d-day, june 6, 1944: the climactic battle of world war iiby stephen e. ambrose

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D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II by Stephen E. Ambrose Review by: Fritz Stern Foreign Affairs, Vol. 73, No. 4 (Jul. - Aug., 1994), p. 172 Published by: Council on Foreign Relations Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20046786 . Accessed: 16/06/2014 09:13 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Council on Foreign Relations is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Foreign Affairs. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 185.44.77.62 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 09:13:28 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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Page 1: D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War IIby Stephen E. Ambrose

D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II by Stephen E. AmbroseReview by: Fritz SternForeign Affairs, Vol. 73, No. 4 (Jul. - Aug., 1994), p. 172Published by: Council on Foreign RelationsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20046786 .

Accessed: 16/06/2014 09:13

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Council on Foreign Relations is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to ForeignAffairs.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 185.44.77.62 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 09:13:28 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 2: D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War IIby Stephen E. Ambrose

Recent Books

continued abm program. A note of tri

umphalism over "self-styled progressive

scholars [and] leftist intelligentsia" marks the book, leading in one instance to dis

torting the views of a leading European liberal. Or take this example of in-depth

analysis: "Most professors dislike military

spending, not merely because they prefer

peace to war, and spending on welfare to

arms, but because professors compete with the military for public acclaim and

public funds." These gratuitous remarks

aside, there is much useful material here,

especially on the economic underpinning

of political developments.

D-Day,June 6,1944: The Climactic Battle

of World WarII by Stephen e.

Ambrose. NewYork: Simon &

Schuster, 1994, 655 pp. $30.00. A publisher's dream: on the 50th anniver

sary of one of the most dramatic military events in history, a commemorative vol

ume, distinguished by the voices of the men who were there. Stephen Ambrose, historian of the Second World War and

biographer of his idol, Dwight D. Eisen

hower, bases the best part of the book on

the large files of interviews at the Eisen

hower Center. He records the planning and the necessarily divergent expecta tions of D-Day, the bravery and the bar

barism of the day itself. In the book? unlike in the anniversary itself?the Ger

man side is fully present, its mistakes far

greater than our own. The contextual

history is primitive, the narrative a

compelling, readable reconstruction of

a day without parallel.

Western Hemisphere KENNETH MAXWELL

The Massacre at El Mozo te: A Parable of the Cold War. by mark danner. New

York: Vintage Books, 1994,304 pp. $12.00 (paper).

Mark Danner subtides his chilling account

of the massacre of hundreds of men,

women and children by the Salvadoran

army's American-trained Adacad Battal

ion in December 1981 "A Parable of the

Cold War." To a degree it is, in the sense

that the ideological fervor of the early 1980s provided

a rationale for the tangled web of half-truths, obfuscations and moral

spinelessness that still clings to many of the

individuals who became involved in this

sorry affair. But the truly disturbing ele

ment of the story, at least in its American

dimension, is that the individuals involved are not marginal characters but include

many of the best and brightest of their gen eration: Thomas Enders, Elliott Abrams

and A. M. Rosenthal, among others. Few

reputations survive Danner's relendess

investigation. It is worth noting the wall

James Baker, then President Reagan's chief

of staff, had carefully built between the White House and the professional diplo

mats and political appointees on the front

lines. "It's a dirty litde war and they don't

want to touch it," is how Enders explained the lack of support from the "upper ranks"

when Abrams questioned him. The mem

ory of El Mozote remains inconvenient and

this book is a courageous indictment in the

classical tradition of American journalism. Danner has provided

a striking memorial to

the victims of the tragedy who?because of

his effort?will not be soon forgotten.

[172] FOREIGN AFFAIRS Volume73No.4

This content downloaded from 185.44.77.62 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 09:13:28 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions