Still looking for a Christmas gift? Search no further, find here all must-have and bestselling books on Easy Company – the legendary Band of Brothers – of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. These bestsellers are listed per their rating on GoodReads and Amazon. If you think I missed one, feel free to contact.
#1. Cpl. Forrest Guth: ‘E’ Company, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne Division by Michel de Trez
“Corporal Forrest Guth” is the fourth book published by Michel DeTrez, and the first volume in a WWII paratrooper portrait series titled “The Way We Were”.
Forrest Guth is an original member of the third platoon, “E” company, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne Division, the most famous unit in American World War Two history, being immortalized in the Ambrose book and Spielberg/Hanks mini-series “Band of Brothers”. With his best friends from childhood, Strohl and Fenstermaker, Guth joined the paratroops in 1942. All three were assigned to ‘Easy’ company, 506th, and all three survived the war. Guth was one of the very few original members of the company to survive the war unscathed.
Forrest Guth was one of the most colorful and prominent men in the outfit, and certainly the most interesting character. For inexplicable reasons, his unique personality and extraordinary valor were never developed for the HBO mini-series. Although the Guth character was included in the original script, and his uniforms and equipment had been reproduced from his originals, he was dropped from the final production. The duplicate of his unique jump suit was simply passed on to another character.
In Normandy, Guth chose to disregard the order against taking cameras into Normandy and snapped photographs throughout the Normandy campaign leaving him with many outstanding images.
With the help of these photographs and Guth’s recollections it has been possible to retrace the route he took from the place he was misdropped near Utah Beach, until he reached “Easy” on the outskirts of Carentan. Guth’s story is retold through many photographs, pieces of his original uniform and equipment and his personal recollections.
Now, as the first volume in DeTrez’s WWII paratrooper portrait series, Guth’s original uniforms and impressive photograph collection are presented in this 72 page book.
Rated: 5/5 (GoodReads) – 4.80/5 (Amazon) = Buy this book on Amazon (U.S.) or on Amazon (U.K.)!
#2. Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest by Stephen E. Ambrose
Stephen E. Ambrose’s iconic story of the ordinary men who became the World War II’s most extraordinary soldiers: Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, US Army.
They came together, citizen soldiers, in the summer of 1942, drawn to Airborne by the $50 monthly bonus and a desire to be better than the other guy. And at its peak—in Holland and the Ardennes—Easy Company was as good a rifle company as any in the world.
From the rigorous training in Georgia in 1942 to the disbanding in 1945, Stephen E. Ambrose tells the story of this remarkable company. In combat, the reward for a job well done is the next tough assignment, and as they advanced through Europe, the men of Easy kept getting the tough assignments.
They parachuted into France early D-Day morning and knocked out a battery of four 105 mm cannon looking down Utah Beach; they parachuted into Holland during the Arnhem campaign; they were the Battered Bastards of the Bastion of Bastogne, brought in to hold the line, although surrounded, in the Battle of the Bulge; and then they spearheaded the counteroffensive. Finally, they captured Hitler’s Bavarian outpost, his Eagle’s Nest at Berchtesgaden.
They were rough-and-ready guys, battered by the Depression, mistrustful and suspicious. They drank too much French wine, looted too many German cameras and watches, and fought too often with other GIs. But in training and combat they learned selflessness and found the closest brotherhood they ever knew. They discovered that in war, men who loved life would give their lives for them.
This is the story of the men who fought, of the martinet they hated who trained them well, and of the captain they loved who led them. E Company was a company of men who went hungry, froze, and died for each other, a company that took 150 percent casualties, a company where the Purple Heart was not a medal—it was a badge of office.
Rated: 4.41/5 (GoodReads) – 4.60/5 (Amazon) = Buy this book on Amazon (U.S.) or on Amazon (U.K.)!
