Liberation Road: A Novel of World War II and the Red Ball Express

by David L. Robbins

Book Overview

With his acclaimed novels of World War II, David L. Robbins awakened a generation to the drama, tragedy, and heroism of some of history's greatest battles. Now he delivers a gripping and authentic... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553801759
• ISBN13: 9780553801750
• Release Date: December 2004
• Publisher: Bantam Books
• Length: 445 Pages
• Weight: 1.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.6" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

An outstanding read - powerful and emotional

My name is Larry Gunsberg, from Farmington Hills, MI. I am a fan of historical fiction..as well as nonfiction, and have just finished reading Liberation Road. I became emotionally involved with the story...I actually cried (I kid you not!), I got angry, I laughed out loud, shook my head in amazement over what people do to survive, and sighed with totally satisfaction at the end with the good Rabbi's redemption. I have NEVER read a WWII story from a Chaplains perspective, much less a working class Rabbi (and, even better, a WWI Vet) I felt Robbins three perspective approach and its culmination in the stinking French garage and the battle torn fox hole with our heroic young black driver and our anti-hero Rabbi, was satisfying and believable. Robbins ability to capture the sick arrogance of the Nazi Major after reveling the truth of the camps, the stupid cracker mentality (I wanted to punch the sons of bitches out), the varying attitudes among the Black soldiers, involved and moving. It was readable, believable, and provided the feeling of being on the battle field, in the trucks and in their heads. It is a great story...it just worked on so many levels. I'll be recommending it.

Humanity & War

Although ardent fans of his eastern front trilogy might disagree, David Robbins' latest book strikes me as his finest story yet. It is appropriate that a national periodical described him as the "Homer of World War II." The pathos of war is timeworn, as old as the western literary tradition itself, but Robbins has captured the profundity of this subject in a manner that is fresh even as it is familiar. On the one hand, his prose is magnificent, his turn of the phrase certain to capture and enthrall. On the other, he has crafted characters with whom the reader can identify. We are privy to the hopes and fears of Ben Kahn and Joe Amos. They are people we know. These men are our neighbors. They live and they breathe. This is no mean feat given that both men speak to us across time and race. Moreover, both men have to compete with the larger story unfolding around them for our attention. Nevertheless, Robbins successfully weaves their two tales into one account that conveys as well the enormity of the allied drive on Paris in the summer of 1944. Anyone reading this book will come away from it with a better understanding of that crucial campaign, Robbins' research, as always, is superlative. More immediately, however, readers will be reminded that this great crusade was the sum of millions of individual accounts, most of which are lost in the maelstrom of history. In this work of fiction, Robbins has provided two such imagined histories, and left us with a universal story of humanity striving to assert itself in the face of mortal carnage and moral confusion. This book is a study of war, but most particularly, of the American experience of war. As such, it is also a commentary on the American character, on our inimitable national optimism, and the shadows that have darkened our national experience. I cannot recommend enough that you read it yourself, that you encourage your friends to do so as well, and that you leave your thoughts on the book in this forum.

Moving, accurate, fast-paced historical fiction; marvelous!

Robbins has again cast light on a little-recognized corner of World War II. The Civil Rights movement in America had its beginnings in that war, and the desegreation of the military was the first great step forward for our integrated society. The black Red Ball drivers were really the pioneers, because of their intrepidness and courage in the face of not only combat but the inbred racism in the army. Add to that the power of the novel's story of a rabbi chaplain, gone to war to determine the fate of his pilot son, and you have a moving mix of characters, a fascinating backdrop, and Robbins' proven abilies with action, fact, place and people. Read this and learn while you enjoy a marvelous, fast-paced novel about a little known corner of WWII. Excellent and recommended.