Of Men and War

by John Hersey

Read how young Lieutenant John F. Kennedy survived--to risk his life for his crew and to become, 17 years later, the President of the United States.

Read how war has felt to men everywhere, in five true stories of World War II:

- "Survival" (originally published in The New Yorker and as an episode in Here To Stay)
- "The Battle of the River" (originally published in Life magazine, and a more complete version exists in Into The Valley)
- "Nine Men on a Four-Man Raft" (originally published in Life magazine)
- "Borie's Last Battle" (originally published in Life magazine)
- "Front Seats at Sea War" (originally titled "P. T. Squadron in the South Pacific" in Life magazine)

Genres: Nonfiction, Military Fiction, World War II, Literature, War

132 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1965

About the author

John Richard Hersey, a Pulitzer Prize-winning American writer, earliest practiced the "new journalism," which fuses storytelling devices of the novel with nonfiction reportage. A 36-member panel under the aegis of journalism department of New York University adjudged account of Hersey of the aftermath of the atomic bomb, dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, as the finest piece of journalism of the 20th century.

Reviews

[John Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too vague.

[Greta · Rating 4 out of 5]

War stories are not my preferred subject matter in leisure reading, but I like the clarity of John Hersey on any topic. The corresponding movie, PT 109, is also good, and brings the story of J.F. Kennedy as a navy man to life. Read one, watch the other and be less lost during this time of quarantine.

[Jane Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

World War II Story

John Hersey's tales of the Pacific War. He told of ground troops on Guadalcanal, and follows up with stories of PT boats. He must have been the first to write about PT 109. The book is good and it is interesting to read the first books of an acclaimed author.

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Hersey is an excellent storyteller. This is five short stores of action in WWII. None of the actions have military significance. It's more about the men involved. One of the stories is about JFK and PT 109. It's quick and good.

[dean VetUk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting in places, a collection of short real life recollections. Some of them very good the others didn't engage me.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Important. Short. Interesting. Sad.

Seriously humans just why.

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

The highlight of the collection is "Borie's Last Battle", a stark, dispassionately told tale of the final battle of the USS Borie, a destroyer that and won a fantastic and close-fought battle with the German U-Boat U-409, a battle consisting of two expert, intelligent captains and crews who were buffeted by strange and unlikely circumstances throughout the experience.

Hersey, oddly, tinkers with the tales. "Nine Men on a Four-Man Raft" is told in first person, while "Front Seats at Sea War" is told in first person plural, and both are reconstructions after-the-fact from the statements of those involved; Hersey was not actually present.

All the stories tend to very simple, declarative language, without embellishment. Its very simplicity gives the reading a slightly unreal quality, making some of it feel almost dreamlike.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Hersey's "Of Men and War" recounts some of the battles in World War II, when he was a war correspondent. Among the stories are John F. Kennedy's courageous leadership on the PT-109; the bloody conflict at Guadalcanal; and the survivors of the Flying Fortress warplane that had been shot down over the Pacific. Hersey, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, provides narrative and first-person accounts from the men who served during those horrific events. Hersey writes in the introduction that he hopes "that this book...will help readers to make a leap of imagination, to arrive at this fact of our time: peace is a far sterner challenge than war." This short book salutes those of the "Greatest Generation" for their sacrifices in helping to bring an end to the war and restoring a degree of peace to the world, if only for a short period of time.

[Bookcase Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read lots of WWII novels, stories, history -whatever I could get my hands on. Of all I ever read on the subject, this sits somewhere at the bottom...and that might be only because it was gritty without the glory. One scene that still sticks with me is the story of a long march undertaken by Marines on one of the Pacific islands - I could feel the slog through the mud, rain, and sniper-invested jungle, and I didn't like it one bit.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was a really fine work.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book and true to life experiences of men in WWII. This is one book I couldn't put down the first story tells the first hand account of PT 109 and it gets better from there.