The Longest Day: The Classic Epic of D-Day

By Cornelius Ryan

The unparalleled work of history that recreates the battle that changed World War II -- now in a new edition for the 50th anniversary of D-Day.

Newly in print for the first time in years, this is the classic story of the invasion of Normandy, and a book that endures as a masterpiece of living history. A compelling tale of courage and heroism, glow and tragedy, The Longest Day painstakingly recreates the fateful hours that preceded and followed the massive invasion of Normandy to retell the story of an epic battle that would turn the tide against world fascism and free Europe from the grip of Nazi Germany.

For this new edition of The Longest Day, the original photographs used in the first 1959 edition have been reassembled and painstakingly reproduced, and the text has been freshly reset. Here is a book that is a must for any follower of history, as well as for anyone who wants to better understand how free nations prevailed at a time when darkness enshrouded the earth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Release date: Feb 16, 2010
• ISBN: 9781439126462

Cornelius Ryan

Cornelius Ryan was born in 1920 in Dublin, Ireland, where he was raised. He became one of the preeminent war correspondents of his time, flying fourteen bombing missions with the Eighth and Ninth US Air Forces and covering the D-Day landings and the advance of General Patton’s Third Army across France and Germany. After the end of hostilities in Europe, he covered the Pacific War. In addition to his classic works The Longest Day, The Last Battle, and A Bridge Too Far, he is the author of numerous other books, which have appeared throughout the world in nineteen languages. Awarded the Legion of Honor by the French government in 1973, Mr. Ryan was hailed at that time by Malcolm Muggeridge as “perhaps the most brilliant reporter now alive.” He died in 1976.

Reviews for The Longest Day

[larryerick · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I do not intentionally try to diminish the qualities of this book by my rating. It IS a worthwhile read, especially if you don't know much about D-Day. It covers the lead up to D-Day and D-Day itself well, but it suffers from having too much to cover, and, as a result, through no fault of its own, can do no more than a widely scattered reporting of many different events and persons, resulting in a certain level of superficiality. (For a comparison, watch Ken Burns' The Civil War, and then read Shelby Foote's The Civil War: A Narrative. The comparison reveals Burns' video to be so superficial as to be misleading and ultimately inaccurate at times.) Moreover, this is really just Chapter 1 of a much larger book, so to speak. You certainly have a feeling of being cut off from the story line when the book ends. "What happens next? Tell me." For that reason and for the quality of Ryan's scholarship, I intend to read more of his work, such as The Bridge Too Far.

[johncouke · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A must read for those interested in the start of the end of WW2.

[stbalbach_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The great thing about The Longest Day is its spirit. There's a feeling of embarking on an adventure. It's upbeat and at times very funny. This is not a gritty human tragedy, it still retains some of the can-do sacrifice for the greater good spirit of its time, being published just 15 years after the event. Cornelius Ryan (b. 1920) was of that generation. It's also a valuable work of original research built from 100s of interview with participants on both sides, including higher-level German officers. Yet, it remains entertaining and easy to read like the best creative nonfiction. All around a remarkable book that easily earns 5-stars for longevity as a classic.

[pratalife · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Have you seen the movie? They make such a prominent statement in the opening credits that it is "based on the book by Cornelius Ryan" that I've always had a mind to read it.

After all, while the story is epic, the movie just "tries too hard" in parts. Isn't the breaching of fortress Europe enough of a plot? No! Movie-goers also need a schmaltzy love story too. Surely the book can't be that contrived?

The good news is that it is not. It shares the "tell a story through a mosaic of slice-of-life vignettes" approach, yet does it with compelling integrity. It is gritty and unrelenting; sometimes poignant, but always authentic. The book's most rewarding and fascinating aspect is how it shows in rich detail the diverse impact of action and inaction, decision and indecision - and often just plain luck - in the final outcome of the day.

[chris4graham_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Cornelius Ryan has thoroughly researched his subject and brought history to vivid life.

As another reviewer said, forget the epic 3 hour movie, this book is the real deal.

[scottcholstad · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Massive classic. A great work.

[graeme.bell3 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This is a good book. What is not good is the ebook setting of margins and paragraph breaks. The last 40 per cent comes over like a drunk was typing it. 4 stars for the early part. 2 stars for the latter part.

[librarycin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a detailed look at D-Day, starting a couple of days beforehand, right through the entire day, June 6, 1944. Originally written in 1959, the book is based on questionnaires and interviews with many people who were there. We get to see what happened from various points of view – the Allies, the Germans, and even some of the French civilians living in Normandy at the time of the attack. This book brings you to the shores of the five beaches: Utah, Omaha, Juno, Sword and Gold, as well as Pointe du Hoc. Wow! This reads like fiction and, even knowing the outcome, I found it quite suspenseful at times. I didn’t really know much detail about what went on, and for anyone with any interest in it, I think this is a must read.

