Hauenstein Center hosts expert on D-Day, WWII

D-Day marked the commencement of the final campaign of World War II, and the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies at Grand Valley State University will host best-selling author and award-winning military historian Rick Atkinson to tell the story of the infamous battle from the perspective of participants at every level. 

Atkinson, author of New York Times best-seller “Guns at Last Light: The War in Europe 1944-45,” will describe the bold gamble that set the pace for the rest of the war from the perspective of presidents and generals to war-weary lieutenants and terrified riflemen. Atkinson will also discuss the devastating cost of the global war and the enormous effort required to secure an Allied victory.

The presentation, part of the Hauenstein Center’s American Conversations Series, will take place at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 13, in the Eberhard Center on Grand Valley’s Pew Grand Rapids Campus. 

An RSVP is required for the event at hauensteincenter.org.

Atkinson was a Pulitzer-prize winning newspaper reporter before turning to writing military history. He has published six books, including narrative accounts of several American wars. He wrote “The Liberation Trilogy” which focused on the American role of liberation of World War II-era Europe, and was awarded the prestigious Pritzker Military Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing in 2010. 

For more information, visit hauensteincenter.org.