Battle Cry

New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1953. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Fair. [6], 505, [1] pages. Signed by the author on the first end paper. Cover worn and soiled. Tears at spine. Edges rubbed. Somewhat shaken. Leon Marcus Uris (August 3, 1924 - June 21, 2003) was an American author of historical fiction who wrote many bestselling books including Exodus (published in 1958) and Trinity (published in 1976). When he was 17, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He served in the South Pacific with the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines and fought as a radioman in combat on Guadalcanal and Tarawa from 1942 through 1944. Coming out of the service, he worked for a newspaper, writing in his spare time. Esquire magazine bought an article in 1950, and he began to devote himself to writing. Drawing on his experiences in Guadalcanal and Tarawa, he produced the best-selling Battle Cry, a novel depicting the toughness and courage of U.S. Marines in the Pacific. He then went to Warner Brothers in Hollywood helping to write the movie, which was extremely popular. His best-known work may be Exodus, which was published in 1958. Most sources indicate that Uris financed his research for the novel by selling the film rights in advance to MGM and by writing newspaper articles about the Sinai campaign. It is also said that the book involved two years of research and thousands of interviews. Uris's subsequent works included: Mila 18, about the Warsaw ghetto uprising; Armageddon: A Novel of Berlin, a chronicle which ends with the lifting of the Berlin Blockade in 1949; and QB VII, about a Polish doctor in a German concentration camp. Battle Cry is a 1953 novel by American writer Leon Uris. Many of the events in the book are based on Uris's own World War II experience with the 6th Marine Regiment. The story is largely told in first person from the viewpoint of the Battalion Communications Chief, "Mac," although it frequently shifts to third person in scenes where Mac is not personally present. The characters in the book come from a variety of backgrounds, and cover a broad range of American archetypes. The interaction of the characters as they learn to put aside their prejudices and biases to bond, developing esprit de corps, is a primary theme of the novel. Derived from a Kirkus review: It's terrific: Perhaps there is less searching than in The Naked and the Dead, less uncovering than in From Here to Eternity, less integration of plot and character than in The Caine Mutiny, but indubitably it shares some of the greatness of each. Here is a saga of the Marines in World War II, told in terms of a battalion known as "Huxley's Whores" in the Sixth Regiment of the Corps, and specifically of the radio squad. It's raw and tough and unvarnished. Much of the language is filthy. Many of the assumptions relating to liquor and sex will offend the tender skinned. But the grandeur of man comes through in spite of it,-his capacity for heroism, his fundamental tenderness towards his fellows, his hero worship and recognition of greatness, his ability to measure up to the best in him. The men of the squad come alive and the reader cares profoundly what happens. The story has episodes of raw humor, originality, drama, tragedy- and "American youth in the crucible of war" is tried and found worthy. The Marines from boot camp to Tarawa- in superb narration. Don't miss it.