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America's "forgotten war" lasted just thirty-seven months, yet 54,246 Americans died in that time -- nearly as many as died in ten years in Vietnam. On the fiftieth anniversary of this devastating conflict, James Brady tells the story of his life as a young marine lieutenant in Korea.
In 1947, seeking to avoid the draft, nineteen-year-old Jim Brady volunteered for a Marine Corps program that made him a lieutenant in the reserves on the day he graduated college. He didn't plan to find himself in command of a rifle platoon three years later facing a real enemy, but that is exactly what happened after the Chinese turned a so-called police action into a war.
The Coldest War vividly describes Brady's rapid education in the realities of war and the pressures of command. Opportunities for bold offensives sink in the miasma of trench warfare; death comes in fits and starts as too-accurate artillery on both sides seeks out men in their bunkers; constant alertness is crucial for survival, while brutal cold and a seductive silence conspire to lull soldiers into an often fatal stupor.
The Korean War affected the lives of all Americans, yet is little known beyond the antics of "M*A*S*H." Here is the inside story that deserves to be told, and James Brady is a powerful witness to a vital chapter of our history.
""Why Marines Fight" is a candid collection of courage and
"esprit de corps "that serves as a reminder that when America needs
a real hero, it doesn't need to look beyond its military." --"The
San Antonio Express News
" United States Marines, for more than two centuries, have been
among the world's fiercest and most admired of warriors. They have
fought from the Revolutionary War to Afghanistan and Iraq, in
famous battles that have become the bone and sinew of American
lore. But why do Marines fight? Why do they fight so well?
James Brady, to some an unofficial "poet laureate" of the Corps,
interviews combat Marine veterans from World War II to Afghanistan,
and their replies are in their own individual voices, unique and
powerful. What results is an authentically American story of a
country at war, as seen through the eyes of its warriors; a story
of the motivations and emotions behind this compelling title
question. Included are accounts from Senator James Webb and his
Corporal son, Jim; New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly;
Yankee second baseman (and Marine fighter pilot) Jerry Coleman, and
of teachers, fireman, authors, cops, Harvard football players, and
just plain grunts.
"Why Marines Fight" is a ruthlessly candid book about professional
killers not ashamed to recall their doubts as well as exult in
their savagely triumphant battle cries. A book of weight and heft
that Marines, and Americans everywhere, will want to read, and may
find impossible to forget.
Praise for James Brady:
"Why Marines Fight
""Brady explores both the emotions and motivations of the men who
willingly run toward guns. Read this and you'll be steeled to stare
down your own fears." --"Men's Health
""For anyone who wants to know how the U.S. Marine team works in
war and peace, this book is indispensable." --"Booklist" (starred
review)
"Brady's book succeeds in delivering honest, front-row accounts of
war--the gritty details and the hard realities--and provides a
veritable smorgasbord of answers to the question of why Marines
fight." --"Chattanooga Times Free Press
""These inspirational tales cover as many Marine experiences as
Brady can pack in." --"Kirkus Reviews
""The ""Scariest Place"" in the World
"" A] graceful, even elegant, and always eloquent tribute to men at
arms in a war that, in a way, never ended." --"Kirkus Reviews
""James Brady has done it again. A riveting and illuminating
insight into a dark corner of the world." --Tim Russert
"The Coldest War
""His story reads like a novel, but it is war reporting at its
best---a graphic depiction, in all its horrors, of the war we've
almost forgotten." --Walter Cronkite
"A marvelous memoir. A sensitive and superbly written narrative
that eventually explodes off the pages like a grenade in the gut .
. .taut, tight, and telling." --Dan Rather
"The Marine
""In "The Marine," James Brady again gives us a novel in which
history is a leading character, sharing the stage in this case with
a man as surely born to be a gallant warrior as any knight in
sixth-century Camelot." --Kurt Vonnegut
"The Marines of Autumn
""Mr. Brady knows war, the smell and the feel of it." --"The New
York Times"
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book
may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages,
poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the
original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We
believe this work is culturally important, and despite the
imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of
our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works
worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in
the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.
++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields
in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as
an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification:
++++ Tom Pagdin: Pirate Edwin James Brady N.S.W. Bookstall, 1911
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book
may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages,
poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the
original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We
believe this work is culturally important, and despite the
imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of
our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works
worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in
the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger
Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain
imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed
pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we
have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting,
preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger
Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and
hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!
"This powerful narrative is an endearing piece of warrior's
nostalgia, written with the accustomed skill by a seasoned
writer."
---"Publishers Weekly"
"Graceful, even elegant, and always eloquent tribute to men at arms
in a war that, in a way, never ended."
