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The Execution of Private Slovik
In August 1944, a drab convoy of raw recruits destined to join the 28th Division lumbered along a windy French road strewn with dead animals, shattered bodies, and burning equipment. One of those draftees was 24-year-old Eddie Slovik, a petty thief from Detroit who had spent his youth in and out of reform schools. Eddie's luck had recently changed, however, with a steady factory job and marriage to a beautiful girl who gave Eddie hope and security for the first time in his life. But their honeymoon - like that of many other wartime newlyweds - was interrupted by the call to service. The convoy came under intense artillery fire, and in the confusion Slovik became separated from his unit. He joined a Canadian outfit and travelled with them before finally reporting to the 28th Division. He carried a rifle but no ammunition. He was assigned to a platoon but walked away. Refusing to fight, Slovik was arrested, court marshalled, and condemned to death. Hundreds of soldiers were tried for desertion during World War II and sentenced to die, but only Eddie Slovik paid the price, supposedly as a deterrent. Yet word of the nature of his death was never officially released.
249 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1954
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About the author
William Bradford Huie
50 books16 followersWilliam Bradford Huie was an American writer, investigative reporter, editor, national lecturer, and television host. His credits include 21 books that sold over 30 million copies worldwide. In addition to writing 14 bestsellers, he wrote hundreds of articles that appeared in all of the major magazines and newspapers of the day. Huie wrote several books about controversial topics related to World War II and the Civil Rights Movement. Six of Huie's books were adapted as feature films during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
June 11, 2023
Private Eddie Slovik holds the distinction of being the only US service member to have been executed for desertion since the Civil War. The Execution of Private Slovik is William Bradford Huie’s account of Slovik’s life and the events leading up to his execution. However, the book also veers deeply into speculative, sometimes imaginative, reasons for this single execution.
The added content of the book is comprised of Huie’s personal and multiple speculations for the reasons behind the single execution of a deserter over all those years. Many of these speculations are stretches of the imagination. Other speculations are nothing more than open-ended questions that Huie cannot answer. It has been my observation that when one hopes to make a point while having no idea if such a point is true, one simply asks a question and let’s it sit there on the page (or float in the air). Such questions provide no facts, no assertions, and no answers. It’s noise for the deeply biased to listen to.
Huie was an investigative report and WWII war correspondent. With this experience, the factual information surrounding Slovik is well presented. He includes most of the written records. He includes relevant portions of interviews he conducted with those involved with Slovik’s life including the friends, family, soldiers and officers who interacted with Slovik’s life and adjudicated Slovik’s fate. It would have been my preference for the book to have been limited to this testimonial and factual information. In that way, the reader could assess this information and decide for themselves as to whether or not the punishment fit the crime.
The factual record of Slovik’s case clearly shows that he was guilty of desertion. He wrote his own confession in his own hand. He broke his contract with society (he broke the law) in an attempt to obtain individual comfort at a time when society, by law, required sacrifice. Furthermore, Slovik’s prior breaches of the law were common in his past to the point where the consequences of imprisonment would be well tolerated, if not welcomed by Slovik, if it meant he could avoid his responsibilities.
If individuals willfully forsake the contract they have made with their society then of course, the consequences for those violations, as spelled out in the contract, should be applied. If lesser forms of those consequences have no effect on preventing future breaches, then society has every right to apply the maximum consequence as spelled out in the contract. This was Slovik’s fate as brought about by Slovik’s will.
I personally see the punishment of death as disgusting. It should not happen in an advanced society in times of peace. But war is also disgusting and is sometimes necessary. The war that surrounded Slovik was one where death was commonplace and often times horrific. On average over 200 US servicemen died each day during WWII. In a world of disgusting realities a disgusting punishment would seem commonplace and commensurate with the world as it exists. And if a member from your own side exacerbates the death of your fellow soldiers, then justice would demand a severe punishment consistent with reality.
Slovik’s case could be considered one of his continually being the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time. But he did nothing to mitigate or change those wrongs. In stead, he made himself into a victim. He played into his victimhood and ultimately suffered the fate of self-victimization.
The added content of the book is comprised of Huie’s personal and multiple speculations for the reasons behind the single execution of a deserter over all those years. Many of these speculations are stretches of the imagination. Other speculations are nothing more than open-ended questions that Huie cannot answer. It has been my observation that when one hopes to make a point while having no idea if such a point is true, one simply asks a question and let’s it sit there on the page (or float in the air). Such questions provide no facts, no assertions, and no answers. It’s noise for the deeply biased to listen to.
