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With the Old Breed
With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa | E.B. Sledge
28 posts | 21 read | 4 reading | 8 to read
Eugene Sledge became more than a legend with his memoir, With The Old Breed. He became a chronicler, a historian, a storyteller who turns the extremes of the war in the Pacificthe terror, the camaraderie, the banal and the extraordinaryinto terms we mortals can grasp.Tom Hanks NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In The Wall Street Journal, Victor Davis Hanson named With the Old Breed one of the top five books on epic twentieth-century battles. Studs Terkel interviewed the author for his definitive oral history, The Good War. Now E. B. Sledges acclaimed first-person account of fighting at Peleliu and Okinawa returns to thrill, edify, and inspire a new generation. An Alabama boy steeped in American history and enamored of such heroes as George Washington and Daniel Boone, Eugene B. Sledge became part of the wars famous 1st Marine Division3rd Battalion, 5th Marines. Even after intense training, he was shocked to be thrown into the battle of Peleliu, where the world was a nightmare of flashes, explosions, and snapping bullets. By the time Sledge hit the hell of Okinawa, he was a combat vet, still filled with fear but no longer with panic. Based on notes Sledge secretly kept in a copy of the New Testament, With the Old Breed captures with utter simplicity and searing honesty the experience of a soldier in the fierce Pacific Theater. Here is what saved, threatened, and changed his life. Here, too, is the story of how he learned to hate and killand came to lovehis fellow man. In all the literature on the Second World War, there is not a more honest, realistic or moving memoir than Eugene Sledges. This is the real deal, the real war: unvarnished, brutal, without a shred of sentimentality or false patriotism, a profound primer on what it actually was like to be in that war. It is a classic that will outlive all the armchair generals safe accounts ofnot the good warbut the worst war ever.Ken Burns From the Trade Paperback edition.
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archaeolibrarianologist
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4 likes1 stack add
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marleed
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I had two solid A‘s (4.75) in this grid and both with a WWII setting. I‘m tagging the nonfiction because I will be haunted by the honesty in its brutal telling for a long time.

5* = Loved It, want to shout out loud about this book! I do/will own/keep a physical copy. A+
4*= I liked it, would love to discuss. Solid B
3*=Meh, no need to discuss. Avg C
2*=Nope D
1*=DNF F

Texreader Great grading system! 2y
marleed @Texreader Subjective as it is, it really works for me! 2y
62 likes2 comments
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marleed
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Pickpick

I took my bff to a favorite local book thrifting spot where he saw this book and noted it was among his favorite, and possibly favorite, WWII books. He‘s a retired Army general so I had to go there. Well, this is not Great Aunt Sally‘s Hist Fiction collection. Parts are brutal. Encouraged by his wife, written by an enlisted marine, it recounts his experience on the ground in Peleliu and Okinawa. ↓

marleed It was written in 1981 to little fanfare, and is not an example of learned and practiced writing. It was rediscovered as other authors researched writing for their own books. I understand why military officers would read/remember/learn from this book. It‘s an exceptional documentation of the impact of great leadership, and also what happens in the horrors of war. 2y
Blueberry Good review. 2y
63 likes2 comments
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JenReadsAlot
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Eggs Great choice 👏🏻👏🏻 2y
marleed I have this book atop my TBR for a memorial day read. I took a good friend to by favorite book thrifting shops one day. A copy of this book was there and he noted it was his favorite WWII book. And since he‘s a retired general I thought that was reason enough to read it! 2y
JenReadsAlot @marleed I've had it on my kindle for years... maybe I'll join you! 2y
peaKnit I have this one on my bookshelf too! 2y
22 likes4 comments
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Trace
Pickpick

Brutally honest depiction of war in the Pacific.

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QBub
Pickpick

Another book upon which The Pacific miniseries was based. Tells of Sledge‘s time with the Marines in the Pacific. First I don‘t know how so many young men survived. Second, as heroic as his service during the war was, his life after the war, as a popular and distinguished university professor is equally remarkable.

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Eggs
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One of many interesting battles of WWII; Pelelieu and Okinawa. True story

9 likes1 stack add
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LilithSaintcrow
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These guys had it incredibly rough.

2 likes1 stack add
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LilithSaintcrow

A long day, settled finally on the couch. My back is sore, but nothing compared to what these guys went through.

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LilithSaintcrow

A long day, settled finally on the couch. My back is sore, but nothing compared to what these guys went through.

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LilithSaintcrow

A long day, settled finally on the couch. My back is sore, but nothing compared to what these guys went through.

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LilithSaintcrow

A long day, settled finally on the couch. My back is sore, but nothing compared to what these guys went through.

blurb
LilithSaintcrow

A long day, settled finally on the couch. My back is sore, but nothing compared to what these guys went through.

blurb
LilithSaintcrow

A long day, settled finally on the couch. My back is sore, but nothing compared to what these guys went through.

blurb
LilithSaintcrow

A long day, settled finally on the couch. My back is sore, but nothing compared to what these guys went through.

blurb
LilithSaintcrow

A long day, settled finally on the couch. My back is sore, but nothing compared to what these guys went through.

blurb
LilithSaintcrow

A long day, settled finally on the couch. My back is sore, but nothing compared to what these guys went through.

blurb
LilithSaintcrow

A long day, settled finally on the couch. My back is sore, but nothing compared to what these guys went through.

blurb
LilithSaintcrow

A long day, settled finally on the couch. My back is sore, but nothing compared to what these guys went through.

blurb
LilithSaintcrow

A long day, settled finally on the couch. My back is sore, but nothing compared to what these guys went through.

blurb
LilithSaintcrow

A long day, settled finally on the couch. My back is sore, but nothing compared to what these guys went through.

blurb
LilithSaintcrow

A long day, settled finally on the couch. My back is sore, but nothing compared to what these guys went through.

blurb
LilithSaintcrow

A long day, settled finally on the couch. My back is sore, but nothing compared to what these guys went through.

blurb
LilithSaintcrow

A long day, settled finally on the couch. My back is sore, but nothing compared to what these guys went through.

blurb
LilithSaintcrow

A long day, settled finally on the couch. My back is sore, but nothing compared to what these guys went through.

blurb
LilithSaintcrow

A long day, settled finally on the couch. My back is sore, but nothing compared to what these guys went through.

blurb
LilithSaintcrow

Settled on the couch, finally. A long day, my back is sore, but it's nothing compared to what they went through.

blurb
LilithSaintcrow

Settled on the couch, finally. A long day, my back is sore, but it's nothing compared to what they went through.