Reviews for The Day of Battle

“The Liberation Trilogy . . . is shaping up as a triumph of narrative history, elegantly written, thick with unforgettable description and rooted in the sights and sounds of battle. [Atkinson] excels at describing the furor of battle, and the Italian campaign provides him with abundant raw material. Mr. Atkinson, a longtime correspondent and editor for The Washington Post, conveys all of this with sharp-edged immediacy and a keen eye for the monstrous and the absurd.”
—The New York Times

“The majestic sequel to his Pulitzer Prize-winning An Army at Dawn . . . Atkinson’s achievement is to marry prodigious research with a superbly organized narrative and then to overlay the whole with writing as powerful and elegant as any great narrative of war.”
—The Wall Street Journal

“Monumental . . . With this book, Rick Atkinson cements his place among America’s great popular historians, in the tradition of Bruce Catton and Stephen Ambrose.”
—The Washington Post

“. . . it is his ability to ferret out astonishing amounts of detail and marshal it into a highly readable whole that gives Atkinson the edge over most writers in this field. Anyone who devoured An Army at Dawn with relish will be delighted with his account of the Sicilian and Italian campaign. All the same ingredients are here, from sharp one-liners . . . to brilliantly observed character portraits.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“[A] fascinating account of the war in Sicily and Italy.”
—USA Today

“Gripping . . . [Atkinson] combines an impressive depth of research with a knack for taut, compelling narrative.”
—Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul)

“Splendid . . . the infantrymen who did the fighting will grab at readers’ hearts.”
—St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“With The Day of Battle, Atkinson again proves himself to stand among the ranks of our most talented popular historians . . . required reading for anyone with an interest in the battles of World War II.”
—Austin American-Statesman

“A seamless, stunning narrative that is the equal of An Army at Dawn. . . . Atkinson’s success lies in his ability to render bare war’s wretched realities in astounding prose.”
—Contra Costa Times

“Atkinson surpasses his Pulitzer-winning An Army at Dawn in this empathetic, perceptive analysis of the second stage in the U.S. Army’s grassroots development from well-intentioned amateurs to the most formidable fighting force of World War II.”
—Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)

“Atkinson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, has written a comprehensive account of the campaign, which is the second volume of a planned trilogy covering the Allied liberation of Europe. As he illustrates with masterful use of primary sources, British and American war planners were deeply divided over the necessity of the campaign. Once launched, Allied attacks were frequently improvised and poorly coordinated. Still, progress was made, ending with the liberation of Rome in June 1944. Atkinson conveys the confusion and grinding difficulty of the Allied advance as experienced by ordinary soldiers while also providing interesting insights into the character of some of the top commanders.”
—Booklist

“The second volume of this former Washington Post editor’s “Liberation” trilogy, which began with the Pulitzer Prize-winning An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943, this is probably the most eagerly awaited World War II book of the year. Atkinson’s clear prose, perceptive analysis, and grasp of the personalities and nuances of the campaigns make his book an essential purchase.”
—Library Journal (starred review)

“Literate, lucid, fast-paced history—an excellent survey of the Mediterranean campaign.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)