The Steel Wave, Jeff Shaara
The Steel Wave, Jeff Shaara
11 Rating(s)
List: $30.00 | Sale: $21.00
Club: $15.00

The Steel Wave
A Novel of World War II

Author: Jeff Shaara

Narrator: Paul Michael

Unabridged: 20 hr 50 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/13/2008


Synopsis

Jeff Shaara, America’s premier author of military historical fiction, brings us the centerpiece of his epic trilogy of the Second World War.

General Dwight Eisenhower once again commands a diverse army that must find its single purpose in the destruction of Hitler’s European fortress. His primary subordinates, Omar Bradley and Bernard Montgomery, must prove that this unique blend of Allied armies can successfully confront the might of Adolf Hitler’s forces, who have already conquered Western Europe. On the coast of France, German commander Erwin Rommel fortifies and prepares for the coming invasion, acutely aware that he must bring all his skills to bear on a fight his side must win. But Rommel’s greatest challenge is to strike the Allies on his front, while struggling behind the lines with the growing insanity of Adolf Hitler, who thwarts the strategies Rommel knows will succeed.

Meanwhile, Sergeant Jesse Adams, a no-nonsense veteran of the 82nd Airborne, parachutes with his men behind German lines into a chaotic and desperate struggle. And as the invasion force surges toward the beaches of Normandy, Private Tom Thorne of the 29th Infantry Division faces the horrifying prospects of fighting his way ashore on a stretch of coast more heavily defended than the Allied commanders anticipate–Omaha Beach.

From G.I. to general, this story carries the reader through the war’s most crucial juncture, the invasion that altered the flow of the war, and, ultimately, changed history.

About The Author

Jeff Shaara is the New York Times bestselling author of A Chain of Thunder, A Blaze of Glory, The Final Storm, No Less Than Victory, The Steel Wave, The Rising Tide, To the Last Man, The Glorious Cause, Rise to Rebellion, and Gone for Soldiers, as well as Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure—two novels that complete the Civil War trilogy that began with his father’s Pulitzer Prize–winning classic, The Killer Angels. Shaara was born into a family of Italian immigrants in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He grew up in Tallahassee, Florida, and graduated from Florida State University. He lives again in Tallahassee.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Karl on July 07, 2023

Shaara nails it again, combining accurate history and major players (Eisenhower, Rommel, Montgomery, Bradley, Patton, Gavin) with fictional minor players to let the reader experience the D-Day invasion in all its terror, confusion, and triumph. If you aren't a student of WWII, this is the book to pu......more

Goodreads review by Frank on January 22, 2016

The second book in the World War II series gives us the build up into D-day and the aftermath in the battle in France. You get the points of view of all the key players, Eisenhower, Bradley, Patton, Rommel, as well as, paratroopers, such as Jesse Adams. These soldiers are all real players, Shaara doe......more

Goodreads review by Steven on July 13, 2009

Jeff Shaara’s father famously authored the historical novel, “Gettysburg.” Since, fils has written a prequel and a sequel to his father’s opus, as well as similar historical novels about the Revolutionary War, the Mexican American War, the First World War, and the Second World War. This is the secon......more

Goodreads review by Alexw on October 13, 2023

Shaara's epilogues are always gut wrenching, and this novel is no exception. He reminds us that not all people die on the battlefield, some die years afterwards from the scars of the war.......more

Goodreads review by Mike (the Paladin) on July 13, 2021

Here we move on to the events leading up to and involving Normandy, Operation Overlord, D day. The events of the war in Southern Europe and Africa, the feud between Patton and Montgomery... The horror and death involved. Again told through the eyes of the participants as Shaara imagines them we get t......more


Quotes

“The indelible panorama [Jeff] Shaara paints . . . draws us into the horror and heroism of war.”—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“Magnificent . . . Intense, compelling, and thoroughly researched, this is much more than just an excellent historical novel.”—Library Journal

“Pounding with fierce action and human drama, and packed with accurately rendered history, The Steel Wave is an eye-opening reminder of the bitterly high price that combat soldiers have always been called upon to pay.”—St. Petersburg Times

“In this great, often moving novel of conflict, [Jeff] Shaara channels the roiling experiences of men in the midst of a tumultuous enterprise whose outcome was by no means certain.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“Stirring . . . Shaara [is the] master of the war novel.”—Chicago Tribune