#3. Shifty’s War: The Authorized Biography of Sergeant Darrell “Shifty” Powers, the Legendary Sharpshooter from the Band of Brothers by Marcus Brotherton
As a boy growing up in the remote mining town of Clinchco, Virginia, Darrell “Shifty” Powers’s goal was to become the best rifle shot he could be. His father trained him to listen to the woods, to “see” without his eyes. Little did Shifty know his finely-tuned skills would one day save his life—and the lives of his friends.
As one of the original men who trained at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, Shifty was one out of only two soldiers in Easy Company to initially earn the coveted expert marksman designation. He parachuted into France on D-day and fought for a month in Normandy; eighty days in Holland; thirty-nine in the harshly cold winter of Bastogne; and for nearly thirty more near Haguenau, France, and the Ruhr pocket in Germany.
Shifty’s War is a tale of heroism and adventure, of a soldier’s blood-filled days fighting his way from the shores of France to the heartland of Germany, and the epic story of how one man’s skills as a sharpshooter and engagingly unassuming personality propelled him to a life greater than he could have ever imagined.
Rated: 4.33/5 (GoodReads) – 4.70/5 (Amazon) = Buy this book on Amazon (U.S.) or on Amazon (U.K.)!
#4. We Who Are Alive and Remain: Untold Stories from the Band of Brothers by Marcus Brotherton
The national bestseller of never-before-published stories from the Band of Brothers
They were the men of the now-legendary Easy Company. After almost two years of hard training, they parachuted into Normandy on D-Day and, later, Operation Market Garden. They fought their way through Belgium, France, and Germany, survived overwhelming odds, liberated concentration camps, and drank a victory toast in April of 1945 at Hitler’s hideout in the Alps.
Here, revealed for the first time, are stories of war, sacrifice, and courage as seen by one of the most revered combat units in military history. In We Who Are Alive and Remain, twenty men who were there, and the families of three deceased others, recount the horrors and the victories, the bonds they made, the tears and blood they shed- and the brothers they lost.
Rated: 4.29/5 (GoodReads) – 4.70/5 (Amazon) = Buy this book on Amazon (U.S.) or on Amazon (U.K.)!
#5. Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends by William Guarnere, Edward Heffron and Robyn Post
Tom Hanks introduces the remarkable (Publishers Weekly) story of two inseparable friends and soldiers portrayed in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers.
William Wild Bill Guarnere and Edward Babe Heffron were among the first paratroopers of the U.S. Army’ members of an elite unit of the 101st Airborne Division called Easy Company. The crack unit was called upon for every high-risk operation of the war, including D-Day, Operation Market Garden in Holland, the Battle of the Bulge, and the capture of Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest in Berchtesgaden. Both men fought side by side until Guarnere lost his leg in the Battle of the Bulge and was sent home. Heffron went on to liberate concentration camps and take Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest hideout. United by their experience, they reconnected at the war’s end and have been best friends ever since. Their story is a tribute to the lasting bond forged between comrades in arms’ and to all those who fought for freedom.
Rated: 4.20/5 (GoodReads) – 4.80/5 (Amazon) = Buy this book on Amazon (U.S.) or on Amazon (U.K.)!
#6. Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters by Dick Winters & Cole C. Kingseed
The New York Times bestseller and war memoir from the commander of the legendary Band of Brothers
They were called Easy Company but their mission was never easy. Immortalized as the Band of Brothers, they suffered 150% casualties while liberating Europe an unparalleled record of bravery under fire. Winner of the Distinguished Service Cross, Dick Winters was their legendary commander. This is his story told in his own words for the first time.
On D-Day, Dick Winters parachuted into France and assumed leadership of the Band of Brothers when their commander was killed. He led them through the Battle of the Bulge and into Germany, by which time each member had been wounded. They liberated an S.S. death camp from the horrors of the Holocaust and captured Berchtesgaden, Hitler’s alpine retreat. After briefly serving during the Korean War, Winters was a highly successful businessman. Made famous by Stephen Ambrose’s book Band of Brothers—and the subsequent award-winning HBO miniseries—he is the object of worldwide adulation.
