At an important event in my life, I was compared in a speech to one of the minor characters in the film version of this book - the one fellow who tries to warn the Allied High Command that there may be German tanks where they are planning to land parachutists, and is ignored. Of course, I ran out to watch the movie and get some idea what was being said about me. It's a good movie, maybe not as good as "The Longest Day," also based on a book by this author, but an example of the way the first generation after WWII was telling stories about their parents' generation. Typically, it is written by a journalist, not a historian. This story is especially interesting in that light, because the operation in question, "Operation Market Garden," is generally seen as having been the Western Allies worst blunder in the invasion of Europe, and because no one wanted to talk about it while the War was still in recent memory. Ryan does a thorough job of interviewing participants and giving several sides of the story. He devotes a good amount of effort to showing the human side of the conflict - the personalities of the officers, men, and civilians who were involved or affected by historical events, although he offers little in the way of interpretation.