March 2019 NonFiction First Editions Club Pick

New York, NY: Ballantine (pub: February 19, 2019)

First Edition. Signed on the title page by both Adam Makos and Malcolm "Buck" Marsh.

As new in dust jacket.

From the bestselling author of A Higher Call comes the untold story of a World War II tank company fighting from Normandy to the heart of the Third Reich, where a humble gunner would meet destiny in an iconic duel.

Clarence Smoyer began the war as a gentle giant, a factory worker from Pennsylvania coal country reluctant to unleash the power of the Sherman tank he crewed. But as his tank platoon fought its way across Europe, into Germany, and he watched his friends cut down one by one, he learned to kill with deadly accuracy and efficiency, in a new state-of-the-art Pershing tank that spearheaded the way forward. His fight would climax in Cologne, in the shadow of the great cathedral, where he took a shot immortalized in a chance film clip—and where he would later forge a friendship with the German tanker he faced in a dramatic duel.

Hailed as “a masterful storyteller” by the Associated Press, ADAM MAKOS is the author of the New York Times bestseller A Higher Call, and the critically acclaimed Devotion. Inspired by his grandfathers’ service, Makos chronicles the stories of American veterans in his trademark fusion of intense human drama and fast-paced military action, securing his place “in the top ranks of military writers,” according to the Los Angeles Times. In the course of his research, Makos has flown a World War II bomber, accompanied a Special Forces raid in Iraq, and journeyed into North Korea in search of an MIA American airman. He lives in Denver.