There seems to be an obsession among many who are historians or are interested in history that there are a lot of untold stories that need to be told. One of the foremost aspects of contemporary historiography is the matter of untold stories. It's more engaging than Trainor and Gordon's 'The Generals' War,' although that account is better if you want a more systematic exploration of how policies and strategies were made. I could have used a little less detail in some areas (500 pages is a lot for a 1 month conflict), but overall I can strongly recommend this book to general enthusiasts in military history. The US military comes across as unbelievably deadly and effective in this book despite major ego and bureaucratic problems in the leadership. He doesn't hold back on the brutality of what has been remembered as a clean war, but he's also very fair to the genuine desire of the leadership to limit casualties and collateral damage. There's not a lot on the policy side, but Atkinson gives an engaging account of the war from multiple perspectives: American generals, field commanders, prisoners of war, and ordinary soldiers. This is probably the best military history of the Gulf War that I've come across. Still, overall this is a solid work of journalism and well worth reading for anyone wanting to learn more about the war. He also, incredibly, failed to mention the Battle of Kuwait International Airport and gave relatively little attention to the combat the 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions experienced during their drive into Kuwait. David Eberly and other American POWs, Atkinson never once mentioned the occasions on which the Iraqis forced POWs to renounce the war on TV, for propaganda purposes. My only criticism is that there seemed to be some baffling omissions for example, in spite of devoting several chapters to the plight of Col. The accounts of all the friendly fire incidents-more than one quarter of Allied fatalities-were especially sobering.

There was much I learned that I had either forgotten or never knew about what was happening in other parts of the theater, including the two Navy ships that were severely damaged by mines. As a veteran of the Gulf War and a fan of Rick Atkinson's work, I was 24 years late in reading this book.

The day of battle by rick atkinson