Beyond Band of Brothers is Winters’s memoir—based on his wartime diary—but it also includes his comrades’ untold stories. Virtually all this material is being released for the first time. Only Winters was present from the activation of Easy Company until the war’s end. Winner of the Distinguished Service Cross, only he could pen this moving tribute to the human spirit.
Rated: 4.20/5 (GoodReads) – 4.60/5 (Amazon) = Buy this book on Amazon (U.S.) or on Amazon (U.K.)!
#7. Biggest Brother: The Life Of Major Dick Winters, The Man Who Led The Band of Brothers by Larry Alexander
In every band of brothers, there is always one who looks out for the others.…
They were Easy Company, 101st Army Airborne—the World War II fighting unit legendary for their bravery against nearly insurmountable odds and their loyalty to one another in the face of death. Every soldier in this band of brothers looked to one man for leadership, devotion to duty, and the embodiment of courage: Major Dick Winters.
This is the riveting story of an ordinary man who became an extraordinary hero. After he enlisted in the army’s arduous new Airborne division, Winters’s natural combat leadership helped him rise through the ranks, but he was never far from his men. Decades later, Stephen E. Ambrose’s Band of Brothers made him famous around the world.
Full of never-before-published photographs, interviews, and Winters’s candid insights, Biggest Brother is the fascinating, inspirational story of a man who became a soldier, a leader, and a living testament to the valor of the human spirit—and of America.
Rated: 4.18/5 (GoodReads) – 4.60/5 (Amazon) = Buy this book on Amazon (U.S.) or on Amazon (U.K.)!
#8. A Company of Heroes: Personal Memories about the Real Band of Brothers and the Legacy They Left Us by Marcus Brotherton
The author of We Who Are Alive and Remain presents remembrances from the families of the soldiers of Easy Company
A Company of Heroes is an intimate, revealing portrait of the lives of the men who fought for our freedom during some of the darkest days the world has ever known-men who returned home with a newfound wisdom and honor that they passed on to their families and who continue to inspire new generations of Americans.
Compiled from the veterans’ notes, journals, letters, photographs, and the author’s personally conducted interviews with the surviving contributors, this unique volume features the never-before-told stories of the Band of Brothers from more than twenty children and other family members.
Rated: 4.17/5 (GoodReads) – 4.60/5 (Amazon) = Buy this book on Amazon (U.S.) or on Amazon (U.K.)!
#9. Easy Company Soldier: The Legendary Battles of a Sergeant from World War II’s “Band of Brothers” by Don Malarkey and Bob Welch
Drafted in 1942, Malarkey arrived at Camp Toccoa in Georgia and was one of the one in six soldiers who earned their Eagle wings. He went to England in 1943 to provide cover on the ground for the largest amphibious military attack in history: Operation Overlord. In the darkness of D-day morning, Malarkey parachuted into France and within days was awarded a Bronze Star for his heroism in battle. He fought for thirty-five days in Normandy, nearly eighty in Holland, thirty-nine in Bastogne, and nearly thirty more in and near Haugenau, France, and the Ruhr pocket in Germany.
This is his dramatic tale of those bloody days fighting his way from the shores of France to the heartland of Germany, and the epic story of how an adventurous kid from Oregon became an elite paratrooper and a leader of men.
Rated: 4.16/5 (GoodReads) – 4.70/5 (Amazon) = Buy this book on Amazon (U.S.) or on Amazon (U.K.)!
#10. Conversations with Major Dick Winters: Life Lessons from the Commander of the Band of Brothers by Cole C. Kingseed
On the hellish battlefields of World War II Europe, Major Dick Winters led his Easy Company—the now-legendary Band of Brothers—from the confusion and chaos of the D-Day invasion to the final capture of Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest.
But Winters’s story didn’t end there. It was only the beginning.
He was a quiet, reluctant hero whose modesty and strength drew the admiration of not only his men, but millions worldwide. Now comes the story of Dick Winters in his last years as witnessed and experienced by his good friend, Cole C. Kingseed.
