to the Eagles Nest.
Authored by Dalton Einhorn, this was one of those books that I had been too-ing and fro-ing about. Wondering whether to get it or not. In the end, I bit the bullet and ordered it. When I ordered it, I messaged the author and had a conversation about it, quite a deep conversation.
While I have read and reviewed many Band of Brothers books, I had high expectations for this one. Reading about someone who’s tracked locations, taken photos, and so on, had raised the bar for me. Now I know what you’re thinking. Did I like it or didn’t I? What did I like, what didn’t I like? Well, there were a few issues for me.
The honesty in this book was a winner for me. It was brutal honesty and I like to see that in a book. Our author was not afraid to acknowledge that several issues with his journey were starting to really annoy him, to the point he wondered at times if it was all worth it. But then, when you read of his goosebumps as he stood by the foxholes of 506E, you see the other end of that honesty and you realise he knows what he’s seeing and fully appreciates the gravitas of it.
The book is clearly well researched by use of his own trips and his readings from others works. While the referencing of others work is relevant in any writing that authors complete, I felt that the referencing was used at detriment to the authors own words. For example: there would be great build up through the authors words to a 506E campaign, and then an instant referral to “read ‘insert book title’ book”. I would have loved to have seen the author continue the narrative, even if he referred to a book and talked of his interpretation of it.
There were very minimal photos in this book. I expected to see a more visual diary as well as the words. It would have been great to see photos for each chapter. This is a personal view but I like to see what I am reading about. Especially with history.
Errors in the book (I would assume from self-publishing) put me off too. Any self publisher needs a great proof reader. No matter how many times the original author reads their work, something will always get missed. This is no exception to that rule.
When all is said and done however, if you are going on a trip/tour and want a guide, this book is it. It’s a superb guide. One reviewer recommended separating the book (quite literally) into the tour sections. A Bastogne/Toccoa/Eagles Nest tour is something I am never going to be privileged enough to go on, so reading of them is my pleasure.