Huie was an investigative report and WWII war correspondent. With this experience, the factual information surrounding Slovik is well presented. He includes most of the written records. He includes relevant portions of interviews he conducted with those involved with Slovik’s life including the friends, family, soldiers and officers who interacted with Slovik’s life and adjudicated Slovik’s fate. It would have been my preference for the book to have been limited to this testimonial and factual information. In that way, the reader could assess this information and decide for themselves as to whether or not the punishment fit the crime.
The factual record of Slovik’s case clearly shows that he was guilty of desertion. He wrote his own confession in his own hand. He broke his contract with society (he broke the law) in an attempt to obtain individual comfort at a time when society, by law, required sacrifice. Furthermore, Slovik’s prior breaches of the law were common in his past to the point where the consequences of imprisonment would be well tolerated, if not welcomed by Slovik, if it meant he could avoid his responsibilities.
If individuals willfully forsake the contract they have made with their society then of course, the consequences for those violations, as spelled out in the contract, should be applied. If lesser forms of those consequences have no effect on preventing future breaches, then society has every right to apply the maximum consequence as spelled out in the contract. This was Slovik’s fate as brought about by Slovik’s will.
I personally see the punishment of death as disgusting. It should not happen in an advanced society in times of peace. But war is also disgusting and is sometimes necessary. The war that surrounded Slovik was one where death was commonplace and often times horrific. On average over 200 US servicemen died each day during WWII. In a world of disgusting realities a disgusting punishment would seem commonplace and commensurate with the world as it exists. And if a member from your own side exacerbates the death of your fellow soldiers, then justice would demand a severe punishment consistent with reality.
Slovik’s case could be considered one of his continually being the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time. But he did nothing to mitigate or change those wrongs. In stead, he made himself into a victim. He played into his victimhood and ultimately suffered the fate of self-victimization.
August 6, 2014
In the wake of the controversy surrounding the release of Bowe Bergdahl, and knee-jerk calls for him to be put on trail as a deserter, this book has found a new relevance. It tells the story of Eddie Slovik, the last American to be executed for desertion.
Huie does an admirable job remaining objective about the affair, but does do a great deal of humanizing Slovik, introducing us to his childhood, juvenile delinquency, and eventual marriage and working career prior to his being drafted into the military. He makes it clear that Slovik was neither a saint nor a demon, but was a person that was ill-suited to military service. Huie, if he casts blame anywhere, casts it on the process that led to Slovik being inducted into the military when it should have been clear that he would be a poor soldier.
The chief complaint with the book is an overlong section of excerpts from Slovik's letters home to his wife, which are repetitive and frequent.
There are two truly heartbreaking moments in the book, one where Slovik realizes that his assumption that his past will work in his favor (he had some minor trouble as a kid, but turned it around and has a wife and a steady job) is instead working against him (he is seen simply as someone with a criminal history, not as a reformed person) as the bureaucracy weighs what to do with him. Second is his simple and essentially true statement that he is being executed (and I am paraphrasing) not because of his desertion--because many soldiers deserted and received merely token jail time--but because of the bread that he stole when he was 12 years old.
I found this short book to be thought-provoking despite its age. The issues it contends with are still with us, and this sad, strange, historical incident deserves to be more well-known.
Huie does an admirable job remaining objective about the affair, but does do a great deal of humanizing Slovik, introducing us to his childhood, juvenile delinquency, and eventual marriage and working career prior to his being drafted into the military. He makes it clear that Slovik was neither a saint nor a demon, but was a person that was ill-suited to military service. Huie, if he casts blame anywhere, casts it on the process that led to Slovik being inducted into the military when it should have been clear that he would be a poor soldier.
The chief complaint with the book is an overlong section of excerpts from Slovik's letters home to his wife, which are repetitive and frequent.
There are two truly heartbreaking moments in the book, one where Slovik realizes that his assumption that his past will work in his favor (he had some minor trouble as a kid, but turned it around and has a wife and a steady job) is instead working against him (he is seen simply as someone with a criminal history, not as a reformed person) as the bureaucracy weighs what to do with him. Second is his simple and essentially true statement that he is being executed (and I am paraphrasing) not because of his desertion--because many soldiers deserted and received merely token jail time--but because of the bread that he stole when he was 12 years old.
I found this short book to be thought-provoking despite its age. The issues it contends with are still with us, and this sad, strange, historical incident deserves to be more well-known.