Kingseed shares the formative experiences that made Winters such an effective leader. He addresses Winters’s experiences and leadership during the war, his intense, unbreakable devotion to his men, his search for peace both without and within after the war, and how fame forced him to make adjustments to an international audience of well-wishers and admirers, even as he attempted to leave a lasting legacy before joining his fallen comrades. Following Winters’s death on January 2, 2011, the outpouring of grief and adulation for one of this nation’s preeminent leaders of character, courage, and competence shows just how much of an impact Dick Winters left on the world.
This is a story of leadership, fame, and friendship, and the journey of one man’s struggle to find the peace that he promised himself if he survived World War II.
Rated: 3.91/5 (GoodReads) – 4.80/5 (Amazon) = Buy this book on Amazon (U.S.) or on Amazon (U.K.)!
#11. Parachute Infantry: An American Paratrooper’s Memoir of D-Day and the Fall of the Third Reich by David Kenyon Webster
David Kenyon Webster’s memoir is a clear-eyed, emotionally charged chronicle of youth, camaraderie, and the chaos of war. Relying on his own letters home and recollections he penned just after his discharge, Webster gives a first hand account of life in E Company, 101st Airborne Division, crafting a memoir that resonates with the immediacy of a gripping novel. From the beaches of Normandy to the blood-dimmed battlefields of Holland, here are acts of courage and cowardice, moments of irritating boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror, and pitched urban warfare.
Offering a remarkable snapshot of what it was like to enter Germany in the last days of World War II, Webster presents a vivid, varied cast of young paratroopers from all walks of life, and unforgettable glimpses of enemy soldiers and hapless civilians caught up in the melee. Parachute Infantry is at once harsh and moving, boisterous and tragic, and stands today as an unsurpassed chronicle of war—how men fight it, survive it, and remember it.
Rated: 4.01/5 (GoodReads) – 4.40/5 (Amazon) = Buy this book on Amazon (U.S.) or on Amazon (U.K.)!
#12. Call of Duty: My Life Before, During and After the Band of Brothers by Lynn Compton and Marcus Brotherton
The national bestselling World War II memoir with a foreword by John McCain.
As part of the elite 101st Airborne paratroopers, Lt. Lynn “Buck” Compton fought in critical battles of World War II as a member of Easy Company, immortalized as the Band of Brothers.
This is the true story of a real-life hero. From his years as a two-sport UCLA star who played baseball with Jackie Robinson and football in the 1943 Rose Bowl, through his legendary post-World War II legal career as a prosecutor, in which he helped convict Sirhan Sirhan for the murder of Robert F. Kennedy, Buck Compton’s story truly embodies the American Dream: college sports star, esteemed combat veteran, detective, attorney, judge.
Rated: 3.99/5 (GoodReads) – 4.20/5 (Amazon) = Buy this book on Amazon (U.S.) or on Amazon (U.K.)!
#13. In the Footsteps of the Band of Brothers: A Return to Easy Company’s Battlefields with Sgt. Forrest Guth by Larry Alexander
A tribute to World War II heroism from the national bestselling author of Biggest Brother.
The paratroopers of Easy Company, 101st Airborne Division, have come to symbolize the incredible bravery and heroism shown by the greatest generation in World War II. on the eve of the 65th anniversary of the Allies’ victory in Europe, author Larry Alexander crosses an ocean and a continent to discover just what made the Band of Brothers special. Accompanied by his friend Forrest Guth, an easy Company veteran on his final tour in Europe, Alexander explores the living history of the places where American soldiers went into action, and reveals what makes this story so meaningful for us today. Part travelogue, part historical perspective, In the Footsteps of the Band of Brothers is an unforgettable memorial to the men who fell in action, and a tribute to the veterans who are still with us.
Rated: 4.08/5 (GoodReads) – 3.80/5 (Amazon) = Buy this book on Amazon (U.S.) or on Amazon (U.K.)!
