The outcome of the Korean War was decided in the first three months. The Darkest Summer is the hour-by-hour, casualty-by-casualty story of those months—a period that saw American and UN forces almost driven into the sea by the North Korean invaders, then stage an incredible turn-around that reversed the entire course of the war. Drawing on exclusive author interviews, unpublished memoirs, and oral histories, the book recounts the most dramatic and historically important portion of the war from the perspective of the soldiers and Marines on the ground. Bill Sloan takes the listener into muddy foxholes, across endless rice paddies, and up hotly contested ridges with the men who fought and fell there.
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"A good, quick, read of a pair of campaigns. The political threat to the Marine Corps is dealt with early and swiftly, as the 1950 mobilization takes over. Then, it is a close focus on the 5th Marines as they participate in the two fights. Lots of it comes from interviews with those who were there." — Lee (4 out of 5 stars)
"A good, quick, read of a pair of campaigns. The political threat to the Marine Corps is dealt with early and swiftly, as the 1950 mobilization takes over. Then, it is a close focus on the 5th Marines as they participate in the two fights. Lots of it comes from interviews with those who were there."
“Sloan has crafted another superb narrative. Strongly recommended.”
Sloan has crafted another superb narrative. Strongly recommended.
"The Darkest Summer is a truly heroic book. In heart-pounding detail, Bill Sloan recounts the most momentous season in the history of the US Marine Corps—the fateful summer of 1950. Riveting from the first page to the last.”
"The Darkest Summer is a harrowing and heroic tale of Korean War valor. By interviewing US Marines who fought at Pusan and Inchon, Bill Sloan transports the reader to ground zero in Korea. A truly riveting read.”
“A skillful, action-packed account of the first five months of the Korean War…Sloan fills his book with capsule biographies, interviews, and small-unit battle action that effectively intermix with often critical analysis of behind-the-lines politics and generalship. A colorful description of a part of the Korean War that actually turned out well.”
" "Fair." "
" Very good book, well paced. I knew things in Korea were bad in the beginning, but this book really opened my eyes. "
" Great narrative and offered details about a war that I thought I knew quite a bit about. "
" This book read like a text book. It was interesting though. I learned a lot about the Korean War. "
Bill Sloan is an award-winning freelance journalist and the author of more than a dozen books, the most recent being Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944—The Bloodiest Battle of the Pacific War and Given Up for Dead: America’s Heroic Stand at Wake Island. During his ten years as an investigative reporter and feature writer for the Dallas Times Herald, he covered many of the major events and personalities of the second half of the twentieth century and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. He lives in Dallas, Texas.
Michael Prichard is a Los Angeles-based actor who has played several thousand characters during his career, over one hundred of them in theater and film. He is primarily heard as an audiobook narrator, having recorded well over five hundred full-length books. His numerous awards and accolades include an Audie Award for Tears in the Darkness by Michael Norman and Elizabeth M. Norman and six AudioFile Earphones Awards. He was named a Top Ten Golden Voice by SmartMoney magazine. He holds an MFA in theater from the University of Southern California.
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