Book description
In this superb book, Tom Brokaw goes out into America, to tell through
the stories of individual men and women the story of a generation -
America's citizen heroes and heroines who came of age during the Great
Depression and the Second World War and went on to build modern America.
This was a generation united by common values - by duty, honour,
courage, service and love of family and country. Here you'll meet people
like Charles Van Gorder, who set up during D-Day a MASH-like medical
facility in the middle of the fighting, and then came home to create a
clinic and hospital in his hometown. You'll hear ex-President George
Bush talk about how, as a Navy Air Corps combat pilot, one of his
assignments was to read the mail of the enlisted men under him, to be
sure no sensitive military information would be compromised. You'll meet
Trudy Elion, winner of the Nobel Prize in medicine, one of the many
women in this book who found fulfilling careers in the changed society
as a result of the war. And you'll meet Martha Putney, one of the first
black women to serve in the newly formed WACs. In the spirit of Band of
Brothers, The Greatest Generation tells the stories of ordinary men and
women caught up in extraordinary events - individuals united by a common
purpose - working, living and dying in the service of their country.
Tom Brokaw, a native of South Dakota, graduated from the University of
South Dakota with a degree in political science. He began his journalism
career in Omaha and Atlanta before joining NBC News in 1966. Brokaw was
the White House correspondent for NBC News during Watergate, and from
1976 to 1981 he anchored Today on NBC. He's been the sole anchor and
managing editor of NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw since 1983. Brokaw
has won every major award in broadcast journalism, including two
DuPonts, a Peabody Award and several Emmys. He lives in New York and
Montana.