[lisamaria_c · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The title is taken from a quote of Field Marshall Edwin Rommel, who commanded the German forces defending the Atlantic Wall against invasion, "...the first 24 hours of the invasion will be decisive...the fate of Germany depends on the outcome...for the Allies, as well as Germany, it will be the longest day." That day came on June 6, 1944, and Ryan gives an account not just of that day, but the lead up. The book, in fact, is split into 3 parts--"The Wait," "The Night" and "The Day." It has a strong narrative akin to a novel, but is based on thousands of interviews and never drifts over the line into evident fiction. It tells the story from generals to privates, and from both the Allied and German sides. It also tells the story from the side of the French Resistance and French civilians in Normandy who had undergone a brutal occupation for the last four years. (One detail that struck me was how one resident was going to have his home pulled down simply because the Germans coveted building materials.) One thing I appreciated about the book was both the epic sweep and the intimacy. Ryan made you appreciate the huge scale of the operation. An allied fleet of five thousand ships carried 250,000 men. The Allied causalities numbered at least ten thousand and the German casualties as many as nine thousand. At the same time, Ryan doesn't stint on the stories of individuals in ways that made the account of the battle come alive, from the American paratrooper caught on the church steeple to the British commandos going to battle to the sound of bagpipes. Ryan himself was a war correspondent who reported on D-Day, and his account here has an immediacy I doubt other books detailing the events of that day could match.

[carloa_31 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'd read this book in its Italian translation in the mid 80s and I'd loved it. The original version is even more powerful, with its concise, clipped and journalistic style, in conveying the sense of history and the ravages of those few days of war that changed the world in 1944. Ryan writes several years after the facts, with the benefit of extensive research, yet his style is that of an "on the field" reportage. The many personal stories that unfold within the larger historic facts range from the mundane to the tragic, via the heroic and, at times, the book has downright poignant and moving paragraphs that make the reader feel the harsh truth of the war in a way less spectacular but more real than movie attempts like the movie based on the book, and bearing the same title, or the later Saving Private Ryan. Definitely a must read.

[jcbrunner · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"The Longest Day" is one of the best war movies about one of history's most daring project. I long wondered whether the book would live up to the cinematic drama. In fact, the book is already cinematic. Many famous scenes from the movie are already arranged on the page. A fantastic story, great protagonists, drama and emotion - what is there not to like? The only detriment is that it is quite a short book to describe such a long day. Given the exhaustive D Day literature, the urge to learn more about any aspect of that day and the campaign can be stilled elsewhere. A great read.

[seriousgrace · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I think people view history as a boring and tedious subject because they forget that flesh and blood people are often the backbone of historical events. People who could have been the reason for their very being. Cornelius Ryan didn't forget that the importance of D-Day didn't lie in how it happened but whomade it happen. In his introduction he makes it clear that The Longest Day is not an military account of June 6th, 1944 but "a story of people..." within a 24 hour time span. The detail and clarity with which Ryan writes about seemingly ordinary men and women makes The Longest Day extraordinary.

[5hrdrive · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Minute by minute record of the epic events of D-Day. Based on hundreds of eyewitness accounts by the soldiers and civilians who lived through the Longest Day. My only complaint is that the book is too short.

[tadad_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In this recounting of the D-Day invasion, Ryan manages to avoid the fustiness of so many history books and simply tell a story (or, rather, many stories, all woven together). He doesn't stint on content but his writing style is so appealing that the events flow along almost as if you're reading a novel. One of the best aspects is that, since he started researching it so soon after the war, he was able to draw on the fresh memories of so many participants and fill the book with personal stories…some humorous, some sad.

[carolfoasia_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow! I loved this book. Anytime I read until 3 a.m., it is a very good book and day. I am blown away at the great risk these brave men took to free Europe from tyranny. This is a must read. You will never whine again after you read it. Against all odds, these brave men fought there way up the beaches at Normandy. Man, crying even as I type.

[linedog1848 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Longest Day put great personal stories to the history. It gave a wonderfully specific, but not overly laborious description of the day of battle through the eyes of the survivors. Written within 15 years of the war, this book is filled with gold--interviews with survivors of D-Day that are lost forever now, with fewer and fewer by the year. Thank goodness for this wonderful record of the events.I have only two criticisms. One is that I felt the book was overly detailed in the lead-up to the invasion. There was a bit too much description of the terrain and the preparations than I would have liked, and the battle only really occupied the second half of the book--it took me a while to get into the read.My second criticism is no fault of the author, editor, publisher, or anyone else involved, but merely a lament at the sad fact that no matter how we may wish for it, there is no such thing as a book starring John Wayne.

