Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Nothing but Courage:

One of the few reasons to jump out of a perfectly good plane.

Quick synopsis:

The 82^nd Airborne’s mission on D-Day.

Fact for Non-History People:

The American airborne forces would comprise 13,000 paratroopers and 4,000 men delivered by gliders.

Fact for History Nerds:

Approximately 2,500 American paratroopers would be killed, wounded, or missing in action when D-Day was over.  

My Take on Nothing but Courage:

I’ll always remember how the Army can ruin the fun of jumping out of an airplane. In my younger, thinner, and less achy days, I did go through the Army’s Airborne school. Standing in the door of the plane on my first jump, my only thought was, “Can we just get this over with?” No, this is not me being macho. It was more that I was stuck in the harness for hours waiting to get on the dang plane and I was just over it.

All of this is to say, James Donovan and his book Nothing but Courage was primed to be a great read for me. Of course, I was doing my five jumps in the safety of Georgia and the gentlemen in the book were not nearly as comfortable. They were part of the prelude of D-Day and the storming of the beaches. Donovan gets very much to the point. There is not a ton of background on D-Day or other activities in World War II. There is just enough for someone not well-read in World War II to understand what is going on, but that’s about it.

I think this approach works great, because Donovan is clearly most interested in the soldiers and their leaders. He jumps (pun intended) around between various groups. In case you were unaware, the jump into France went very badly from a location standpoint. If I was going to ding Donovan for anything, it would be that he bounces around almost too much. I could see some readers saying there was too much chaos going on in the narrative as you go from character to character. I think Donovan is trying to get the reader to feel what it was like to be completely discombobulated like the jumpers. He does add some perspective from the German side, which I think could have been cut. However, the book is too good to call this a big criticism. I think this narrative works for all audiences.

(This book was provided as an advance reader copy by Netgalley and Dutton Books.)

Verdict:

A great read. Buy it here!

If You Liked This Try:

• Scott McGaugh, Brotherhood of the Flying Coffin
• James Conroy, The Devils Will Get No Rest
• Tom Dunkel, White Knights in the Black Orchestra
• Martin Dugard, Taking London