THE VICTORS: Eisenhower and His Boys: The Men of World War II

If Cotter Smith understands anything about reading for an audience, he understands the concept of subtlety. He imbues Ambrose's narrative about men in war with a voice that knows full well the value of restraint. It would have been easy for Smith to produce as mere melodrama. But he holds back, and the result is a powerful tale told in their own words by the men of this century's last great war. Compiled from BAND OF BROTHERS and CITIZEN SOLDIERS, THE VICTORS likely won't seem fresh to anyone familiar with the originals. But those who are coming to Ambrose for the first time will have a dramatic experience of WWII. Smith is as capable of putting the listener in an icy Belgian foxhole as he is of relating the nervousness suffered by Dwight Eisenhower in the days, hours and minutes leading up to the Normandy invasion. Smith proves conclusively that real stories of courage and honor don't need false bravado to communicate their poignant messages of camaraderie in the face of horror, horror in the service of necessity, necessity in the pursuit of liberty. D.A.W. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 99]