Cornelius Ryan
Cornlius Ryan was one of the preeminent writers of the history of World War II. he was born in Dublin in 1920 and worked as a reporter covering the battles in Europe for Reuters and the London Daily Telegraph from 1941 to 1945 and then the final months of the Pacific campaign. His first book was The Longest Day, published in 1959, sold 4 million copies in 27 editions and was made into a 1962 film The Longest Day by Darryl Zanuck. His second book was The Last Battle published in 1966. He finished his third book A Bridge Too Far in 1974 while undergoing treatment for cancer that killed him in 1976. The film version of A Bridge Too Far was released in 1977 and re-released in DVD in 1998. In all his books, Ryan stressed realism and was meticulous in attention to detail and his extensive research notes. He did not romanticize war, but emphasized the themes of destruction and waste and doom.
Sources:
- A Bridge Too Far. New York, Simon and Schuster,1974, paperback 1995. 670 p. illus. 23 cm. Bibliography: p. 641-649. Subject: Arnhem, Battle of, 1944.
- The Last Battle. New York, Simon and Schuster, 1966, paperback 1994. 571 p. illus., maps (part col.) ports. 24 cm. Bibliography: p. 541-551. Subject: Berlin, Battle of, 1945.
- The Longest Day: June 6, 1944. New York, Simon and Schuster, 1959, paperback 1994. 350 p. illus., ports., col. maps (on lining papers) 24 cm. Bibliography: p. 336-339. Subject: France -- Normandy.
Links:
- Cornelius Ryan and The Longest Day exhibit at Dublin Writers Museum based on materials from The Cornelius Ryan Collection at Ohio University. "The Cornelius Ryan Collection consists of research files, extensive photo files, manuscripts, a good-sized World War II research library, maps and memorabilia such as the author's honors
and awards. The core of the collection -- Ryan's interviews with everyone from royalty and generals to foot soldiers and civilians -- fills 12,000 research files in the Ohio University Library Department of Archives and Special Collections. The archive is one of the largest single collections of firsthand information outside of government archives on D-Day, Operation Market-Garden in the Netherlands and the fall of Berlin."
revised 4/15/01 by Schoenherr | WWII Timeline | WWII links
