The Greatest Generation is more than a mere chronicle of a tumultuous time. It’s history made personal by a cast of everyday people transformed by extraordinary circumstances: the first women to break the homemaker mold, minorities suffering countless indignities to boldly fight for their country, infantrymen who went on to become some of the most distinguished leaders in the world, small-town kids who became corporate magnates. The Greatest Generation learned resourcefulness in adversity early – the Depression – and then they went to war against two of the greatest military machines ever created. They won the War, they saved their enemies through the Marshall Plan, and then they came home to re-create America – its communities, roads, businesses, government, arts, and sciences. They never complained and they never told their stories. Brokaw tells the stories of individual men and women, America’s citizen heroes and heroines who came of age during the Great Depression and the Second World War and went on to build modern America. This generation was united not only by a common purpose, but also by common values – duty, honor, economy, courage, service, love of family and country, and, above all, responsibility for oneself. The Greatest Generation salutes those whose sacrifices changed the course of American history.