The Longest Day – Cornelius Ryan

As cliché as it sounds – if you only read only one book on D-Day, the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, this is it.

The book was written in the 1950’s, where Mr Ryan interviewed planners and survivors of the battle, on all both sides. Included are also stories of the French people living in Normandy. Dividing the book into three sections “The Waiting”, “The Day”, and “The Night”, he weaves the overall grand strategic plan among the generals with the intimate stories of the men and women who experienced the battle first hand. It is those smaller stories that really bring the invasion to life for the reader. You know how it ends, but you still can’t wait to see what happens next. There has been numerous books about D-Day since this was published in 1959, while each adds to our understanding of that event, none has surpassed it as a single volume narrative both in accuracy, perspective, and prose.