First published 2020
Martha MacCallum reconstructs the Pacific War through the story of her family member Harry Gray, a young man who left Boston to fight in one of World War II's bloodiest campaigns. The book opens with the Pearl Harbor attack announcement reaching a New York diner, where MacCallum's mother sat as a child thinking of her teenage cousin Harry. MacCallum tracks Harry's path from his home life to the brutal combat on Iwo Jima's beaches. She documents the homefront experience through her mother's family, who waited on their porch for Harry's letters. The narrative moves between the oppressive Pacific jungles where American teenagers died and the strategic war rooms where leaders planned their next moves. MacCallum examines Emperor Hirohito's deadly imperial expansion and America's costly campaign to reclaim occupied territory. She reveals how ordinary young men left their families to combat tyranny, forever changing both themselves and those who loved them back home.
Genres: history, 20th-century, non-fiction, biography-memoir, military-history, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: family, sacrifice
Setting: Boston, Iwo Jima, New York, Pacific
Period: Pearl Harbor, World War II
336 pages · Hardcover · Harper