The Greatest Generation Return to Book Review Page Return to Home Page

By Tom Brokow

Random House, 1998

Network anchorman Tom Brokow hypothesizes that those who fought in World War II were “The Greatest Generation” in U.S. history for three reasons:

1. The came of age during the wrenching poverty of the Great Depression of the 1930s.
2. The selflessly volunteered and then fought valiantly during World War II.
3. They overcame the years lost in military service as well as the physical and emotional scars from the war and went on to build modern America.

Brokow tells the story by relating the lives of selected veterans, from some who served and then lived at the ordinary level to those who went on to the highest levels of business and government.

This book might inspire many readers to look closely at themselves and ask how they—living without the burdens of nearly dead economy and then a World War—might match the strength of character of the generation Brokow profiles. One quote that provokes lingering thoughts came from a Depression/World War II-era person, comparing their younger years with modern youth: “We built things. They buy things.” One hopes that some of today’s youth, pushing the limits of their personal computers, might prove that statement no longer true.

The only other generation that might lay claim to being “America’s Greatest” is the one that made this nation. Can any of today’s politicians claim to made of the same stuff as Washington or Jefferson? What kind of guts did it take to throw out a monarchy that stood as the stood as the standard form of government since the beginning of civilization and replace it with one where all men were considered equal? What about a cluster of developing colonies taking on the most powerful nation in the world?