In the midst of the largest banzai attack of the war, US Army Lt. Col. William O'Brien, grievously wounded and out of ammunition, grabbed a sabre from a fallen Japanese soldier and flailed away at a small army of assailants, screaming to his men, "Don't give them a damn inch!" When his body was recovered the next day, thirty dead enemies were piled around him. The Battle of Saipan lasted twenty-five hellish days in the summer of 1944, and the stakes couldn't have been higher. If Japan lost possession of the island, all hope for victory would be lost. For the Americans, its capture would result in secure air bases for the new B-29s that would put them within striking distance of the Japanese homeland. The outcome of the war in the Pacific lay in the balance. In this gritty, vivid narrative, award-winning author Bill Sloan fuses fresh interviews, oral and unit histories, and unpublished accounts to describe one of the war's bloodiest and most overlooked battles of the Pacific theater. Combining grunt's-view grit with big picture panorama (and one of the ugliest inter-service controversies of the war), Their Backs against the Sea is the definitive dramatic story of this epic battle--and an inspiring chronicle of some of the greatest acts of valor in American military history.

Their Backs against the Sea: The Battle of Saipan and the Largest Banzai Attack of World War II

History

Sloan, Bill

Asia

Da Capo Press

The man who created the Louisiana Hayride, a radio show that popularized country music, writes of the stars who often began their careers on his program, including Slim Whitman, Jim Reeves, Johnny Cash, George Jones, and Kitty Wells. 15,000 first printing.

Elvis, Hank, and Me: Making Musical History on the Louisiana Hayride

Arts & Photography

Logan, Horace

Music

St Martins Pr

The host of the country music radio program "Louisiana Hayride" reminisces about the performances and careers of country music greats

Louisiana Hayride Years: Making Musical History in Country's Golden Age

St. Martin's: Griffin

The Ultimate Battle is the full story of the largest land-sea-air battle ever waged by the U.S., a battle whose staggering casualties and take-no-prisoners ferocity led Truman to drop the atomic bomb on Japan. Unabridged.

The Ultimate Battle: Okinawa 1945- The Last Epic Struggle of World War II

Drummond, David

Blackstone Audiobooks

A gripping narrative of unprecedented valor and personal courage, here is the story of the first American battle of World War II: the battle for Wake Island. Based on firsthand accounts from long-lost survivors who have emerged to tell about it, this stirring tale of the “Alamo of the Pacific” will reverberate for generations to come. On December 8, 1941, just five hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese planes attacked a remote U.S. outpost in the westernmost reaches of the Pacific. It was the beginning of an incredible sixteen-day fight for Wake Island, a tiny but strategically valuable dot in the ocean. Unprepared for the stunning assault, the small battalion was dangerously outnumbered and outgunned. But they compensated with a surplus of bravery and perseverance, waging an extraordinary battle against all odds. When it was over, a few hundred American Marines, sailors, and soldiers, along with a small army of heroic civilian laborers, had repulsed enemy forces several thousand strong––but it was still not enough. Among the Marines was twenty-year-old PFC Wiley Sloman. By Christmas Day, he lay semiconscious in the sand, struck by enemy fire. Another day would pass before he was found—stripped of his rifle and his uniform. Shocked to realize he hadn’t awakened to victory, Sloman wondered: Had he been given up for dead—and had the Marines simply given up? In this riveting account, veteran journalist Bill Sloan re-creates this history-making battle, the crushing surrender, and the stories of the uncommonly gutsy men who fought it. From the civilians who served as gunmen, medics, and even preachers, to the daily grind of life on an isolated island—literally at the ends of the earth—to the agony of POW camps, here we meet our heroes and confront the enemy face-to-face, bayonet to bayonet.

Given Up for Dead: America's Heroic Stand at Wake Island

Americas

Bantam]

Biographies & Memoirs

Leaders & Notable People

Military

Documents the experiences of the First Marine Division at Peleliu between September 15 and October 15, 1944, a battle during which U.S. Pacific forces suffered their highest number of casualties, in an account based on interviews with veteran survivors. 50,000 first printing.

Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944 -- The Bloodiest Battle of the Pacific War

Simon&Schuster

This Band of Brothers for the Pacific is the gut-wrenching and ultimately triumphant story of the Marines' most ferocious—yet largely forgotten—battle of World War II. Between September 15 and October 15, 1944, the First Marine Division suffered more than 6,500 casualties fighting on a hellish little coral island in the Pacific. Peleliu was the setting for one of the most savage struggles of modern times, a true killing ground that has been all but forgotten—until now. Drawing on interviews with Peleliu veterans, Bill Sloan's gripping narrative seamlessly weaves together the experiences of the men who were there, producing a vivid and unflinching tableau of the twenty-four-hour-a-day nightmare of Peleliu. Emotionally moving and gripping in its depictions of combat, Brotherhood of Heroes rescues the Corps's bloodiest battle from obscurity and does honor to the Marines who fought it.

Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944--The Bloodiest Battle of the Pacific War

A narrative account of the large-scale land-sea-air battle during the spring of 1945 profiles the conflict as a sobering clash that was marked by the death of America's highest-ranking officer killed during World War II, the hara-kiri deaths of two top-ranking Japanese commanders, and the deaths of more than 250,000 soldiers, sailors, and civilians. 30,000 first printing.

The Ultimate Battle: Okinawa 1945--The Last Epic Struggle of World War II

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sloan, Bill. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Sloan, Bill

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sloan, Bill. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Their Backs against the Sea: The Battle of Saipan and the Largest Banzai Attack of World War II

Elvis, Hank, and Me: Making Musical History on the Louisiana Hayride

Louisiana Hayride Years: Making Musical History in Country's Golden Age

The Ultimate Battle: Okinawa 1945- The Last Epic Struggle of World War II

Given Up for Dead: America's Heroic Stand at Wake Island

Given Up for Dead: America's Heroic Stand at Wake Island

Given Up for Dead: America's Heroic Stand at Wake Island

Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944 -- The Bloodiest Battle of the Pacific War

Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944--The Bloodiest Battle of the Pacific War

The Ultimate Battle: Okinawa 1945--The Last Epic Struggle of World War II