Press Release: The Twilight Warriors by Robert Gandt
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
On Sale: November 2, 2010
Contact: Ellen Folan
212.782.8944
For 95 days in 1945, half a million Americans and Japanese clashed in the largest
land-air-sea engagement in history. Just 340 miles off the coast of Japan, Okinawa was the last—and bloodiest—battle of the Pacific War. This is the gripping story
of the men who fought it . . .
The Twilight Warriors
By Robert Gandt
“A riveting masterpiece, a powerful tribute to all those sailors and pilots who went in harm’s way.
Five stars!”
—Stephen Coonts, author of Flight of the Intruder
“Former navy pilot and military historian Gandt is a first-rate storyteller, and here he focuses on an aspect of the Battle of Okinawa sometimes overshadowed by the bitter fighting on land: Okinawa was the most expensive naval battle in American history, with almost 10,000 American casualties. . . .
On the waters off Okinawa it was kill or be killed.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A fine popular account of history’s last great sea battle.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“This extremely well-written history of the Battle of Okinawa is unusual in that it is perfect for both beginning students and for experts. It is a book that will leave you with unforgettable memories of the heroes who fought—on both sides—in the Okinawan twilight.”
—Walter J. Boyne, former director of the National Air and Space Museum,
co-author of The Wild Blue
“Using the actual flying experience of the pilots of VBF-10 for center stage, Gandt broadens the scope of The Twilight Warriors by melding in Japanese air and sea operations with U.S. operations to give us a complete view of the last big battle in the Pacific campaign. The detailed look at the personalities of American and Japanese warriors adds great insight into decisions made, both good and bad. It is both an informative and compelling read.”
—Dave North, editor-in-chief, Aviation Week & Space Technology (ret),
USS Intrepid pilot
April 1945. The end of World War II finally appears to be nearing. The Nazis are on the verge of collapsing in Europe and the Americans are vastly overpowering the Japanese in the Pacific. For a group of navy pilots in their early twenties trained during the twilight of the war, the biggest concern is that they’ll never see action and be sent home without having a chance to face the enemy. They call themselves Tail End Charlies. They fly at the tail end of formations, stand at the tail end of chow lines, and now they are
—continued—
poised to enter the battle at the tail end of the war. Little do they know that they will soon become key players in the most difficult and bloodiest of naval battles in all of American history. After a long, grueling campaign of island hopping, the Allies are approaching the Japanese mainland; the mission at hand—the capture of Okinawa, just 340 miles from the heart of the Empire—is the critical final step before an invasion of Japan.
THE TWILIGHT WARRIORS (Broadway Books; Hardcover; November 2, 2010) by military historian and former navy pilot Robert Gandt is the engrossing, page-turning story of this tightly knit crew of young naval aviators who find themselves thrust into the epic Battle of Okinawa, the last great campaign of the Pacific theater and the largest land-air-sea engagement in history. From the cockpit of a Corsair fighter, we gaze down at the Japanese task force racing to destroy the American amphibious force. Through the eyes of the men on the destroyers assigned to picket ship duty, we experience the terror as wave after wave of kamikazes crash into their ships. Standing on the deck of the legendary battleship Yamato, we watch Japan’s last hope for victory die in a tableau of gunfire and explosions.
Costing more American lives, ships, and airplanes than any naval engagement in U.S. history, the ferocity of the Okinawa campaign shocks the world. Gandt captures the brutality of the epic battle while also masterfully illuminating the human side of the conflict. Derived from hours of interviews with the surviving Tail End Charlies as well as memoirs, journals, and correspondence of Okinawa veterans from both the American and Japanese sides, THE TWILIGHT WARRIORS is, at its core, the story of a band of steadfast young Americans in the thick of a massive, all-important military campaign and their enigmatic, fanatically courageous enemy.
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ABOUT THE BOOK
THE TWILIGHT WARRIORS
By Robert Gandt
Broadway Books • On-sale date: November 2, 2010 • 978-0-7679-3241-7 • $24.99
Visit www.broadwaybooks.com or www.gandt.com for more information.
To schedule an interview with Robert Gandt, please contact
Ellen Folan: 212-782-8944; efolan@randomhouse.com.
Also available as an eBook
