Why Marines Fight - by James Brady (Paperback)

About the Book

In their own brutally candid, often moving words, Marines tell why they are Marines, what inspires them to fight so fiercely, and why some grow to love battle.

Book Synopsis

James Brady, bestselling war memoirist, and Marine officer in Korea, returns with one of his most memorable works to date--exploring what it means to be a soldier and why Marines fight.

United States Marines, for more than two centuries, have been among the world's fiercest and most admired of warriors. They have fought from the Revolutionary War to Afghanistan and Iraq, in famous battles become bone and sinew of American lore. But why do Marines fight? Why fight so well? Why run toward the guns? Now comes a thrilling new book, pounding and magnificent in scope, by the author some Marines consider the unofficial "poet laureate" of their Corps.

James Brady interviews combat Marines from wars ranging from World War II to Afghanistan, their replies in their own individual voices unique and powerful, an authentically American story of a country at war, as seen through the eyes of its warriors.

Culling his own correspondence and comradeship with hundreds of fellow Marines, Brady compiles a story--lyrical and historical--of the motivations and emotions behind this compelling question. Included are the accounts of Senator James Webb and his lance corporal son, Jim; New York City police commissioner Ray Kelly; Yankee second baseman (and Marine fighter pilot) Jerry Coleman, and of teachers, firemen, authors, cops, Harvard football players, and just plain grunts, as well as the unforgettable story of Jack Rowe, who lost an eye and other parts and now grows avocados and chases rattlesnakes. Their stories poignantly and profoundly illustrate the lives and legacies of battlefront Marines.

Why Marines Fight is a ruthlessly candid book about professional killers not ashamed to recall their doubts as well as exult in their savagely triumphant battle cries. A book of weight and heft that Marines, and Americans everywhere, will want to read, and may find impossible to forget.

Review Quotes

Praise for James Brady:

Why Marines Fight

"Brady explores both the emotions and motivations of the men who willingly run toward guns. Read this and you'll be steeled to stare down your own fears." --Men's Health

"For anyone who wants to know how the U.S. Marine team works in war and peace, this book is indispensable." --Booklist (starred review)

"Brady's book succeeds in delivering honest, front-row accounts of war--the gritty details and the hard realities--and provides a veritable smorgasbord of answers to the question of why Marines fight." --Chattanooga Times Free Press

"These inspirational tales cover as many Marine experiences as Brady can pack in." --Kirkus Reviews

The Scariest Place in the World

"[A] graceful, even elegant, and always eloquent tribute to men at arms in a war that, in a way, never ended." --Kirkus Reviews

"James Brady has done it again. A riveting and illuminating insight into a dark corner of the world." --Tim Russert

The Coldest War

"His story reads like a novel, but it is war reporting at its best---a graphic depiction, in all its horrors, of the war we've almost forgotten." --Walter Cronkite

"A marvelous memoir. A sensitive and superbly written narrative that eventually explodes off the pages like a grenade in the gut . . .taut, tight, and telling." --Dan Rather

The Marine

"In The Marine, James Brady again gives us a novel in which history is a leading character, sharing the stage in this case with a man as surely born to be a gallant warrior as any knight in sixth-century Camelot." --Kurt Vonnegut

The Marines of Autumn

"Mr. Brady knows war, the smell and the feel of it." --The New York Times

About the Author

The late James Brady commanded a Marine Corps rifle platoon during the Korean War and was awarded the Bronze Star for valor. He captured these experiences in his books The Scariest Place in the World, The Marine, his New York Times bestselling novels Warning of War and The Marines of Autumn, and in his highly praised memoir, The Coldest War. For more than two decades, he wrote the "In Step With" column for Parade magazine.