My thanks go to NetGalley and Highbridge Audio for the review copy of Band of Brothers, the history of one unit of Churchill’s Special Forces during World War II. This book is for sale now.

I was initially attracted to this nonfiction work by Lewis’s reputation—a list of awards as long as your arm—and the fact that I knew nothing about the Special Forces. I enjoy military history and although I can’t learn about every aspect of the history of everything during my lifetime, I like to at least skim the surface of noteworthy people, organizations and events that affected contemporary history in some meaningful way. In short, I came to this book to shore up a gap in my education.

Had I been a bit more cautious, I would have noted the bit of the promotional blurb that says I will learn about “one close-knit band of warriors.” Sadly, I didn’t.

Worth noting, though, is that narrator Peter Noble does an outstanding job, providing an engaging performance without distracting us from the text.

Lewis is a solid researcher, and I don’t doubt that any fact within these pages will fail to pass the sniff test. He knows his stuff. I became impatient, however, because I genuinely didn’t—and don’t—care about the personal lives of the men that served in this unit; their families; their interests; nor their camaraderie with one another. Perhaps it is just as well, since there are too many people introduced up front for me to keep track of using an audiobook. However, I came to this story in search of hardcore military history, and so I found myself chafing every time the action paused to detail some personal tidbit about one of these men or another.

Ultimately, it comes down to the author’s purpose. I’ve had this happen before, where there’s so much personal information about a service member that I wonder whether the book was commissioned by a family member. I don’t think that’s the case here, but it’s a problem I have run across more than once, where I want more of a documentary vibe than what I have found. And of course, there may be many others out there that enjoy this book, including its format and extensive personal references. But I can only tell you what one reader has experienced, and that reader is me, and so as much as I respect the abilities of this author, I can’t recommend this book to those that love military history. If you choose to read it, I recommend getting it free or cheap. Don’t spend big bucks on this one.