In An Army at Dawn - winner of the Pulitzer Prize - Rick Atkinson provided a dramatic and authoritative history of the Allied triumph in North Africa. Now, in The Day of the Battle, he follows the strengthening American and British armies as they invade Sicily in July 1943 and then, mile by bloody mile, fight their way north. The Italian campaign's outcome was never certain; in fact, Roosevelt, Churchill and their military advisors engaged in heated debate about whether an invasion of the so-called soft underbelly of Europe was even a good idea. But once underway, the commitment to liberate Italy from the Nazis never wavered, despite the agonizingly high price. The battles at Salerno, Anzio, and Monte Cassino were particularly difficult and lethal, yet as the months passed, the Allied forces continued to push the Germans up the Italian peninsula. And with the liberation of Rome in June 1944, ultimate victory at last began to seem inevitable. Drawing on an astonishing array of primary source material, written with great drama and flair, this is narrative history of the first rank.

In The Day of Battle, Rick Atkinson picks up where he left off in An Army at Dawn, his history of the North African campaign, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2003. A planned third volume, on the Normandy invasion and the war in Europe, will complete The Liberation Trilogy, which is shaping up as a triumph of narrative history, elegantly written, thick with unforgettable description and rooted in the sights and sounds of battle . . . He excels at describing the furor of battle, and the Italian campaign provides him with abundant raw material. . . Mr. Atkinson, a longtime correspondent and editor for The Washington Post, conveys all of this with sharp-edged immediacy and a keen eye for the monstrous and the absurd. --William Grimes, The New York Times

Monumental ... With this book, Rick Atkinson cements his place among America's great popular historians, in the tradition of Bruce Catton and Stephen Ambrose. -- The Washington Post

The majestic sequel to his Pulitzer Prize-winning An Army at Dawn ... Atkinson's achievement is to marry prodigious research with a superbly organized narrative and then to overlay the whole with writing as powerful and elegant as any great narrative of war. -- The Wall Street Journal

A very fine book .... Anyone who devoured An Army at Dawn with relish will be delighted with Atkinson's account of the Sicilian and Italian campaign. -- The New York Times Book Review

[A] fascinating account of the war in Sicily and Italy. -- USA Today

Gripping .... [Atkinson] combines an impressive depth of research with a knack for taut, compelling narrative. -- Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul)

Splendid ... the infantrymen who didthe fighting will grab at readers' hearts. -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch

With The Day of Battle, Atkinson again proves himself to stand among the ranks of our most talented popular historians ... Required reading for anyone with an interest in the battles of World War II. -- Austin American-Statesman

A seamless, stunning narrative that is the equal of An Army at Dawn .... Atkinson's success lies in his ability to render bare war's wretched realities in astounding prose. -- Contra Costa Times

In The Day of Battle , Rick Atkinson picks up where he left off in An Army at Dawn , his history of the North African campaign, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2003. A planned third volume, on the Normandy invasion and the war in Europe, will complete The Liberation Trilogy , which is shaping up as a triumph of narrative history, elegantly written, thick with unforgettable description and rooted in the sights and sounds of battle . . . He excels at describing the furor of battle, and the Italian campaign provides him with abundant raw material. . . Mr. Atkinson, a longtime correspondent and editor for The Washington Post , conveys all of this with sharp-edged immediacy and a keen eye for the monstrous and the absurd. --William Grimes, The New York Times

Monumental ... With this book, Rick Atkinson cements his place among America's great popular historians, in the tradition of Bruce Catton and Stephen Ambrose. -- The Washington Post

The majestic sequel to his Pulitzer

In The Day of Battle, Rick Atkinson picks up where he left off in An Army at Dawn, his history of the North African campaign, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2003. A planned third volume, on the Normandy invasion and the war in Europe, will complete The Liberation Trilogy, which is shaping up as a triumph of narrative history, elegantly written, thick with unforgettable description and rooted in the sights and sounds of battle . . . He excels at describing the furor of battle, and the Italian campaign provides him with abundant raw material. . . Mr. Atkinson, a longtime correspondent and editor for The Washington Post, conveys all of this with sharp-edged immediacy and a keen eye for the monstrous and the absurd. --William Grimes, The New York Times

Monumental ... With this book, Rick Atkinson cements his place among America's great popular historians, in the tradition of Bruce Catton and Stephen Ambrose. -- The Washington Post

The majestic sequel to his Pulitzer Prize-winning An Army at Dawn ... Atkinson's achievement is to marry prodigious research with a superbly organized narrative and then to overlay the whole with writing as powerful and elegant as any great narrative of war. -- The Wall Street Journal

A very fine book .... Anyone who devoured An Army at Dawn with relish will be delighted with Atkinson's account of the Sicilian and Italian campaign. -- The New York Times Book Review

[A] fascinating account of the war in Sicily and Italy. -- USA Today

Gripping .... [Atkinson] combines an impressive depth of research with a knack for taut, compelling narrative. -- Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul)

Splendid ... the infantrymen who did the fighting will grab at readers' hearts. -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch

With The Day of Battle, Atkinson again proves himself to stand among the ranks of our most talented popular historians ... Required reading for anyone with an interest in the battles of World War II. -- Austi

Majestic... Atkinson's achievement is to marry prodigious research with a superbly organized narrative and then to overlay the whole with writing as powerful and elegant as any great narrative of war. -- The Wall Street Journal
A triumph of narrative history, elegantly written, thick with unforgettable description and rooted in the sights and sounds of battle. -- The New York Times
In The Day of Battle, Rick Atkinson picks up where he left off in An Army at Dawn, his history of the North African campaign, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2003. A planned third volume, on the Normandy invasion and the war in Europe, will complete The Liberation Trilogy, which is shaping up as a triumph of narrative history, elegantly written, thick with unforgettable description and rooted in the sights and sounds of battle . . . He excels at describing the furor of battle, and the Italian campaign provides him with abundant raw material. . . Mr. Atkinson, a longtime correspondent and editor for The Washington Post, conveys all of this with sharp-edged immediacy and a keen eye for the monstrous and the absurd. --William Grimes, The New York Times

Monumental ... With this book, Rick Atkinson cements his place among America's great popular historians, in the tradition of Bruce Catton and Stephen Ambrose. -- The Washington Post

A very fine book .... Anyone who devoured An Army at Dawn with relish will be delighted with Atkinson's account of the Sicilian and Italian campaign. -- The New York Times Book Review

[A] fascinating account of the war in Sicily and Italy. -- USA Today

Gripping .... [Atkinson] combines an impressive depth of research with a knack for taut, compelling narrative. -- Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul)

Splendid ... the infantrymen who did the fighting will grab at readers' hearts. -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch

With The Day of Battle, Atkinson again proves himself to stand among the ranks of our most talent

Rick Atkinson is the bestselling author of AN ARMY AT DAWN, THE LONG GRAY LINE, IN THE COMPANY OF SOLDIERS and CRUSADE. His many awards include Pulitzer Prizes for journalism and history. He lives in Washington, D.C.