"An Army at Dawn"
by Rick Atkinson 
This is a fine history of the US Army's campaign in North Africa. Rick Atkinson writes with great skill and this book is a pleasure to read. The US Army entered the campaign poorly trained, ill equipped, and in some cases poorly led, and the German Army made it pay dearly until incompetent officers were relieved and the combat units learned how to fight effectively against professionals. The author does not hold back and relates the bad with the good. I was disgusted with the "cover your butt" attitude that prevailed that got many good field commanders canned and incompetents rewarded. One can only wonder at the waste and stupidity that cost so many fine young Americans their lives. It was the battles fought in North Africa that trained the likes of Eisenhower, Bradley, and Patton, Clark, and others for the coming campaigns in Europe, and the lessons were expensive. The book covers all the major engagements with views from the command positions down to small unit actions in a lively manner. As the title indicates, "An Army at Dawn" was "An Army Just Waking Up"!
--Ken Smith, Webmaster, USVeterans.com
