Not an Easy read

I started reading Beyond Band of Brothers recently; it's the war memoir of Dick Winters, one of the men followed in Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers and basically the main character in the miniseries. It provides a bit of Winters's background, but largely covers the same events we saw in BoB.

I gave up in the middle. Mostly because the book was due to the library, but I wasn't motivated to renew it. As much as it pains me to say it, but I couldn't get in to the book...and worse than that, I didn't really like the Winters I saw in the book. Not that I don't think he was brave, but there was an arrogance running through that I have to believe was his coauthor's, because the Winters I've heard in interviews didn't really come off this way.

A lot of it was stuff about how the paratroopers were the best! So much better than, God forbid, regular enlisted men. And don't even get him started on replacements! One of the things I was never comfortable with in the miniseries was how the guys who were in Easy from their training days at Toccoa treated the replacements, and Beyond BoB does nothing to make me more comfortable. I honestly don't see anything honorable with treating those guys badly, and there is nothing to be proud of in talking about how you don't sit with them at company reunions. I mean, really? I can understand why Winters and that original group would be closer than they would be toward guys who came in later, but it still comes off badly. And it's fine to be proud of your company, but it's not cool to bash everyone else fighting. I mean, what about the guys who had been fighting in, say, Africa since 1942? Easy spent 2+ years training--which is great, but not everyone had that luxury. Plus, this attitude contradicts the frequent claims of being just a humble soldier.

It's almost like Winters isn't human, almost. In seeing interviews with him, he comes off as warm, and Damian Lewis's portrayal gave him that element, which just does not translate in this book.

I may need to go back and rewatch some episodes of the miniseries; I prefer that Winters (and the Winters of Ambrose's book--which makes me continue to place some of the blame on the coauthor's shoulders) to the Winters in this book.