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With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa (Paperback)

by E. B. Sledge (Author), Paul Fussell (Introduction) "I enlisted in the Marine Corps on 3 December 1942 at Marion, Alabama ..." (more)

5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (95 customer reviews)

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Product Details

Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press; New edition edition (Oct 1 1990)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0195067142
ISBN-13: 978-0195067149
Product Dimensions: 20.1 x 13.7 x 1.8 cm
Shipping Weight: 273 g

Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (95 customer reviews)

Amazon.ca Sales Rank: #188,042 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Review

"The best personal account of World War II. Sledge never loses sight of the honor and the glory of war. Excellent in all respects."--Kevin S. Fontenot, Tulane University

"I feel like I should have a campaign ribbon for Pelelin and Okinawa. I have shared the fox hole. I have felt the heat. It is the closest thing to being there. After reading the book my buddies in K-3-5 are real. It has to be among the best works of its kind. The forgotten soldiers tell one story. These Marines are remembered,"--William J. Ikeriran, Univ. of North Alabama

"The book is a superb supplementary text for any American survey course or class on World War Two."--Daniel P. Murphy, Hanover College

"It is a fine text to use for WWII--and for combat studies."--Perce C. Mullen, Montana State Univ.

"Classic....Should be required reading for all students, especially now that we are once again unleashing the dogs of war."--John F. Cox, University of Arizona

"In what may be his finest feat as a critic, Fussell introduces the reader to a hitherto unsung but remarkable author named Eugene B. Sledge....This book richly merits a wider audience....The searing honesty of [Sledge's] words makes them...a fitting epitaph for the ordeal that began in Danzig fifty years ago."--Newsweek

"One of the finest memoirs to emerge from any war."--Paul Fussell, in Wartime

"Among the thousands of soldiers' stories, I am haunted by one from the Pacific War....[Sledge's account is] one of the most arresting documents in war literature."--John Keegan, in The Second World War

"Although rendering his war experiences is "painful," the effort to bring them to the "folks back home" is ultimately worthwhile if not necessary....In every word appear Sledge's urgency of purpose, the immediacy of his experience of war, and the mark of that on his character. I am not alone in claiming this memoir to be the most comprehensive--and scathing, compelling, sorrow-laden--rendering of the marine infantryman's experience in World War II."--Sewanee Review

"One of the most important personal accounts of war that I have ever read. I believe that it will become a classic, and will be read and cited as long as the Pacific campaign is remembered."--John Keegan

Product Description

In his own book, Wartime, Paul Fussell called With the Old Breed "one of the finest memoirs to emerge from any war." John Keegan referred to it in The Second World War as "one of the most arresting documents in war literature." And Studs Terkel was so fascinated with the story he interviewed its author for his book, "The Good War." What has made E.B. Sledge's memoir of his experience fighting in the South Pacific during World War II so devastatingly powerful is its sheer honest simplicity and compassion. Now including a new introduction by Paul Fussell, With the Old Breed presents a stirring, personal account of the vitality and bravery of the Marines in the battles at Peleliu and Okinawa. Born in Mobile, Alabama in 1923 and raised on riding, hunting, fishing, and a respect for history and legendary heroes such as George Washington and Daniel Boone, Eugene Bondurant Sledge (later called "Sledgehammer" by his Marine Corps buddies) joined the Marines the year after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and from 1943 to 1946 endured the events recorded in this book. In those years, he passed, often painfully, from innocence to experience. Sledge enlisted out of patriotism, idealism, and youthful courage, but once he landed on the beach at Peleliu, it was purely a struggle for survival. Based on the notes he kept on slips of paper tucked secretly away in his New Testament, he simply and directly recalls those long months, mincing no words and sparing no pain. The reality of battle meant unbearable heat, deafening gunfire, unimaginable brutality and cruelty, the stench of death, and, above all, constant fear. Sledge still has nightmares about "the bloody, muddy month of May on Okinawa." But, as he also tellingly reveals, the bonds of friendship formed then will never be severed. Sledge's honesty and compassion for the other marines, even complete strangers, sets him apart as a memoirist of war. Read as sobering history or as high adventure, With the Old Breed is a moving chronicle of action and courage.

