Tomorrow, June 6, marks the 70th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy. John C. McManus, a professor of military history, has written a new book based on this turn point of the war in Europe. His book “The Dead and Those About to Die” joins more than 1,000 other books that have focused on D-Day. Despite the vast number of books written on this topic, he and other historians say there is still more to write about. “All great events are bottomless,” says historian Richard Atkinson, who reported on the conflict in Iran and is also the author of another book on D-Day: “The Guns at Last Light.”
” The Longest Day,” the first best seller about D-Day, was written by Cornelius Ryan and published in 1959. McManus stated that Ryan’s book had some inevitable mistakes, but it remains a great book to read. Stephen Ambrose, a consultant on the film “Saving Private Ryan,” created three very readable books on D-Day. Ambrose believed that when writing or speaking about D-Day, “You can’t exaggerate it. You can’t overstate it.”
In spite of the fact that D-Day occurred 70 years ago, there are still some historian buffs who would probably be interested in reading this newest book on the topic.