NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “This is Jeff Shaara at his best, giving us another superb [and] historically grounded novel of one of the most dramatic struggles of World War II.”—George McGovernUtilizing the voices of the conflict’s most heroic figures, some immortal and some unknown, Jeff Shaara tells the story of America’s pivotal role in World War II: fighting to hold back the Japanese conquest … back the Japanese conquest of the Pacific while standing side-by-side with her British ally, the last hope for turning the tide of the war against Germany. As British and American forces strike into the soft underbelly of Hitler’s Fortress Europa, the new weapons of war come clearly into focus.
In North Africa, tank battles unfold in a tapestry of dust and fire unlike any the world has ever seen. In Sicily, the Allies attack their enemy with a barely tested weapon: the paratrooper. As battles rage along the coasts of the Mediterranean, the momentum of the war begins to shift, setting the stage for the Battle of Normandy. The first book in a trilogy about the military conflict that defined thetwentieth century, The Rising Tide is an unprecedented and intimate portrait of those who waged this astonishing global war.
BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Jeff Shaara’s The Steel Wave.
Praise for The Rising Tide
“[A] sprawling tale thoroughly researched and told withmeticulous detail . . . All that’s missing is the smell of gunpowder.”—MSNBC online
“Masterful.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“The Rising Tide imparts the actual sights, sounds and dialogue from the grounds of 1940s Sicily and North Africa.”—New York Daily News
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I’ve just started this book. Extremely well written historically correct
Shaara is the absolute best at writing historical fiction.
This is a book that everyone who wonders how “the greatest generation” was so great should read. The story of the huge tasks they took on, the suffering, and sacrifice will surprise you if you haven’t looked into the details of WWII history before.
That being said, this is an easy to read book, that keeps you turning pages and learning about, and caring about the people doing things that were impossible…and did them anyway.
I’ve been reading a lot of mysteries lately and decided to try something different. Not sure how I settled on historical fiction, but I’m glad I did and was able to discover The Rising Tide by Jeff Shaara.
While the book is a novel, it is an historically accurate portrayal of events during World War II in the European and North African Theaters. The only license the author takes is some dialogue and internal dialogue within some of the characters. In his note to the readers at the front of the book, Shaara explains his approach to this and his previous historical novels. Rather than providing a comprehensive overview or detailed exploration of events, Shaara looks at them through the eyes of some of the key participants, both large and small. Main characters include General Dwight Eisenhower, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, General Omar Bradley, General George Patton, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, Adolf Hitler, Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, and several others, including enlisted men and lower level officers in the U.S. Army.
The Rising Tide is a fascinating read and it has sparked my interest to read more about “The Great War,” and the characters who participated in the defining events of the 20th century.
Many historical fiction readers are familiar with Jeff Shaara but if you’re not I can strongly suggest a good place to start would be with THE RISING TIDE, his first of a three book series on WWII. Shaara gives dialogue to real characters from Dwight Eisenhower down to actual grunts on the ground. The books are fiction only in that he imagines what the actual characters might have said at that time. Otherwise you are reading a history book in some detail. I loved all three.