August 18, 2010
It was the summer of 1962. I was ten, staying with Mother and my two year old brother at her parent's duplex in Oslo, Norway. That being the house she and her sisters grew up in, much time was spent visiting old friends from childhood.
We had been invited to Turi and Hans Peter's house for dinner. Turi had been her best friend in gymnasium during the German occupation. The house wasn't far. Mother was looking forward to a comfortable evening. My little brother confidently expected the customary praise and attention. I expected another boring evening with grownups talking about grownup stuff in Norwegian, an evening which would go on way too long.
Arriving, I immediately started looking for something to read and found one English-language book belonging to Hans that looked interesting, The Execution of Private Slovik. I may have read the whole thing in the hours before and after their memorably delicious supper of pork chops and garden tomatoes.
Although beginning his career as a professional right-winger, the author portrays the pathetic Slovik sympathetically. For me, the idea of not wanting to kill or be killed made perfect sense and Slovik's frank honesty about his fear was admirable. His execution came off, however, with a tragic necessity (if we ordinary mortals may be allowed tragedy) which left me very sad and which has, obviously, stayed with me since.
We had been invited to Turi and Hans Peter's house for dinner. Turi had been her best friend in gymnasium during the German occupation. The house wasn't far. Mother was looking forward to a comfortable evening. My little brother confidently expected the customary praise and attention. I expected another boring evening with grownups talking about grownup stuff in Norwegian, an evening which would go on way too long.
Arriving, I immediately started looking for something to read and found one English-language book belonging to Hans that looked interesting, The Execution of Private Slovik. I may have read the whole thing in the hours before and after their memorably delicious supper of pork chops and garden tomatoes.
Although beginning his career as a professional right-winger, the author portrays the pathetic Slovik sympathetically. For me, the idea of not wanting to kill or be killed made perfect sense and Slovik's frank honesty about his fear was admirable. His execution came off, however, with a tragic necessity (if we ordinary mortals may be allowed tragedy) which left me very sad and which has, obviously, stayed with me since.
January 25, 2018
A must-read. Although this book won't rank as great literature, it still deserves its place among the most important books of WWII History. This is an incredibly tragic story of a hapless down-and-outer trying to overcome a troubled past to claim his piece of the American Dream; a man of incredible misfortune, who was executed simply for wanting to live. He drew the short-straw in Fate's evil lottery. He was made an example - a pointless example, executed at the end of World War II by an army that didn't want him in the first place. Only when soaring American casualties in the European theater demanded more meat for the grinder (replacements were called Dogfaces - they should have been called Dogmeat,) was Eddie D. Slovik, previously undesirable, drafted late in the war, torn away from his beloved (and disabled) wife and home and thrust into a place he did not want to be. He was a good man. He had no hate, no anger. He knew he could not shoot or bayonet anyone. Yet he was thrust to the front lines where he simply refused to be a part of the great war machinery. In the bitterest irony, the war machinery in the form of Military courts, singled him out of thousands of other deserters to be the only man since the Civil War to be tried and executed for Desertion. No other offender was punished in the same manner. His execution was singular in that the only purpose purportedly served was "not as a punitive measure nor as retribution, but to maintain that discipline upon which alone an army can succeed against the enemy." This would make far more sense if it had been carried out early in the war, but this happened on January 31, 1945 - a mere three months before Germany's surrender.
November 23, 2014
This is a non fiction account of the execution---in January 1945--of Private Eddie Slovik.
Journalist William Bradford Huie researched this book and it is written in the style of newspaper writing at this time.
I saw the TV movie in the 1970's---and went searching for the book. I found it gripping and well written.
And I still remember reading somewhere..."Millions served....hundreds deserted...and only ONE was executed. Why Eddie Slovik?" And I have no answer.
Read the book---see what you think. Recommended for anyone age 14 on up.
A non fiction account of a little-known historical even.
Read before I joined Goodreads so dates unknown.
Journalist William Bradford Huie researched this book and it is written in the style of newspaper writing at this time.
I saw the TV movie in the 1970's---and went searching for the book. I found it gripping and well written.
And I still remember reading somewhere..."Millions served....hundreds deserted...and only ONE was executed. Why Eddie Slovik?" And I have no answer.
Read the book---see what you think. Recommended for anyone age 14 on up.
A non fiction account of a little-known historical even.
Read before I joined Goodreads so dates unknown.
