An Army At Dawn by Rick Atkinson

Price: $11.56

I just completed Rick Atkinson's "An Army At Dawn"; a book which you will currently find on the shelves of most major book retailers. The subject: The war in North Africa, 1942-1943.

Compared to my rapid digestion of several other works during the past few weeks, Atkinson's book was a meal that took many days to devour. Due to the book's length - 541 pages - and the author's style (have your dictionary handy for the occasions when the author challenges your vocabulary), a cover-to-cover reading will require a fair investment of time and mental energy. Given that Atkinson has penned this book as the first installment of what he calls "The Liberation Trilogy", I am sure that he and his publisher hope that the book leaves a good enough taste in your mouth that you will rush out and purchase the second (Sicily & Italy) and third (NW Europe) installments when they are offered on the menu.

As for me? I am not so sure I will be making a reservation when part two comes out in the fall of 2005. I will serve up my reasons for avoiding the second course in a bit. But first, some insight into the book.

"An Army at Dawn" begins with the planning and execution of Operation Torch. The focus from that point forward is primarily on the American army's challenges in Morroco, Algeria, and Tunisia, and the political challenges of managing the fledgling coalition of Western powers. The activities of the French and British forces in the same sector receive substantially less coverage, and the British 8th Army is barely mentioned until its approach to the Mareth Line (Atkinson does provide some decent coverage from tha point forward, however). Thus, it cannot be said that his treatment of the North African Campaign is exhaustive. However, the reader who is primarily interested in learning about the trials and tribulations of the American's first substantial land campaign against the Germans and Italians will probably feel satisfied with Atkinson's effort.

I found Atkinson at his best when describing the relationships between the Brits and Americans, at various levels of command. His depiction of the political struggles, including the Casablanca conference which took place as the campaign was being waged, was very good, and I thought, very thorough. I came away from those sections feeling much better informed. It also changed some of my prior perceptions about Eisenhower.

On the purely military side of things, I felt his accounts of the Torch landings were very good. His account of the Kasserine battle (commencing February 14, 1943) was, without a doubt, the most solid part of his narrative on the battlefield side of the ledger.

Despite its length, the avid student of military history might be of the opinion that Atkinson's work lacks depth in certain areas. The reader might very well come away from this book yearning for more detailed information on certain battles he found of interest. I think it can be fairly stated that Atkinson's book would provide the enthusiast with a good baseline of information from which to explore the campaign in greater detail.

Given the book's 541 pages, one might be surprised to hear me say that Atkinson perhaps doesn't go deep enough into the history of the campaign. After all, what could be in those 541 pages?

The dichotomy is the result of the author's style of prose. With tongue planted slightly in cheek, and with all due respect to him, I would venture to say that Atkinson has never met a metaphor he didn't like. Some of them are brilliant and inventive, and add to his very descriptive passages (his prose is very visual; much more so than the typical writer of history). But others add weight and volume to the text while contributing little to the understanding of the battle. And when it comes time to quote a historical participant in the history, he all too often chooses a something that includes a metaphor. Once I reached the halfway point in the book, it was clear to me just how much he must relish the vehicle of the metaphor, and frankly, it started to become a real distraction.

I recently reviewed another book whose release seemed to also be tied to the 60th anniversary of the campaign in NW Africa: "Meeting the Fox". Of the two books, "An Army at Dawn" is, by far, the more scholarly of the two works. They share the same central focus on American units and politics, but Atkinson does it in much more detail, and provides better insight and interpretation of events. "Meeting the Fox" provides some more engaging material in certain sections, by virtue of its reliance on veteran memoirs, but compared to "An Army at Dawn", "Fox" contains gaps in the chain of events.

The history of the campaign in North Africa is not my strong suit (that would be the 1944/45 in NW Europe). So I must say that I learned more than a little bit from Atkinson's book, and much more than I gleaned from "Meeting the Fox". So in that respect, I am very glad that I purchased it. For the time being, at least, it will occupy a place on my shelf as my rimary reference on the 42/43 N. Africa campaign. I look forward to perhaps reading the US Official History on the campaign, so that I can better evaluate exactly how much "new news" Atkinson brings to the table.

I am much more familiar with the subject matter to be covered in Volumes II and III. When they are published, it will not take me long to examine the narratives and determine if the ground being plowed is indeed fresh. If so, I will willingly suffer through his minefield of metaphors in order to pick up new and insightful information. If not, I will be inclined to stay with the tried and true.

As for my own use of metaphors in this review: I fear I am the pot calling the kettle black.