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The Big War

Anton Myrer

1957463 pagesabout 7–11 hours
1957
first published
  • 1957Appleton-Century-Crofts · 463 pages · ENG
  • 2008HarperCollins · ENGISBN 9780061581281
  • 1983Berkley · ENGISBN 9780425057216
  • 2001Harper Perennial · 512 pages · ENGISBN 9780060934736
  • 1981BerkleyISBN 9780425046722

They were our husbands, our fathers, our lovers, our sons. They were Americans and Marines. And this is their story: The Big War, Anton Myrer's panoramic novel of Marines in the Pacific in World War II. This is the story of Alan Newcombe, the Boston society Harvard man; Danny Kantaylis, the natural-born leader; Jay O'Neill, the barroom scrapper. Myrer does not glorify war; he does not flinch from describing what the actual experience of warfare was like for a desperate group of Marines trapped in some of the worst fighting conditions of the war. We learn about their lives at home and their fates on the battlefield.

Worth knowing

ViolenceFrequent

When and where

ThemesWar

Content notes

  • Warmoderateunreviewed
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