The Longest Day cover art

The Longest Day

June 6, 1944

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About this listen

The classic account of the Allied invasion of Normandy....

The Longest Day is Cornelius Ryan’s unsurpassed account of D-day, a book that endures as a masterpiece of military history. In this compelling tale of courage and heroism, glory and tragedy, Ryan painstakingly re-creates the fateful hours that preceded and followed the massive invasion of Normandy to retell the story of an epic battle that would turn the tide against world fascism and free Europe from the grip of Nazi Germany.

This book, first published in 1959, is a must for anyone who loves history, as well as for anyone who wants to better understand how free nations prevailed at a time when darkness enshrouded the earth.

©1959 Cornelius Ryan; 1987 by Kathryn Morgan Ryan, Victoria Ryan Baida, and Geoffrey J. M. Ryan (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Europe France Military World War

Critic reviews

“What I write about is not war but the courage of man.” (Cornelius Ryan)
“Fifty years from now, the history of D-day, I am sure, will lean heavily on this book.” ( New York Times Book Review)
“A dramatic, moving masterpiece, a living memorial to the men who died, and as suspenseful as the most gripping mystery story.” ( Chicago Sunday Tribune)
All stars
Most relevant
If you like the film you will love the book. Reads like the films script. Incredible detail of the Day of Days. It’s well read , if not a little flat.
I really enjoyed this and it backs up the “ we’ve got one shot at this “ planning around the invasion and getting the job done.
But mostly it brings out the individuals’ experiences of this massive battle.

Fantastic detail .log the Day of Days

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One of history's most decisive events. Well written and finely and sympathetically narrated. Almost too short

One of history's most decisive events

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A classic war story by a fine writer. An accurate and detailed account of the D Day landings which has much more information than the film of the same name.
Sadly the narration is very robotic and sounds computerised. The story is delivered in a monotone with surprisingly odd voiced bits interspersed. I’d to really persevere to finish it. A lesser story would have been returned.

Cracking story robotically narrated

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Great book, narrator a bit flat, but you get used to it. Was hoping it wouldn't end. Gripping stuff!

finished too soon

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Ryan's 1958 book of a landmark event was in itself a landmark.

Published just 13-years after the end of the Second World War it moves past a war leader's recollection of maps and dispersments. It introduces real people to the story. Not just a nervous Eisenhower trying and failing to relax with Westerns as the first waves went in. But also the Paratrooper playing dead, the seaman looking on as the landing craft edges past, the French girl cycling in hope to find her parents and the German in the observation bunker. These characters will be familiar to anyone seeing the classic war film D-Day: The Longest Day. But here they are in their original.

Perhaps most affecting was the story of how the news landed. In America, bells were rung, a man of the cloth was pressed to deliver an impromptu service on a train. In Germany, the wife of a soldier in Normandy is admonished for her reaction.

The story is peerless. The delivery and direction put mud on it's cap badge. Yet again an Englishman is employed to deliver American pronunciations on a war history. Employ an American if that's the aim.

A slightly wooden delivery of the classic story

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