July 6, 2021
Private Eddie Slovik was the only soldier executed (by firing squad) in World War II. He was the first since the Civil War, and the last to date to be executed for desertion.
This well-researched book by another WWII soldier is an exhaustive account of Slovik's life and ultimate end. I did not know about Pvt. Slovik and was fascinated to read this book I had purchased from a used bookstore many years ago, but only read this summer. Recommend for history buffs.
This well-researched book by another WWII soldier is an exhaustive account of Slovik's life and ultimate end. I did not know about Pvt. Slovik and was fascinated to read this book I had purchased from a used bookstore many years ago, but only read this summer. Recommend for history buffs.
January 2, 2018
This is a must read for military lawyers. This drags for a bit but that is far outweighed by the lessons conveyed (e.g. Right to a defense, clemency, history duty, honor, unit, accountability, hindsight, subsequent remedial measures...).
This is a side of WWII rarely seen.
This is a side of WWII rarely seen.
August 28, 2019
ضد جنگ. یک پژوهشِ رواییِ مستند. قصهٔ اعدام سربازی به خاطر امتناع از جنگ. نامههای اسلوویک تاثیرگذار بود. دعوای فارغالتحصیلهای مدرسهٔ نظامی وستپوینت با روانشناسها، سر بیماریِ «جنگزدگی» جذاب بود.
ترجمههای مسعود امیرخانی را دریابید!
ترجمههای مسعود امیرخانی را دریابید!
November 30, 2020
کتاب خوبیه. موضوعش برا من که خاطره های جنگی دوس دارم جالب بود، فقط شبیه به مستند نوشته شده
May 12, 2018
Private Slovik was the only U.S. soldier to be executed for desertion since the Civil War. His case has been studied extensively as to what particular conditions came together to end in such a result.
Huie is an excellent historian, and the edition I read had a new preface and afterword added in 1970. The book was originally published in 1953, so his additional analysis was very educational.
Great read for history-oriented people, but very sobering.
Huie is an excellent historian, and the edition I read had a new preface and afterword added in 1970. The book was originally published in 1953, so his additional analysis was very educational.
Great read for history-oriented people, but very sobering.
April 21, 2019
Essentially 250 pages of "did he have to be shot," with some form of "he's the only one shot for desertion since the Civil War" seemingly every few pages. This is one of the few cases where the movie is better than the book. The fact that so much of each page is whitespace doesn't help this particular edition; the only way they got 250 pages out of it was by making the margins insanely huge.
January 19, 2016
This was such a sad tale...and perhaps a compelling case against the death penalty and why the government should not be allowed to arbitrarily kill its own citizens.
July 17, 2025
This is an excellent account of the life and death of Eddie Slovik, the only man executed for desertion in WW2. Author William Huie explores the sad life of Slovik -- "the unluckiest man alive" -- and the circumstances that led to his death. With a prose style that reads as much like a novel as a biography or an investigative report, he details Slovik's abusive home life in Detroit, the petty crimes that landed him an enormous prison sentence while still in his teens, his improbably happy marriage, the capricious way he was drafted after previously being declared 4-F because of his criminal record, his unhappy time in the army, and his decision to walk out of the front line in Europe in 1944 before he'd even reported to his unit. Huie tracks down witness after witness to recount Slovik's trial, the legal mechanics involved in his death sentence, and the cruel circimstances that led that sentence to actually be carried out: he explains that nobody, not even the men who sentenced Slovik to die and certainly not Slovik himself, believed the US Army was going to make good on any such sentence. Slovik's desertion seems to have been a roll of the dice with all the odds in his favor, but Slovik being Slovik, he crapped out.
Huie leaves it to the reader to decide if it was fair that Slovik was executed for a crime everyone else convicted of more or less got away with due to postwar commutations, and whether the United States had the right to draft him at all, much less shoot him for refusing to fight. His book is an exploration of the tribal power relationship that allows a nation to take a man's freedom away and threaten him with death if he fails to do his stated duty, as much as it is an exploration of Slovik's tragic, unhappy life and curiously heroic end. Eddie Slovik was an unhappy and unfortunate man with many positive qualities: he was an emormously hard worker liked by everyone who ever met him (including his own firing squad), an utterly devoted and faithful husband, and the sort who would "give you the shirt off his back" if you asked. He was shot to stiffen slackening spines among the infantry at the front line, who ran away from battle far more than American war movies would ever allow you to believe. His death was meant as a message and the message was received. Was it just? That is the question the reader is left to grapple with.
