false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175644463m/541920.jpg 541920 10 In <I>An Army at Dawn,</I>, a comprehensive look at the 1942-1943 Allied invasion of North Africa, author Rick Atkinson posits that the campaign was, along with the battles of Stalingrad and Midway, where the "Axis ... forever lost the initiative" and the "fable of 3rd Reich invincibility was dissolved." Additionally, it forestalled a premature and potentially disastrous cross-channel invasion of France and served as a grueling "testing ground" for an as-yet inexperienced American army. Lastly, by relegating Great Britain to what Atkinson calls the status of "junior partner" in the war effort, North Africa marked the beginning of American geopolitical hegemony. Although his prose is occasionally overwrought, Atkinson's account is a superior one, an agile, well-informed mix of informed strategic overview and intimate battlefield-and-barracks anecdotes. (Tobacco-starved soldiers took to smoking cigarettes made of toilet paper and eucalyptus leaves.) Especially interesting are Atkinson's straightforward accounts of the many "feuds, tiffs and spats" among British and American commanders, politicians, and strategists and his honest assessments of their--and their soldiers'--performance and behavior, for better and for worse. This is an engrossing, extremely accessible account of a grim and too-often overlooked military campaign. <I>--H. O'Billovich</I> 1795751 2 10 2002 An Army at Dawn: The War in Africa, 1942-1943 total:561|5:246|4:226|3:75|2:12|1:2| 561 2385 840 133 5 3 false false Mon May 26 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue May 20 07:46:44 -0700 2008 Sat Jun 07 11:47:38 -0700 2008 ...more...]]> 2 1 false false Thu Jul 10 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 25 07:02:34 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 21 11:32:37 -0700 2008
Compared to the rest of World War II, I knew very little about the North African campaign. Basically, I understood tha...more...]]> 4 2 false false Wed May 14 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 19 14:56:04 -0700 2008 Wed May 14 16:24:35 -0700 2008
He takes all of this information (...more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Mar 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 06 17:24:33 -0800 2008 Sun Mar 22 12:06:41 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 true false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Mon Apr 02 22:31:45 -0700 2007 Mon Apr 02 22:33:26 -0700 2007
Prodigiously researched with an attitude, Atkinson's book contains many many stories of the War in North Africa that may never have been told otherwise.

The book reads like a novel and novels, of course, are works of fiction. So this method of tell...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Oct 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 03 11:59:35 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 03 12:21:27 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 01 07:53:11 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 01 07:59:52 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Mar 30 09:29:41 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 22 09:24:56 -0700 2009
What I learned: Why the heck we were fighting in North Africa anyway. Why we invaded there first and not directly Europe (disastrous pre-Normandy landing...more...]]> 4 0 false true Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 26 21:06:53 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 28 00:07:23 -0700 2009 Being 67 years from these events, it's easy to forget...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Feb 26 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 21 04:30:46 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 26 20:39:46 -0800 2009
Many WW...more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Nov 09 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Oct 05 05:16:32 -0700 2009 Mon Nov 09 06:09:56 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Jan 07 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 22 15:55:29 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 16 10:01:49 -0800 2009 1 Liberation Trilogy with his second book - The Day of Battle - but that was such an informative and well written account of the Italian campaign that when I came across a copy of An Army at Dawn in a local used bookstore, I picked it up immediately.

Overall, I wasnâ€...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Oct 30 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Oct 19 09:20:28 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 31 10:00:29 -0700 2008
His chronicle of the US Army's trial by fire in North Africa sets...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Aug 23 08:51:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 28 09:44:34 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 23 08:51:00 -0700 2008
I had no idea that French soldiers were actual...more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 22 19:11:24 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 24 15:58:21 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 04 14:15:30 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 04 14:16:09 -0700 2008
Above all else, this book's historical narrative is so well written that the book simply...more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 27 18:36:52 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 27 18:56:15 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Oct 22 18:09:45 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 03 17:41:03 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 20 19:50:28 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 20 19:55:32 -0700 2009
The marvel in this story is in how littl...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jul 27 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 23 15:10:03 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 27 21:28:58 -0700 2008
In an Army at Dawn, Rick Atkin...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=541920