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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
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AGAINST ALL ODDS

Alex Kershaw

A True Story of Ultimate Courage and Survival in World War II

The national bestselling author of The First Wave tells the untold story of the four most decorated soldiers of World War II - Medal of Honor recipients all - from North Africa to Hitler's own mountaintop fortress.
During World War II, as the Allies raced to defeat Hitler, reporters learned of four American soldiers, all in the same regiment, who had earned medal after medal for battlefield heroism. They were the ultimate band of brothers: The dashing Captain Maurice "Footsie" Britt became the very first American to receive every award for valor in a single war. Michael Daly was a West Point dropout who risked his neck over and over to keep his men alive. Captain Keith Ware would one day become the most senior US general to die in Vietnam. In WWII, Ware's life was saved by the finest soldier he ever commanded, a baby-faced Texan named Audie Murphy, an American legend who would one day become a celebrated Hollywood star. Soon, the newspapermen began to cover the four's exploits like a football game, pitting one against another as if they were athletes trying to outdo each other. Who among them would gain the ultimate accolade as WWII's most decorated soldier?

Tapping into personal interviews and a wealth of primary source material, Alex Kershaw has delivered his most gripping account yet of American courage. Together, these men helped defeat Nazi Germany's finest troops, marching more than two thousand miles, from the deserts of North Africa to Hitler's Eagle's Nest in Bavaria, surviving more than six hundred days of increasingly merciless combat. They fought in every major campaign during the liberation of Europe, earning all of the nation's awards for valor, including the Medal of Honor. Once the guns fell silent, the four would discover just how heavy the Medal of Honor could weigh, and how great the expectations associated with it could be. Having survived the most intense combat of WWII against all odds, this extraordinary brotherhood would fight just as hard to find peace.

Alex Kershaw is a journalist and a New York Times bestselling author of books on World War II. Born in York, England, he is a graduate of Oxford University and has lived in the United States since 1994.
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Published 2022-03-22 by Dutton

Book

Published 2022-03-22 by Dutton

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Tapping into personal interviews and a wealth of primary-source material, Alex Kershaw has delivered his most gripping account yet of American courage, spanning more than 600 days of increasingly merciless combat, from the deserts of North Africa to the dark heart of Nazi Germany. Read more...

Nobody 'wins' the Medal of Honor, nor is it 'awarded.' It is earned under fire, often at the cost of one's life and always in the face of ferocious hostile resistance. What sort of men do such deeds? Alex Kershaw knows. In Against All Odds, the renowned master of the battle narrative takes us right into the most perilous action in North Africa; Sicily, Italy; and France alongside Maurice Britt, Michael Daly, Audie Murphy, and Keith Ware, heroes all. It's a gripping, unforgettable story of undaunted courage in the heart of World War II.

Polish: Znak ; Portuguese (Brazil): Alta Books ; Turkish: Fol Kitap

[Against All Odds] plunges straight into its story, bypassing lengthy character back stories in favor of a "see you on the beach" leap into the Moroccan surf... While 'Against All Odds' approaches the body count of Cormac McCarthy's 'Blood Meridian,' Mr. Kershaw trains a sympathetic eye on men plagued with torments beyond the obvious hazards of bullets and grenades... One of Mr. Kershaw's strengths as a historian is tethering his story to first-person accounts. Drawing upon letters, memoirs, diary entries and oral histories, his book retains an authentic feel while showcasing the gritty action you would expect in films such as 'Saving Private Ryan' (1998) and 'To Hell and Back' (1955) - the latter starring Audie Murphy as himself.

March 25th marks "National Medal of Honor Day" in the United States. Journalist Alex Kershaw's newest book "Against All Odds" profiles some of the soldiers whose heroism helped defeat fascism during World War II. Live at 9 spoke with the author about his latest work and its significance now. Read more...

Alex Kershaw is the master of putting the reader in the heat of the action. Against All Odds is vivid and compelling, a crisp narrative about heroism, war, and going above and beyond the call of duty.

... riveting detail...Among a group so decorated, mention of medals cannot be avoided. However, Against All Odds is to be recommended more for its deeply personal, ground-level portrayal of the life and times of infantry soldiers in the European Theater, recreated from news articles, memoirs, unpublished archival sources, and personal interviews... Kershaw describes the sharp exhilaration of combat, and the dull exhaustion between battles. He brings us along from impossibly long hikes in Sicily's debilitating heat, through the pitch-black winter nights when 'men couldn't see their hands,' and into the shivering cold of France's Vosges Mountains...

AGAINST ALL ODDS s included in USA Today's "5 books not to miss" this week Read more...

Alex Kershaw understands what makes soldiers fight: their devotion to the man to their left and to their right. In Against All Odds, Kershaw continues to raise the bar with an unvarnished story of heroism during World War II, and a lasting tribute to the American soldier as liberator.