Huie leaves it to the reader to decide if it was fair that Slovik was executed for a crime everyone else convicted of more or less got away with due to postwar commutations, and whether the United States had the right to draft him at all, much less shoot him for refusing to fight. His book is an exploration of the tribal power relationship that allows a nation to take a man's freedom away and threaten him with death if he fails to do his stated duty, as much as it is an exploration of Slovik's tragic, unhappy life and curiously heroic end. Eddie Slovik was an unhappy and unfortunate man with many positive qualities: he was an emormously hard worker liked by everyone who ever met him (including his own firing squad), an utterly devoted and faithful husband, and the sort who would "give you the shirt off his back" if you asked. He was shot to stiffen slackening spines among the infantry at the front line, who ran away from battle far more than American war movies would ever allow you to believe. His death was meant as a message and the message was received. Was it just? That is the question the reader is left to grapple with.
January 28, 2019
An important book for leaders and civil-military discourse. This is the best book that I have read in some time. The author was thorough and although sympathetic to Slovik, was objective and captured the complexity of the subject. I am a combat veteran and thought this book was so important that I recommended it to a mentee before finishing. While I think this book is instructive for military and civilians at all levels, military leaders at the promotable O6 level can appreciate their potential decisions and gain more appreciation for those of their subordinates. I became aware of this book when mentioned in connection with the Bergdahl case. It should be noted that no soldiers were killed while searching for Slovik. The need for "order and discipline" is frequently mentioned and far less frequently understood, particularly by civilians with no military service, and this book helps to illuminate the complexity of the issue and promote the type of serious, transparent reflection the subject deserves.
January 28, 2019
An important book for leaders and civil-military discourse. This is the best book that I have read in some time. The author was thorough and although sympathetic to Slovik, was objective and captured the complexity of the subject. I am a combat veteran and thought this book was so important that I recommended it to a mentee before finishing. While I think this book is instructive for military and civilians at all levels, military leaders at the promotable O6 level can appreciate their potential decisions and gain more appreciation for those of their subordinates. I became aware of this book when mentioned in connection with the Bergdahl case. It should be noted that no soldiers were killed while searching for Slovik. The need for "order and discipline" is frequently mentioned and far less frequently understood, particularly by civilians with no military service, and this book helps to illuminate the complexity of the issue and promote the type of serious, transparent reflection the subject deserves.
September 2, 2024
The topic of this book itself is super interesting, but the author elevates it even further, doing his research, telling us things we didn't even know we wanted to know about, and making us understand the point of view of everyone involved in the incident.
The incident being the shooting of a US soldier for the act of deserting by the military, the only such act happening since 1864 to this date
It is clear that the author is well connected, having served as a lieutenant in WW2 himself, and he uses his connections pretty well to get the opinions, and records from as many people who were involved with the Slovik case.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the smaller scale aspects of WW2 in general.
The incident being the shooting of a US soldier for the act of deserting by the military, the only such act happening since 1864 to this date
It is clear that the author is well connected, having served as a lieutenant in WW2 himself, and he uses his connections pretty well to get the opinions, and records from as many people who were involved with the Slovik case.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the smaller scale aspects of WW2 in general.
August 30, 2017
This is an increadible book. I heard about it in passing and never stopped wanting to read it. It's painful and heart breaking and makes you think or far more questions then could ever be answered. I read quite a lot about WWII, but I've never read anything like this before. Everyone should read this book, it's a unique insight into one mans story and the rippling effect that had. It's just heart breaking, I really would recommend it to everyone and anyone. It should be a compulsory read in the world as it is now.
July 13, 2025
این کتاب بیشتر شبیه به تلاشهای نویسنده برای حل کلیدهای گمشده در پروندۀ سرباز اسلوویکه.
تقریباً توقع داشتم کل کتاب نامههای اسلوویک و همسرش باشه اما فقط یک یا دو فصل بهش اختصاص داده بود.
کتاب از لحظۀ شروع تا لحظۀ پایان زندگی این سرباز رو بیان کرده و با تمام دوستانش و کسانی که دیدنش -ده سال بعد از مرگش- مصاحبه کرده.
در نوع خودش داستان تاثیرگذاریه و میشه چهرۀ وحشتناک حکومتها در برابر سربازان غیرنظامی (فراخوانده شده به خدمت) رو دید.
شاید حتی بعد از مطالعۀ کتاب هنوز هم این سوال در ذهنمون بمونه که چرا فقط این سرباز اعدام شده.