#14. Airborne: The Combat Story of Ed Shames of Easy Company by Ian Gardner
Colonel Ed Shames is that rare man who can call himself a true warrior. A member of Easy Company ofBand of Brothers fame, Shames saw combat in some of the most ferocious battles of World War II. From jumping behind the lines of Normandy on D-Day with the 101st Airborne Division, to the near victory of Operation Market Garden, to the legendary stand at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, Shames fought his way across Europe and into Germany itself.
In Airborne Shames and writer Ian Gardner (Tonight We Die As Men) tell the gripping true story of what it was like to be at the spear point of World War II in Europe. Neither the book nor TV series of Band of Brothers ever showed the real Ed Shames. Although he started as a private, combat soon forged Shames into a tough and inspired leader who would win a battlefield commission in Normandy. Seeming always to be where the fighting was, his two goals were to prevail in each fight against the Germans, and to keep his men alive. “Shames, you are the meanest, roughest son of a bitch I’ve ever had to deal with. But you brought us home,” was what he considered to be the highest compliment he received from one of his men.
Even though he was wounded in the Ardennes, Ed Shames never stopped fighting until Germany surrendered and the war was won. He has never stopped being a warrior.
Rated: 3.68/5 (GoodReads) – 4.20/5 (Amazon) = Buy this book on Amazon (U.S.) or on Amazon (U.K.)!
#15. Silver Eagle – The Official Biography of Band of Brothers Veteran Clancy Lyall by Ronald Ooms
‘SILVER EAGLE’, the official biography of “Band of Brothers” veteran Clancy Lyall, written by his friend Ronald Ooms. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and seeing every young man leave town to join the army or the merchant marine, Clancy, who was only sixteen, didn’t want to stay behind. He lied about his age and enlisted into the military. He became part of the 101st Airborne and saw action in Europe where he jumped into Normandy during D-Day. After a narrow escape from death he was reassigned to Easy Company 506, the famous ‘Band of Brothers’.
He saw action during Operation Market Garden, confronted the freezing temperatures and brutal barrage by the enemy during the Battle of the Bulge, witnessed the horrors of the concentration camps in Nazi Germany and became the first allied soldier to step into Hitler’s ‘Eagles Nest’ in Berchtesgaden. At the end of World War II he re-enlisted and joined the 82nd Airborne where he was stationed near Frankfurt, Germany. He made two more combat jumps in Korea, doubling his total of combat stars on his jump wings. And with that becoming one of the few to ever achieve that feat. In Indochina he became an adviser for the 29th French Parachute Division. This is his story told by the man himself.
Rated: 4.36/5 (GoodReads) – 4.50/5 (Amazon) = Buy this book on Amazon (U.S.) or on Amazon (U.K.)!
If you ever want to visit the places where Easy Company has been and fought, this book is a definite must-have and bestseller:
#1. From Toccoa to the Eagle’s Nest: Discoveries in the Bootsteps of the Band of Brothers by Dalton Einhorn
The miniseries Band of Brothers inspired Dalton Einhorn to travel to the places where Easy Company served. “From Toccoa to the Eagle’s Nest” is the product of over 12 trips to sites in the US and in Europe and is the first-ever book that is part travel essay, part travel guide and part history book focused exclusively on the Band of Brothers. His travels to the places where Easy Company trained and fought, many of which still retain their War-time feel, allowed him to meet a variety of veterans, historians, travel guides, fans and local residents. From Camp Toccoa to the field in Austria where the last official picture of Easy Company as a unit was taken, readers will be treated to seeing the history as the author experienced it and will also learn of the legacies forged by the combat experience of the Band of Brothers.
Rated: 4.50/5 (GoodReads) – 4.90/5 (Amazon) = Buy this book on Amazon (U.S.) or on Amazon (U.K.)!
Have a review from one of these books for Argunners Magazine that I may use? Feel free to contact.
