The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw

I greatly misinterpreted the content of this book, believing that it centered on the wartime experiences of those who served in WWII.  Instead it focuses on the pre and post war lives of those who served, devoting perhaps just 5-10% of the book to their wartime experiences.

Brokaw focuses on a more complete story of the lives of these men and women and their total contribution to the American way of life.  And as important as their wartime contributions were, he emphasizes that the way they lived their lives overall made an equal, perhaps greater, contribution.

Many of the stories reminded me of my grandparents, with their own devotion to family, community, church and society.  Brokaw's own upbringing in South Dakota and the book's telling of so many stories from middle America rang so familiar with my memories of visiting my grandparents.

I suppose I had originally believed that the greatest generation became great because of their service in the war.  I now understand Brokaw's point was that this was the greatest generation despite the war that stole so many years of their young lives.