Some D-Day reading: Rick Atkinson's Liberation Trilogy

I'm about half way through volume 3, Guns at Last Light, which begins with the Normandy invasion. I've read many books about WWII in Europe, but never a complete history of the campaign, from North Africa to Berlin. Atkinson gets it all on the page, in gut wrenching detail; from the folly of the Generals to the pain of the dying. There's a lot of dying. In 1944, 712 out of every 1000 bomber crewmen were killed in action. The death toll among ground troops from one failed 10-day sortee, Market Garden, easily exceeded the total American deaths in the 10-year War on Terror.

Atkinson focuses on individuals to tell the story and his narrative is as gripping as any thriller. There are no magical forces at work here; no super heroes, well, maybe one, Audie Murphy. But this is an epic struggle between good and evil, brilliantly told. If you haven't read these, get them. Read them. You won't regret it. Your local library has them, I'm sure.