Book Review: Biggest Brother: The Life of Major Dick Winters, the Man Who Led the Band of Brothers

In my opinion, based on reading a series of books on the topic, Biggest Brother: The Life Of Major Dick Winters, The Man Who Led The Band of Brothers is the best book written on Major Dick Winters and the Band of Brothers. Larry Alexander is a journalist who used his gift with words to craft an amazing story.

Biggest Brother is 314 pages long and focuses primarily on the life of Dick Winters. Alexander wrote the book using a wealth of material that Winters supplied him. These materials included reports, journals, images, maps, etc. Winters also gave him letters that Winters had written to DeEtta Almon. She was a very close pen-pal throughout the war. These letters provided a human element absent from the other books.

This book has sixteen chapters along with a prologue and epilogue. The first chapter discussed his jump into Normandy during D-Day. Alexander then returned to the beginning of Winters’s life and explained how he became a paratrooper with “Easy” Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. Naturally, Alexander covered all the major topics such as Operation Market Garden, Bastogne, the push into Germany, and the capture of the Eagle’s Nest. Through his writing, it was fascinating to see these events through Winter’s perspective. Alexander seemed to capture this better than the other writers.

I was particularly interested in what happened to Winters after getting out of the military. Alexander was able to provide an in-depth account of what he was thinking and what he was doing. His leadership expertise seemed to be in high demand. Finally, Alexander shared a behind the scenes look at the beginning of the Band of Brothers book and HBO series, as well as the fame that followed.

If you have been keeping up on this series, the Biggest Brother is a must-have book. As I noted in the beginning, I consider this the best book of the series. It provides detailed not mentioned in the other books. I am definitely glad I read this one.

Additional Reading

• Book Review: Shifty’s War: The Authorized Biography of Sergeant Darrell “Shifty” Powers, the Legendary Sharpshooter from the Band of Brothers
• Book Review: Easy Company Soldier: The Legendary Battles of a Sergeant from World War II’s “Band of Brothers”
• Book Review: Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends: Two WWII Paratroopers from the Original Band of Brothers Tell Their Story
• Book Review: Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters
• Book Review: Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest
• Book Review: Call of Duty: My Life Before, During and After the Band of Brothers
• Book Review: A Company of Heroes: Personal Memories About the Real Band of Brothers and the Legacy They Left Us
• Book Review: Parachute Infantry: An American Paratrooper’s Memoir of D-Day and the Fall of the Third Reich
• Book Review: D-Day Through German Eyes
• Book Review: Conversations With Major Dick Winters: Life Lessons From the Commander of the Band of Brothers

Image: U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs

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