76 Hours: A Novel of Tarawa

Larry Alexander

mar. de 2023 · Blackstone Publishing

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The gripping historical novel of the invasion of Tarawa by US Marines in World War II, from bestselling author, journalist, and historian Larry Alexander.

The island of Tarawa, a tiny spit of sand out in the middle of the Pacific, teemed with five hundred pillboxes filled with artillery pieces and highly motivated Japanese soldiers. Their commanding officer encouraged his troops, saying, “It would take one million men one hundred years” to conquer Tarawa. They were convinced that the Americans would be slaughtered before they ever got ashore.

Private Pete “Hardball” Talbot was one of the US Marines tasked with taking the island. A cocky, tough street kid from Philadelphia, Pete joined up to escape his abusive father. In his mind, nothing the Japanese could throw at him could be as bad as what his father dished out. He was angry, and more than willing to take it out on the enemy. But once he climbed over the side and into the landing craft, and once the Japanese artillery and machine guns opened up in defense of the island, Pete knew this was going to be different. It would take all his training, and all his street smarts to stay alive while those around him got blown to bits.

Despite Japanese predictions, it took the United States Marines seventy-six hours to take Tarawa. It was a walk in the park ... if the park were in the middle of hell itself.

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Larry Alexander has been a columnist for the Lancaster Newspapers, Inc., a newspaper in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, since 1993. He retired from the paper in 2015. While with Lancaster Newspapers, he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2005 and has won state-level journalism awards. His first book, Biggest Brother: The Life of Major Dick Winters, the Man Who Led the Band of Brothers, was published in 2005 and made the New York Times bestseller list. He followed up his first success with Shadows in the Jungle: The Alamo Scouts behind Japanese Lines in World War II and In the Footsteps of the Band of Brothers: A Return to Easy Company’s Battlefields with Sgt. Forrest Guth, both published in 2010. He then coauthored A Higher Call with journalist and historian Adam Makos, which also made the New York Times and international bestsellers lists, and Bloody Ridge and Beyond with Marlin Groft.