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    The Boys of Pointe du Hoc
    The Boys of Pointe du Hoc
    The Boys of Pointe du Hoc
    Audiobook6 hours

    The Boys of Pointe du Hoc

    Written by Douglas Brinkley

    Narrated by Douglas Brinkley

    3/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    ""These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. Theseare the men who took the cliffs. These are thechampions who helped free a continent. Theseare the heroes who helped end a war.""—Ronald Reagan, June 6, 1984,Normandy, France

    Acclaimed historian and author of the ""New York Times"" bestselling Tour of Duty Douglas Brinkley tells the riveting account of the brave U.S. Army Rangers who stormed the coast of Normandy on D-Day and the President, forty years later, who paid them homage.

    The importance of Pointe du Hoc to Allied planners like General Dwight Eisenhower cannot be overstated. The heavy U.S. and British warships poised in the English Channel had eighteen targets on their bombardment list for D-Day morning. The 100-foot promontory known as Pointe du Hoc -- where six big German guns were ensconced -- was number one. General Omar Bradley, in fact, called knocking out the Nazi defenses at the Pointe the toughest of any task assigned on June 6, 1944. Under the bulldoggish command of Colonel James E. Rudder of Texas, who is profiled here, these elite forces ""Rudder's Rangers"" -- took control of the fortified cliff. The liberation of Europe was under way.

    Based upon recently released documents from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, the Eisenhower Center, Texas A & M University, and the U.S. Army Military History Institute, The Boys of Pointe du Hoc is the first in-depth, anecdotal remembrance of these fearless Army Rangers. With brilliant deftness, Brinkley moves between two events four decades apart to tell the dual story of the making of Reagan's two uplifting 1984 speeches, considered by many to be among the best orations the Great Communicator ever gave, and the actual heroic event, which was indelibly captured as well in the opening scenes of Steven Spielberg's ""Saving Private Ryan"".Just as compellingly, Brinkley tells the story of how Lisa Zanatta Henn, the daughter of a D-Day veteran, forged a special friendship with President Reagan that changed public perceptions of World War II veterans forever. Two White House speechwriters -- Peggy Noonan and Tony Dolan -- emerge in the narrative as the master scribes whose ethereal prose helped Reagan become the spokesperson for the entire World War II generation.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateMay 31, 2005
    ISBN9780060796822
    The Boys of Pointe du Hoc
    Author

    Douglas Brinkley

    Douglas Brinkley is the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and Professor of History at Rice University, presidential historian for the New-York Historical Society, trustee of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. The Chicago Tribune dubbed him “America’s New Past Master.” He is the recipient of such distinguished environmental leadership prizes as the Frances K. Hutchison Medal (Garden Club of America), the Robin W. Winks Award for Enhancing Public Understanding of National Parks (National Parks Conservation Association), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Lifetime Heritage Award. His book The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast received the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. He was awarded a Grammy for Presidential Suite and is the recipient of seven honorary doctorates in American studies. His two-volume, annotated Nixon Tapes won the Arthur S. Link–Warren F. Kuehl Prize. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and three children.

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    Reviews for The Boys of Pointe du Hoc

    3/5

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    • 3/5
      A book which lives in the shadow of its subject.
    • 2/5
      Not what I expected. First, let me note that there narrator was excellent. Ok so... content...The actual story of the landings is just a summary. I suppose in re-reading the title I could have guessed that since "Reagan" is in the title and what he had to do with the actual landings was... absolutely nothing. OK, so the fact that the landings description was essentially an article-length summary, that gets a pass.The true "plot" of this story was: apparently Brinkley was ga-ga for Reagan and simply felt he couldn't hold those feelings in. He writes as if he simply won't feel better until he gushes about how incredible, how patriotic, how downright "home-y" Reagan was.. a beautiful soul... dear ol' Reagan couldn't do no wrong!. Ummmmm... I lived thru this, I remember Reagan, I can't believe what a farce this book is. Not only does Brinkley drool over his own recounting of his hero - he grabs individuals to back him up. Now, I fully support those individuals right to believe that Reagan was the godly creature they felt him to be - and those stories were actually wonderful to hear. I never knew that Reagan had groupies but, sure enough, he was a rock star . But Brinkley, he was a newscaster, a journalist, supposedly able to critically think about world events and knew better... but I guess even love-sick puppies can become journalists.So, you think Reagan was the greatest thing since sliced bread? Read this book, Brinkley is right there with ya. He even includes the actual tapes of Reagan's speeches. Now, actually, that was cool just to have as a reference, because during the entire story I kept thinking "what drugs is this guy on? I heard Reagan's P.d.H speeches and WTF is he talking about?"; so it was good to actually hear the speeches so that I didn't think my memory was failing.
    • 2/5
      This book chronicles the history of the 2nd Ranger Battalion (drawing heavily on other more definitive sources in that regard), Ronald Reagan's views of WWII through his acting roles at the time, then chronicles the writing of the two 40th anniversary of D-Day speeches Reagan delivered in 1984.
      I have to say this book was pretty boring. The mini bios of Peggy Noonan and others involved in the writing of Reagan's speeches and the minute details of how these speeches developed were a little much for me. The backstories and glossing over of politics of the time were only somewhat interesting to me.

      The speeches were considered to be among Reagan's most powerful and memorable. If you're a huge Reagan fan then this book is for you, if not then read something else. Most interesting to me was Reagan's admiration of and sometimes emulation of FDR. He wasn't exactly the Goldwater conservative that liberals like to remember him as.

      Recordings of the two speeches are included after the epilogue (here's one reprinted).

      2 stars out of 5.
    • 4/5
      A look at how Ronald Reagan choose to honor a group of Rangers who scaled Pointe Du Hoc a little known aspect of D-Day. The speech he gave set a frame work for his own reelection campaign, while giving these men their moment in the sun. The book gives a description of what the men did during D-Day. The book also shows how the speeches were crafted and and Reagan's ability to deliver the speech. I was never a Reagan fan but I must admit that it is amazing to see how a speech is crafted. the nice thing about now is that one can go to You Tube and see the speeches that are dealt within this book.
    • 3/5
      So, I purchased this book thinking it was going to be about the actual action at Point du Hoc, but instead got a sentimental political account comparing the attitude of the 2nd Ranger Battalion's men to the politics of Ronald Reagan. Not that I don't agree and admire, it was just a bit of a disappointment. I have been to the site and have yet to find an accurate account of the action even though this battle is covered in all the major books on Normandy and featured in the Longest Day. A optional read at best.
    • 3/5
      History of a D-Day assault on a highly defended point that needed to be taken for the overall success of the landing, intertwined with the history of Ronald Reagan’s speech commemorating the incident on the fortieth anniversary of the landing. They were brave men indeed; Brinkley argues that the speech was an important part of creating the image of “the greatest generation,” who until then had been largely silent about their WWII experiences.