Band of Brothers

Stephen E. Ambrose

Introduced by Cole C. Kingseed

Foreword by Tom Hanks

With a new introduction by Cole C. Kingseed – Dick Winters’ biographer – Tom Hanks’ original foreword, and a brand-new picture selection, this Folio edition of Stephen E. Ambrose’s best-selling Band of Brothers is a triumph.

Stephen Ambrose was a great chronicler of history, a teller of authoritative, intuitive and heartrending stories

Tom Hanks, from his introduction

Formed in the summer of 1942, the elite parachute regiment E ‘Easy’ Company was involved in some of the most critical missions of World War II, playing major roles at D-Day and Operation Market Garden, culminating in the capture of Hitler’s ‘Eagle’s Nest’. Their near-mythical heroics under the leadership of Major Dick Winters fascinated Stephen E. Ambrose, but it was the incredible camaraderie that the veterans still shared 50 years after the end of the war that inspired him to write Band of Brothers. 

Working with Cole C. Kingseed, former U.S. military officer and Winters’ biographer and close friend, we have created a unique collector’s edition of this acclaimed history. Kingseed has written a compelling new introduction – which joins Tom Hanks’ original foreword – that explores the enduring fascination with the Band of Brothers. The picture selection comprises 32 pages of photographs, some rarely seen, sourced from specialist archives, including the Dick Winters Collection at the Gettysburg Museum and the Army Signal Corps Collection at the US National Archive. Band of Brothers achieved worldwide acclaim following the 2001 HBO series, but it is within the pages of Ambrose’s book that the authentic voices of Easy Company can be heard.

PRODUCTION DETAILS

Bound in printed and blocked textured paper

Set in Utopia with Franklin Gothic as display

368 pages

32 pages of black and white photographs (67 images in total)

Double-page spread map redrawn by Kevin Freeborn

Blocked slipcase

Printed in UK

10˝ x 6 ¾˝

ONE OF THE GREAT WWII ADVENTURE STORIES

‘History boldly told and elegantly written. Gripping.’

New York Times

A brilliant and charismatic commanding officer, Richard ‘Dick’ Winters is arguably one of the most recognisable American war heroes of World War II. Drawn together from all walks of life, many having suffered the ravages of the Depression, the men under his command had one commonality: the desire to serve their country. This seemingly ordinary group of citizen soldiers went on perform extraordinary feats of bravery in countless missions: the D-Day landings, Battle of the Bulge, Operation Market Garden and finally, Hitler’s ‘Eagle’s Nest’ in Berchtesgaden. 

Based on hundreds of hours of interviews with Easy Company veterans, Ambrose’s compelling account of the heroics and horror of war continues to enthral. In his new introduction, Kingseed traces his personal and professional relationship with Winters, offering an insight into the leadership skills that have become part of the legacy of both the man and the unit he commanded: ‘Mirroring selfless leadership, Band of Brothers demonstrates that is possible to achieve extraordinary things under great duress’. The incredible feats of endurance, bravery and camaraderie make this a perennial adventure story that transcends generations.

BIOGRAPHIES

About Stephen E. Ambrose

Stephen E. Ambrose (1936–2002) was born in Illinois and raised and educated in Wisconsin. From 1960 he was a history professor at colleges across the United States, latterly at the University of New Orleans, where he founded and led the Eisenhower Center; part of its mission was to collect oral histories from military veterans. He was also instrumental in founding the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, but is best remembered as one of America’s great military historians – work that led the Department of Defense to award him its Medal for Distinguished Public Service – and as the biographer of presidents Nixon and Eisenhower. The author of more than twenty-five books, ranging from the Civil War to the Cold War, he was honoured by the US Senate with a resolution commending Ambrose’s skill at ‘capturing the greatness of the American spirit in words’.

About Cole C. Kingseed

Cole C. Kingseed received his doctorate in history from Ohio State University and spent thirty years working for the United States Army, reaching the rank of colonel. He was chief of military history at West Point, where he is now professor emeritus. An expert on leadership and the Second World War, he is the author of books on the Suez crisis and the American Civil War, as well as the New York Times bestselling Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Dick Winters. A personal friend of Major Winters, Colonel Kingseed highlighted his relationship in Conversations with Major Dick Winters: Life Lessons from the Commander of the Band of Brothers. In 2009 he received the Army Historical Foundation's Distinguished Writing Award.