---"Kirkus Reviews"
"James Brady has done it again. A riveting and illuminating insight
into a dark corner of the world."
---Tim Russert, NBC's "Meet the Press"
Half a century after he fought there as a young lieutenant of
Marines, James Brady returns to the brooding Korean ridgelines and
mountains to sound taps for a generation. It's been fifteen years
since Brady first wrote of Korea in "The Coldest War, "drawing
raves from Walter Cronkite and "The New York Times," which called
it "a superb personal memoir of the way it was."
In the spring of 2003, Brady and Pulitzer Prize-winning combat
photographer Eddie Adams flew in Black Hawk choppers and trekked
the Demilitarized Zone where it meanders into North Korea,
interviewing four-star generals and bunking in with tough U.S.
recon troops, in Brady's words, "raw meat on the point of a
sharpened stick." Brady recalls that first time on bloody Hill 749,
the men who died there, what happened to the Marines who lived to
make it home, and experiences yet again the emotional pull of a
lifelong love affair with the Corps in which they all served.
Brady summons up the past and illuminates the present, be it the
Korea of "the forgotten war," the Yanks who fought there long ago,
or today's soldiers standing wary sentinel over "the scariest place
in the world." The result is uplifting, inspiring, often
heartbreaking, and this new Brady memoir proves as powerful as
hisfirst.
Praise for James Brady
"Brady has emerged as one of the best novelists of his
generation."---Dan Rather
"Mr. Brady knows war, the smell and the feel of it."---"The New
York Times"
"Mr. Brady captures the heart and soul of the Marine Corps in this
stunning new novel. [He] writes with passion and great insight."
Nelson DeMille, author of "The Lion's Game"
"Brady has stormed publishing high ground to become, arguably, our
foremost novelist currently writing on the subject of Marines at
war."---"Publishers Weekly"
""The Marines of Autumn" is right up there with the very best of
combat writing and is destined to become one of the defining novels
of the genre."---Nelson DeMille, author of" The Lion's Game"
""The Marines of Autumn" is a masterpiece that recalls the era with
awesome authenticity. The novel's outcome is one of thunderous
dramatic beauty and power."---"The Associated Press "
The New York Times Bestselling Author of The Marines of Autumn
Late November of 1941.
Half the world is at war and with the other half about to join in, a thousand U.S. Marines stand sentinel over the last days of an uneasy truce between ourselves and the Imperial Japanese Army in chaotic North China.
By November 27, FDR is convinced Japan is about to launch a military action. Washington doesn’t know where, isn’t sure precisely when. But the Cabinet is sufficiently alarmed that War Secretary Henry Stimson and Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox are authorized to send an immediate and coded “warning of war” to American bases and units in harm’s way.
In Shanghai two cruise ships are chartered and 800 armed American Marines are marched through the great port city with enormous pomp and circumstance and embarked for Manila.
Another 200 Marines, unable to reach Shanghai, and serving in small garrisons and posts from Peking to Mongolia and the Gobi Desert, are caught short by this “warning of war”.
This is their story. Of how a detachment of American Marines marooned in North China as war erupts, set out on an epic march through hostile territory in an attempt to fight their way out of China and, somehow, rejoin their Corps for the war against Japan.
James Brady dazzles us once again with a stunning and unflinching look at America at war. Warning of War is a moving tribute to sheer courage, determination, and Marine Corps discipline, and is a wonderful celebration of America in one of its darkest but finest hours.
War has been the inspiration of such great novels as The Red Badge of Courage and A Farewell to Arms, and daring feats of courage and tragic mistakes have been the foundation for such classic works. Now, for the first time ever, the Korean War has a novel that captures that courage and sacrifice.
When Captain Thomas Verity, USMC, is called back to action, he must leave his Georgetown home, career, and young daughter and rush to Korea to monitor Chinese radio transmissions. At first acting in an advisory role, he is abruptly thrust into MacArthur's last daring and disastrous foray-the Chosin Reservoir campaign-and then its desperate retreat.
Time magazine at the time recounted the retreat this way: "The running fight of the Marines...was a battle unparalleled in U.S. military history. It had some aspects of Bataan, some of Anzio, some of Dunkirk, some of Valley Forge, and some of 'the retreat of the 10,000' as described in Xenophon's Anabasis."
The Marines of Autumn is a stunning, shattering novel of war illuminated only by courage, determination, and Marine Corps discipline. And by love: of soldier for soldier, of men and their women, and of a small girl in Georgetown, whose father promised she would dance with him on the bridges of Paris. A child Captain Tom Verity fears he may never see again.
In The Marines of Autumn, James Brady captures our imagination and shocks us into a new understanding of war.
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