[crazybabe_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fantastic book describing the lead up to and including D-Day. I will admit though that I read the book after seeing the movie. Told from not only the German and allied point of view, but also the view of the French Resistance this book provides fascinating insight into the ordinary lives of the people in occupied France as well as the life of the ordinary soldier and the battle that still considered to this day as the greatest seaborne invasion in military history.

[schmerguls · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

1113 The Longest Day, by Cornelius Ryan (read 21 Apr 1971) I believe this is the best book I have read on World War II up to the time I read it. It tells of the day or so before June 6, 1944, and of the day itself. It is very well put together--mainly made up from interviews and accounts of personal experiences--and intensely dramatic at times. On May 25, 1967, I finished reading Cornelius Ryan's The Last Battle, which was published in 1966--this book was first published in 1959. But I believe I found this book more intriguing than I did The Last Battle.

[benuathanasia · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely astounding. Parts of the book had me laughing while other parts had me forcing back tears. I loved all the depth and detail Ryan included without becoming tedious with the minutiae. He made each soldier and civilian seem like they were the protagonist of the tale. My absolute favorite part was how impartial Ryan was; he made no judgments about the cast of characters and allowed readers to draw their own conclusions (told you Hartmann that you could have a good research paper without forming an argument).Now, I'm fully aware that the way I spoke about the book made it seem more like fiction than fact, but that is because Ryan tells history so well it sounds more like an action packed movie than a brilliant piece of historical non-fiction (which seem to have the stigma of being dry...even among my fellow history majors). I completely concur with the other reviewer that said this book should be made into a Spielberg mini-series.

[choccy_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

For those who’ve seen the movie, better erase it from your memory. This kind of book can not be shortened into a three-hour movie, it has to become a series. And maybe have to be directed by someone like Steven Spielberg, LOL. It is not only about D-Day, but also about the background stories of that blessed day. Using more than 1,000 sources for this book – former US, British, Allied Forces soldiers, inhabitants of Normandy, even lots of former Nazi officers – Cornelius has successfully blended all their stories (even if it is only a scrap of details) into a masterpiece.My head shook with disbelief a number of times when reading this book. How could the Third Reich become so dim-witted? Bear in mind that D-Day operation, better known as Operation Overlord, had so many flaws in it, from the planning to the execution, which made it bound to fail. For example, intelligence report that killed hundreds of US Rangers to destroy a battery of guns which never existed. However, the Wehrmacht seemed to create better mess. Hence, they went into almost complete disarray.Imagine this: the only division stationed in Normandy (Seventh Army) was the last division that was notified of an ongoing invasion. Imagine this: there was only one Luftwaffe’s offensive and one E-boat attack during D-Day. Imagine this: there was a ready-to-fight panzer division who were forced to sit down watching helplessly the Allied Forces swarmed into Normandy just because Hitler's staff decided not to notify the Fuhrer and let him sleep in the make-believe beautiful world of Berchtesgaden until afternoon, while D-Day was started since midnight and H-Hour 6.30 AM. Furthermore, the exalted, legendary Field Marshall Rommel, who knew from day one that Normandy was not invincible, seemed to be forgotten in the frenzy; nobody told him about the landings before it was too late. A combination of red tape, ignorance and cockiness ruined the Krauts, for sure.My favorite part of the book is "The Night" chapter. Well, I just love WW II paratroopers’ stories and this time it’s not only the 101st Airborne Division that was described, but also the more battle-tested 82nd, as well as the British 6th division. One could not compare the atrocities and horrors experience by the paratroopers and the sea-borne soldiers. However, if I could choose, I definitely do not want to be one of those soldiers who landed in the ‘Omaha’ beach. No way in hell.The tales about bravado showed by the soldiers, paratroopers, sailors, medics, minesweepers, etc in this book were exceptional, spiced up with occasional humors. Fallacies from both sides seemed to create a number of hilarious events, such as when a small unit of Allied soldiers came across a German unit in French rural road, both units only stared and passed each other and did nothing because they were just too shocked over the presence of each other . Well, I guess it should be too hard from the author to have so many materials, since this is a military that involved more than 5,000 ships, hundreds of airplanes/bombers/gliders/etc and hundreds of thousands of men from various nationalities.A day when all might and force of the free world came to liberate the occupied continent from a malevolence that the world had never seen before. A day to remember.

[strokeboy_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What an exciting book! I kept thinking to myself... "I can't believe what I'm reading". This book is a page burner and all the excitement is true. Cornelius does a great job of footnotes and references. There is even a section about what happened to each man mentioned in the book, Alies and Germans.

[elmiller_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is one of the most captivating history books I've ever read, and definitely a must-read on the subject of WWII.Ryan builds suspense by beginning with Eisenhower's internal debate about proceeding with the invasion despite unfavorable weather and the German efforts to decipher coded messages sent to the French Resistance. The bulk of the book then focuses on the details of the air drops and beach landings. The book moves along at a fairly quick pace and really helps you imagine what it was like.