Devotion
An Epic Story of Heroism, Friendship, and Sacrifice
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- USD 3.99
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- USD 3.99
Publisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • THE BASIS FOR THE MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • A “riveting” (USA Today) true tale of courage during America’s “forgotten war” in Korea, from the author of A Higher Call and Spearhead
“In the spirit of Unbroken and The Boys in the Boat comes Devotion.”—Associated Press
“Aerial drama at its best—fast, powerful, and moving.”—Erik Larson
Devotion tells the inspirational story of the U.S. Navy’s most famous aviator duo, Lieutenant Tom Hudner and Ensign Jesse Brown, and the Marines they fought to defend. A white New Englander from the country-club scene, Tom passed up Harvard to fly fighters for his country. An African American sharecropper’s son from Mississippi, Jesse became the navy’s first Black carrier pilot, defending a nation that wouldn’t even serve him in a bar. While much of America remained divided by segregation, Tom and Jesse joined forces as wingmen in Fighter Squadron 32.
Devotion takes us soaring overhead with these bold young aviators and into the foxholes with the Marines as they battle a North Korean invasion. As the fury of the fighting escalates and the Marines are cornered at the Chosin Reservoir, Tom and Jesse fly, guns blazing, to try to save them. When one of the duo is shot down behind enemy lines, the other embarks on one of history’s most audacious one-man rescue missions.
An unforgettable story of bravery and selflessness, Devotion asks: How far would you go to save a friend?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist Makos follows 2012's A Higher Call with another true story of heroic actions by wartime pilots, told in a flamboyant and slightly overwrought style. This time the conflict is the Korean War and Makos's tale centers on the first African-American U.S. Navy carrier pilot, Jesse Brown, who died in action even though fellow pilot Tom Hudner, an upper-class son of a New England grocery store magnate, led selfless actions to try to save his life. "There has been no finer act of unselfish heroism in military history," Hudner's commanding officer later said of his courageous attempt to save Brown. The story is told mainly through the voices of the men who took part in the action; Makos and his staff conducted many interviews to use as sources. The overabundant use of reconstructed dialogue some of which barely rings true gives the book the feel of an adventure novel. The entire package seems to be an attempt to tell a screenplay-ready, Greatest Generation tale similar to Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken. Makos tells a good story, but it's not at Hillenbrand's level.
