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945 Magazine St, New Orleans, LA 70130
John C. McManus, PhD, Presents “Fire and Fortitude: The US Army in the Pacific, 1941–1943”
1:30 p.m. Presentation | 2:30 p.m. Book Signing
The Institute for the Study of War and Democracy is delighted to host John C. McManus, leading military historian and author of 13 books, to discuss his latest work Fire and Fortitude: The US Army in the Pacific, 1941–1943.
Since World War II ended nearly 75 years ago, the common memory of how the war was fought by Americans has been that the Army was assigned to the European theater while the Navy and Marines took the Pacific. Though that is primarily correct for the fighting in Europe, it certainly was not the case in the Pacific, where the story of the Army's contribution to victory on the road to Tokyo was marginalized to the early defeat in the Philippines.
McManus, one of the country's leading military historians and prolific authors, puts the focus on the "forgotten" Army, its efforts, and its contributions in the first years of the war with his new book Fire and Fortitude.
He takes readers from Pearl Harbor—a rude awakening for a military woefully unprepared for war—to Makin Island, a sliver of coral reef where the Army was tested against an already, and increasingly, desperate Japanese foe. Fire and Fortitude tells the story of the highest ranks, from Generals Douglas MacArthur, Robert Eichelberger, Joseph Stilwell, and Walter Krueger, all the way down to the GIs who were fighting in the foxholes, jungles, coral, and sand.
The presentation is free and open to the public but please register to attend.
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About the Author
John C. McManus is an award-winning professor, author, and military historian, and a leading expert on the history of the American combat experience. He is the Curators’ Distinguished Professor of US Military History at Missouri University of Science and Technology, and is currently in residence at the US Naval Academy as the Leo A. Shifrin Chair of Naval and Military History. His critically acclaimed books on World War II include Deadly Sky: The American Combat Airman in World War II, September Hope: The American Side of a Bridge Too Far, and The Dead and Those About to Die: D-Day; The Big Red One at Omaha Beach.