Beyond Band of Brothers

As the real-life person played by Tom Hanks in the HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers," Major Winters recounts his experiences as a soldier, describing his own conduct as a lesson in leadership. His accounts of his training to become a paratrooper and the deadly action in France and Germany after D-Day of WWII chronicle an important conflict in American history. Tom Weiner narrates in a deep, youthful voice that is easy to imagine as that of a forceful and charismatic Army officer. He pronounces French cities perfectly (except for Reims) but says the German cities as an American would. The narration complements the memories to create a captivating and chilling account. J.A.H. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

February 6, 2006
In his well-intentioned but impersonal memoirs, Winters tells the tales left untold by Stephen Ambrose, whose Band of Brothers was the inspiration for the HBO miniseries, but Winters's memoir is disappointingly sparse on details unrelated to troop position. It is in the battles and tactical maneuvers of Easy Company that Winters is most at home: on D-Day, when Easy Company's commanding officer is killed, Winters takes charge minutes after landing deep in German territory and leads an assault against a German battery. He carefully explicates the reasoning behind his strategy, leading the reader along as the Company attacks German machine gun and mortar outposts. The narrative is laced with Winters's soldierly exaltations of pride in his comrades' bravery: "My God, it's beautiful when you think of a guy who was so dedicated to his company that he apologizes for getting hit." Although the intrepidness of the group induces more than a tinge of pride, the memoir is devoid of powerful reflections. In the last, sluggish chapters, Winters devotes an excessive amount of time to letters he has received and to expositions on leadership. Winters is too humble for a genre that requires a little bit of conceit.