تقریباً توقع داشتم کل کتاب نامههای اسلوویک و همسرش باشه اما فقط یک یا دو فصل بهش اختصاص داده بود.
کتاب از لحظۀ شروع تا لحظۀ پایان زندگی این سرباز رو بیان کرده و با تمام دوستانش و کسانی که دیدنش -ده سال بعد از مرگش- مصاحبه کرده.
در نوع خودش داستان تاثیرگذاریه و میشه چهرۀ وحشتناک حکومتها در برابر سربازان غیرنظامی (فراخوانده شده به خدمت) رو دید.
شاید حتی بعد از مطالعۀ کتاب هنوز هم این سوال در ذهنمون بمونه که چرا فقط این سرباز اعدام شده.
August 1, 2020
I was not a big fan of this book about the only American shot for desertion during World War II. The story was told At a time I was reading the likes of Silas Marner in school it come across as far to simple a prose.n a made for television movie. Though the book was published 20 years before the movie it had a feel of being something that was put out in conjunction with the movie.
December 27, 2023
A book like this might pair well with Plato's Crito or a philosophy text on justice exploring the role of the state, the right of the state, and then exploring whether justice is truly executed impartially or whether choices by the powerful implicitly target the disadvantaged. A good thought experiment piece.
May 23, 2018
Conscientious objector
This book does a good job of describing how the Army handled the Slovik case. It never says it, but this must be the beginning of what we now know as conscientious objectors.
This book does a good job of describing how the Army handled the Slovik case. It never says it, but this must be the beginning of what we now know as conscientious objectors.
July 26, 2022
First rate; a straightforward, intellectual account of a little-known World War II drama ... it's moving history that introduces legal, moral, ethical and military questions that persist to this day ... the book is masterfully done and hard to put down
July 24, 2020
A good but tough read. Tough in the sense of being told that USA were the good guys and WW2 was the good war.Most of my uncles and my dad fought in the war.
May 6, 2024
Modest 3 stars. Was expecting better. It’s actually a quite dry piece of reporting. The descriptions of the execution are most interesting/poignant.
July 11, 2024
I cried :(
April 2, 2025
This was a well written book, very informational...And truth telling!
September 10, 2014
The story of the only American soldier who was executed
for desertion in World War II is the theme of "The Execution of Private Slovik". No soldier had been executed
for that offense since the Civil War. Eddie Slovik was
one of the unluckiest men who ever lived.
Beginning his life as the child of two alcoholic parents
who had no idea of proper parenting,he was soon in trouble
with the law throughout his teen years. Fortunately,when
he was in reform school,he encountered a guard who took a
real interest in his welfare and was a positive father
figure for him.
As a result of this caring person,Eddie turned his life
around,met a wonderful woman,settled down in Detroit and
had about 2 1/2 years of wedded bliss. Then came the blow:
he,who had tried to avoid combat all his life,was now
drafted into the U.S.Army. He was predictably unfit for
soldiering,and after having twice deserted his unit,he
was sentenced to death for that cause. Others,many had
had their sentences softened upon review,but Eddie,the
bad luck kid,did not. Thus he became the sole uniformed
personage to have to pay with his life for the crime he
had committed in 80 years of our history.
September 6, 2011
I watched the telemovie with my dad back in the 1970s, and the story stayed in my mind ever since. This book was my dad's, and its taken me all these years to read it, although it was a quick read - two days, unheard of for me. It was written in the style of a newspaper columnist, somewhat repetitive, but the relevant unique facts of the case make it compelling despite the writing style. Much of the book consists of letters from Slovik to his wife, misspellings and all, and that was very interesting. He consciously acted in a conniving manner to avoid combat, and got way more than he bargained for.
May 19, 2008
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I would have given it five stars except that there is one section of the book that goes on way too long with excerpts from letters that private slovik wrote to his wife. After 5-6 letter you get the point; unfortunately it goes on for quite a while. I skimmed through most of them looking for something that might be important later in the book. It's incredibly sad how such an unfortunate and unnecessary event takes place and costs a human being his life.
October 5, 2022
There are many things in life that are done as 'window dressing' (Det Horrigan, In The Line of Fire) and some of them have real consequences. Are we allowed to abstain from the violence of war for any reason? Can a fighting spirit be imbued in everyone? War is a complex issue, and does not take into account individual needs (psychological disposition not to kill anyone, anyone?) in the grand scheme of war theater. No simple answers suffice for questions pertaining to justice in this particular execution
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews