If you enjoy World War II and American history, old-school journalism, the great New Yorker essayists, baseball, classic sports writing, the Hollywood of the '30s and '40s, the joys of Yiddish (I'm Irish-Catholic but figure, "Yo, boychick, where's the harm in hedging bets?"), British rock (anybody else out there still pining for a Blind Faith reunion?), and the occasional foray into politics and public policy, maybe you've found a place where you can fritter away time now and again.
Or if you loathe all those things but still have 25 bucks to blow on my latest book, I say, "Shalom." Or "Aleykhem." Trust me: it's one of those two. Or both. And maybe in the opposite order.
My latest World War II book SAVAGE WILL, THE DARING ESCAPE OF AMERICANS TRAPPED BEHIND NAZI LINES (out September 2013 from New American Library-Random House/Penguin) comes from a remarkable story I unearthed in my previous book, ASSIGNMENT TO HELL, about five great U.S. war correspondents. SAVAGE WILL tells the story of thirty young Americans, 13 of them female nurse-lieutenants, who survived months behind Nazi lines when their medical transport plane was forced to crash-land in enemy-held Albania. Thanks to some gritty Allied intelligence operatives and Partisan resistance leaders, they all made it out with barely a scratch, but not before they were subjected to 8,000-foot high mountains, frostbite, malnutrition, and the constant threat of being ambushed by Nazi patrols or hostile guerillas.
The jacket cover says it's in the tradition of The Great Escape and Argo, so you know it has to be true!
It's one of World War II's great untold stories - and it was my honor to tell it. Hope you enjoy it.
Thanks for grazing.
Tim
