Kings Go Forth

by Joe David Brown

Cover says: "A novel of Men at war-- with the enemy and with each other." Should also say with themselves. Made into a movie starring Frank Sinatra, Natalie Wood, Tony Curtis.

196 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1956

About the author

Joe David Brown was a journalist and author, best known for the novel Addie Pray which was adapted into the 1973 film Paper Moon.

Brown was the son of William Samuel and Lucille Lokey Brown. He attended the University of Alabama and began his career as a police reporter for the Birmingham Post in the mid-1930s. He married the former Mildred Harbour in 1935. In 1936 he was named city editor for the Dothan Eagle. He moved on to positions with newspapers in Atlanta, Chattanooga and St Louis before joining the New York Daily News in 1939.

Brown served in the 460th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion during World War II, parachuting into Normandy during the D-Day invasion. He was commissioned a second lieutenant and awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and the French Croix de Guerre with palm for his service. The war also ended his marriage to Mildred. Afterward he returned to the Daily News but also began contributing fiction and non-fiction to the Saturday Evening Post. He married the former Frances O'Reilly in 1945, having met her while on assignment in Europe.

Brown's first novel, Stars in My Crown, was based on his earlier short story "Grandpa and the Miracle Grindstone". He was commissioned to adapt the novel for the 1950 film version, starring Amanda Blake, whose family was from Birmingham.

In 1949 he joined the staff of TIME magazine as a foreign correspondent, reporting from India, France and England until he left the magazine to become a freelancer in 1957. The film version of his 1956 World War II novel Kings Go Forth opened in 1958.

Brown's comic novel Addie Pray was set in Alabama during the Great Depression. The film, directed by Peter Bogdanovich, starred Ryan O'Neal and his 10-year-old daughter Tatum as con-artist partners. Tatum won an Oscar for best supporting actress, though her part was really a starring role.
Brown died of a heart attack at his home in Mayfield, Georgia in 1976.

Reviews

[James Prosser · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, Brown crafts a fine story and is a good writer. He perhaps struggled a little showing Britt's easy manner overwhelming Sam, great writing could have got the reader as surely as he got the girl. Overall though a good mix of action, romance and emotions that bind and tear apart friendship. Pushing ****.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mixes romance, war, philosophy and poetry.

[Margaret Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joe David Brown was surely among all-time-great novelists. This is the third of his I have read, and each is startlingly penetrating although also of completely different theme. Each was set in a different historical time, the first and third book written in first person and the second book in third person.

Combat Mission begins with so much violence that I considered not finishing it. But just in time he switches to a more intriguing setting and, as only he can do, carries the story along with surprise following surprise. Being a war story, the violence does not end, of course, but the emotional component is so intertwined—and so prevalent—that each page is new revelation. Since it is written in first person I had to know something about how it would end, yet I could not guess the author’s ending. It was, of course, appropriate and in keeping with his profundity of insight.

Why is this writer not more well-remembered?

[William Pugsley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pages 135 to 170 were missing in my copy, though I don't think I missed much. Started strong with war poems starting the chapters but lost steam with the introduction of the lady-interest but still quite interesting.

[Wan Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

1958 paper edition.