time that I read "Biggest Brother", I had already finished reading "Band of Brothers", "Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters" and many of the other fine books written by and about Easy Company, and I was worried that it would just re-hash facts that I was already familiar with. There was a bit of repetition from the other books, but there was so much more! For me, the letters between Winters and his pen pal DeEtta were the best part....more
An enjoyable memoir of Dick Winters' life, mostly focusing on his time in the military. Dick Winters is one of the main focuses of the splendid HBO mini-series Band of Brothers and the Stephen Ambrose book by the same name. Throughout, Winters gives open and honest assessments of fellow officers and soldiers, and training levels of replacements soldiers and Korean War soldiers...
Read more at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2011/12/...
Read more at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2011/12/...
What do I think, well in my opinion this was a very good book. The only problem was it felt like i had read this book before I had even started. While it was not extremely similar to band of brothers it does talk about the same people with this one focusing on Major Dick Winters. One other thing I thought was weird was how the first chapter was D-Day and then the second was his early life. Anyway it ws still a goos book because it still tells a great story. I recomend it.
This is an okay book. I am humbled by the life of Maj Dick Winters but I have to tell you, I didn't need to know all the nitnoid things surrounding his youth, his parents' youth and the surroundings of Lancaster, Penn. I am having problems getting through the initial introduction of Winter's youth and into what I am really interested in: World War II experiences.
This was by far one of the best biographies I've read about a WWII vet (granted I haven't read that many). It was great to actually get a personalized view of one person's experiences in the European theater, rather than several quick snapshots from many people.
an excellent book about the life of Major Dick Winters who commanded easy company in ww2. i really enjoyed reading about his life and experiences. a wonderfully written book.
Honestly, the last Biography I read and truly appreciated was in 6th grade and it was on Pee Wee Reese. In fact I read a ton of biographies back in 6th grade.
This was an amazing biography and I truly appreciated everything the Band of Brothers went through even more, but I hold Major Dick Winters in a greater light than I did with Band of Brothers because you now know what he was truly thinking and why he did what he did.
This was an amazing biography and I truly appreciated everything the Band of Brothers went through even more, but I hold Major Dick Winters in a greater light than I did with Band of Brothers because you now know what he was truly thinking and why he did what he did.
This is a great book for those who love World War II history and biography. It also has a lot of useful information about leadership.
This book was great! I love reading books from World War II. Books on the history of this war is great and interesting.
Sarah
is currently reading it
A great biography of Maj. Dick Winters, written by a good friend of his, who grew up just down the street from him.
Better than Ambrose's original. Best of the Band of Brothers bios that came out after the movies.
Excellent book about a truly remarkable man. He will be missed as he passed away very recently but the world was definitely a better place while he was here.
Necessary campanion to Band of Brothers--the bio of Dick Winters, an American hero.
Great book - good supplement to Ambrose's Band Of Brothers.
Meirav Rath
rated it
Recommends it for:
World war 2 buffs, history buffs, Band of Brothers fans
Shelves:
world-war-2
You were perfect, weren't you, Mr Winters? Nothing you ever did was wrong (rather, General Taylor was always wrong) and everyone loved you. The Brits were appalling, the French and the Russians never existed; it was only you and the whole American army who won that war. The whole D-Day invasion lay on the balance of your action in Bercot Mannor.
Ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh. If you're easily sickened by American kitsch you better leave this book alone; someone's been praised way, way too many times t...more
Ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh. If you're easily sickened by American kitsch you better leave this book alone; someone's been praised way, way too many times t...more
I enjoyed the book. It really shed some light on how great of a leader Dick Winter was.
There was really nothing new in this book that I didn't glean from reading "Band of Brothers"...until the end, when the war is over and Dick goes home. His post war life only amounted to a chapter, though, and I really wanted to know more. For example, the relationship between Dick and his penpal, DeEtta, fascinated me. I almost wish there was a book of their letters back and forth. Still, the book was a good read.
Most of this book is about the war, so it's redundant for those who have read Band of Brothers and/or seen the series. It didn't offer as much new information or insight into Winters's thoughts and feelings as I was hoping for, but overall I still enjoyed it for the little that it did add and it was interesting to see those events from Winters's perspective and learn more about how he felt about them.
I enjoyed this book, even though compared the Ambrose's Band of Brothers I find the author's prose to be distracting. I don't really want any emotional slants on descriptions of history. IN an interview, fine, but don't describe an artillery barrage as "cruel" or "heartless", it is what it is. That aside, if you are kind of a junkie for info on E Company like I am, this book is a must.
Being a HUGE Band of Brothers fan, this book was a good complement to the general story. Major Dick Winters is one of my personal heroes, and of course one of the biggest heroes of Easy Company during WW2. This gave great insight to the man behind the soldier. Brilliantly done. I am anxious to read his personal memoirs and see how it matches up with this version by Larry Alexander.
I thought this was a well written book and a excellent reference to the famous Major, but if you really want a first hand account of Dick Winters he has his own book, "Beyond Band of Brothers, The War Memoirs of Dick Winters"... That book is a first hand account and you get to hear what Dick Winters thought and felt first hand.
This was a good book that helped me understand D-day and the subsequent events of World War 2. The stories are told from the Commander of the Easy Company. This is one of the sources of the Band of Brothers book and HBO Documentary.
I would recommend this book for anyone that enjoys Historical Fiction/Non-Fiction.
I would recommend this book for anyone that enjoys Historical Fiction/Non-Fiction.
After watching the series made by HBO, you can't help but be enthralled with Major Dick Winters. This book is the best way to really get to know the man behind the leader and to hear stories (some comical, others you read in disbelief) that weren't included in Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers.
Great read!!
Great read!!
Fist off Band of Brothers in one of my favorite movies. This book does have parts that are in the movie but it also has a ton of other things. It has a lot of background on Major Winters. I few parts left me in tears. I was engulfed in the whole thing. A must read if you like history.
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Larry Alexander is a journalist and military historian who has written a number of books about World War II, most notably about Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army. Easy Company was made famous principally by Stephen Ambrose's book, Band of Brothers, and the television miniseries of that name.
For over a decade, Alexander has been a columnist for the "Intel...more
More about Larry Alexander...
For over a decade, Alexander has been a columnist for the "Intel...more
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“The 101st was trucked to Utah Beach on July 10, seeing from the land what they had seen from the air the night of June 5: hundreds of ships sitting off shore as far as the eye could see. Smaller boats, LSTs, LCMs and other craft carrying men and supplies plied the waters between the ships and the sand. “It took your breath away,” he recalled. Winters saw something else he had not seen for more than a month, a sight that literally brought tears to his eyes: the American flag. In 2003, the memory still left him choked up. “I didn’t realize how much the American flag meant to me,” he said.”
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