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First Sentence
I enlisted in the Marine Corps on 3 December 1942 at Marion, Alabama. Read the first page

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Customer Reviews

95 Reviews

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4 star:		(4)
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5.0 out of 5 stars (95 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars The most detailed and pogniont recounting of any war, Feb 18 2004

By	Keith S Paulus (Toledo, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This book takes war for all it is. War is brutal and Sledge does not hide any of it. He brings the war to you clearly and plainly. He is not an author, he is a writer simply writing about what he say, felt, and experienced. After reading this book there is no way you will not have a whole new appreciation for "The Big Red One" and all military units. This is the best book recounting WWII out there. It has a clarity and honesty that no reporter could get, this book is from a front line solider and shows what he saw. Absolutely superb.

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5.0 out of 5 stars kaleidoscope of the unreal, April 8 2004

By	Yalensian - See all my reviews

This is a gripping account of combat on Peleliu and Okinawa during World War II, without embellishment, without literary flourish. The narrative is simple, unadorned, raw. Sledge--a "fugitive from the law of averages" who survived some of the Pacific War's bloodiest battles--doesn't allude to Hemingway or Remarque, doesn't reference past wars (except fleetingly in discussing the martial tradition of the Corps); he's not interested in connecting his experiences to the ancient line of wars and warriors. Instead, he describes combat as it was, as he saw it and participated in it. Sledge takes readers onto those bloody islands--the relentless fighting on Peleliu, the stinking hell of Okinawa.

Sledge stresses over and over again that war is a waste, "a terrible waste." Young bodies are ripped and torn apart; young men are struck down in their prime and stripped of decades of potential life. Mentally, it is a waste, too. Exposed to brutal combat, civilized men quickly become savage themselves and, for example, pry gold teeth from dead--and, on at least one occasion that Sledge mentions, from wounded and still living--Japanese. There are many other moments throughout the book where the reader winces. And yet, while war is not glorious, there are qualities that men can show under fire, that shine brightly in comparison to the brutality: love, loyalty, bravery, esprit de corps, compassion. Sledge stresses those, too.

This is not an antiwar book, though. Sledge entered the abyss of war, endured hardships, confronted death, saw men torn down. He knows war is not pretty, not fun, not romantic. And yet he also knows that it is sometimes necessary and that, as citizens, we must sometimes sacrifice for our country. He concludes: "With privilege goes responsibility." So it does.

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5.0 out of 5 stars A soldier's mindset, April 4 2004

By	Scott (Pittsburgh, PA United States) - See all my reviews

"With the Old Breed" chronicles Dr. Sledge's life as a Marine in the Pacific Theater of World War II. The book is divided into two sections describing the campaigns that Sledge took part in: Peleliu and Okinawa.

Sledge's writing style is straightforward and his descriptions are vivid. The thing that impressed me most was his ability to convey the mindset of himself and his fellow soldiers throughout the war. The progression of fear, horror, confusion, disgust, and resolve are all described in a way that you will understand exactly what he felt.

Sledge gives just enough coverage of the high-level progression of the campaigns to give the reader context for the story he is telling. At first I wished for a more complete description, but I came to realize that this information was rarely available to the soldiers at the time. To include it would detract from his objective: to show what war is to a front-line soldier. "With the Old Breed" accomplishes that objective better than anything else that I have read.

As an aside: I would recommend skipping the Introduction. I felt that it revealed several key events out of context, and thus lessened their effect when I reached them in the book.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read
Shows how savage the war in the Pacific could, and did, become.

Published on Feb 13 2004 by Casual History Reader

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book about war from somebody who fought it
I was amazed at what I was reading. Not for the facts of war, which were crude enough and don't need any more telling; I was amazed at how well this man could write. Read more

Published on Feb 5 2004 by Quilmiense

5.0 out of 5 stars put this book in the canon of American literature!
That Mr. Sledge's book is a classic, among the best of war memoires, is widely acknowledged. It is about time it also was fully admitted into the canon of American literature... Read more

Published on Jan 2 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars A One Day Read
I have read many combat veterans accounts of battle. This book is the most compelling so far. Sledge has a way of telling a calm and sane story that could never be calm nor... Read more

Published on Nov 26 2003 by yimmyrobb