Left to Die

by Dan Kurzman

Overview

From the award-winning author of Fatal Voyage comes the first full account of one of World War II’s most secret scandals. In November 1942 a Japanese torpedo destroyed the USS Juneau, killing 700 men. From extensive interviews, Kurzman reveals the agonizing truth behind one of America’s greatest military tragedies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781451602791
Publisher:	Pocket Books
Publication date:	06/15/2010
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Dan Kurzman (1922–2010) was a journalist, military historian, and author. He worked as a journalist for numerous newspapers and news services in Europe and Israel, including a job as Jerusalem correspondent for NBC News. He was also a former foreign correspondent for The Washington Post. He wrote more than fifteen books, including Ben-Gurion: Prophet of Fire, which won the 1984 National Jewish Book Award. 

Editorial Reviews

On November 13, 1942, during the naval battle of Guadalcanal, a Japanese submarine torpedoed the cruiser U.S.S. Juneau , killing most of its 700-plus crew. Some 150 survivors watched in dismay as the rest of the task force sailed over the horizon, its commander, Captain Gilbert C. Hoover, having decided that it was too dangerous to pick them up. Due to communications foul-ups combined with gross negligence, rescuers did not arrive until eight days later, by which time only 10 Juneau crewmen remained alive. Kurzman's skillful recounting of the nightmarish events in the water, reconstructed from interviews with five of the survivors and with relatives of the other five will not be soon forgotten by readers--especially the horrifying shark frenzies. The book reveals details of the Navy's investigation and its decision to quietly bury the tragic story with this official statement: ``Let the Juneau be remembered simply as the ill-fated ship on which the celebrated Sullivan brothers courageously died fighting when it went down, bringing new glory on the U.S. Navy.'' The author of the acclaimed Fatal Voyage: The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis has re-created another memorable disaster story. (Mar . )

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

In 1942 the U.S. cruiser "Juneau" was sunk near Guadalcanal. Because of a mistaken belief that there were no survivors and several other successive errors, the 180 men who survived the sinking were reduced by thirst, wounds, and shark attack during the course of a week to only 10. Among those lost were the five Sullivan brothers, who became the best-known casualties of an otherwise little-known episode of World War II. Kurzman has pulled together just about all the material one could reasonably expect into what will likely stand as the definitive recounting of the tragedy, because most of the survivors and their next of kin are now departing the scene. Sometimes clumsily told but generally powerful, his effort deserves its place in at least larger naval and World War II collections.

Roland Green