"An Owl book."

Originally published: New York : Henry Holt & Co., 2002

Includes bibliographical references (pages 543-654) and index

List of maps -- Map legend -- Allied chain of command -- Passage. A meeting with the Dutchman ; Gathering the ships ; Rendezvous at Cherchel ; On the knees of the gods ; A man must believe in his luck -- Landing. "In the night, all cats are grey" ; In Barbary ; Villain ; To the last man ; "Glory enough for us all" -- Beachhead. A sword in Algiers ; A blue flag over Oran ; "An orgy of disorder" ; Battle for the Kasbah ; "It's all over for now" -- Pushing East. "We live in tragic hours" ; A cold country with a hot sun ; Medjez-el-Bab ; Fat geese on a pond -- Primus in Carthago. "Go for the swine with a blithe heart" ; "The dead salute the gods" ; "Jerry is counterattacking!" -- A country of defiles. Longstop ; "They shot the little son of a bitch" ; "This is the hand of God" -- Casablanca. The ice-cream front ; Speedy Valley ; "The touch of the world" ; The Sinners' Concourse -- A bits and pieces war. "Goats set out to lure a tiger" ; "This can't happen to us" ; "The mortal dangers that beset us" ; "A good night for a mass murder" -- Kasserine. A hostile debouchment ; None returned ; "Sometimes that is not good enough" ; "This place is too hot" ; "Order, counter-order, and disorder" ; "Lay roughly on the tanks" -- The world we knew is a long time dead. Vigil in Red Oak ; "We know there'll be troubles of every sort" ; "One needs luck in war" ; "The devil is come down" -- Over the top. "Give them some steel!" ; "Search your soul" ; Night closes down ; "I had a plan-- now I have none" -- The inner keep. Hell's corner ; Hammering home the cork ; "Count your children now, Adolf!" ; Tunisgrad -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Sources -- Acknowledgments -- Index

An account of the World War II campaign in Morocco and Algeria. Operation Torch, as it was called, became a proving ground where American officers learned to lead, soldiers learned to hate, and an entire army learned what it would take to defeat a formidable enemy

Pulitzer Prize for History, 2003

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