Against All Odds: A True Story of Ultimate Courage and Survival in World War II

Of the dozens of books I’ve read about WWII, this one stands out for both its piercing literary brilliance and nearly unimaginable stories of battlefield valor and selfless pursuits of victory over evil. Alex Kershaw is a national treasure on par with great historical writers including James Hornfischer and James M. Scott. All combine vibrant storytelling skills with relentless attention to facts and details.We owe Mr. Kershaw our profound gratitude for the heroic lives he shared with us. One can only imagine what Audie Murphy might have said of this book had he lived long enough to read it.

After all the fiction and drama of Hollywood movies regarding the history of our country, I enjoy a true story of genuine courage.

I always appreciate Alex Kershaw's writing. I am a student of history and collect books. “Against All Odds” is exceptional. I am very happy to have purchased it .. this time in Large Print Edition.. much easier to read. ! Disappointed that this edition did not support fine writing, with photos and maps… The Publisher can and should do better! Also, why do you and Amazon charge such a large premium on Large Print Books cost to the vision impaired? Overall, I greatly appreciate and respect Penguin Random House… please continue to work on helping the Vision Impaired participate fully in an important part of society… READING Books! Well done Alex Kershaw!! What’s next? Please let us know!

Mr. Kershaw has written another excellent history of the combat in W.W. II. This time he focused primarily on four men of the 3rd Infantry Division of the U.S. Army in the European Theater (from North Africa through Sicily, Italy, Southern France, to Germany and Austria). The men he chose for this study all won the Medal of Honor, among many other awards such as the Bronze and Silver Stars. He found stories very much worth telling.What the author has done is follow these remarkable soldiers through their combat experiences with a great amount of detail and an eye for the most riveting aspects of each of their experiences. In fact, I found myself keeping a finger in the footnotes pages so I wouldn't miss any of the pertinent details he puts there (and there are several good ones!).In short, Mr. Kershaw has written a fantastic tribute to these gallant soldiers and the division and regiments to which they belonged. As another reviewer has pointed out, the author missed a finer point on ballistics between the M1 Garand and carbine (nobody is perfect!). But this in no respect takes much away from the over-all impact of this excellent W.W. II history. It is a masterful undertaking, and other than that one flaw, I found it highly informative and well researched! Mr. Kershaw has consulted a vast number of sources to pull this book together. I could hardly put it down and enjoyed reading it tremendously! I highly recommend it to any reader with even a moderate interest in this time period, especially if your interest includes the war in this part of Europe. Don't miss it!

This is a very good book. I purchased it from an Amazon recommendation and most of the time I find their recommendations to be exactly what I enjoy reading.This author did not spend anytime at all jumping into the story. Often it seems authors spend and exorbitant amount of time developing the characters. In this case one just jumps right into the story almost making me think I had skipped an intro somewhere. However, once the reader becomes engaged with the story, background information is casually filtered throughout. I was surprised to read in the first few pages about Maurice Footsie Britt. As a young man I remembered him becoming Arkansas Lt. Governor but I really didn't know much else about him. His name and nickname after all is unforgettable. Never had I realized what a hero he was. The author suggested that perhaps if he hadn't had lost an arm in the war he would have been more popularized by the military. Audie Murphy, at least visibly, met the definition of someone that could be showed off to the public. To me it's very difficult to distinguish one Medal of Honor hero from another. Anyone that earned that Medal has paid an incredible price.So this book is about WWII heros and the story is brilliantly told. The story is all tied together and not a series of individual stories. The flow is perfect and exhausting from the standpoint that the reader feels the action.This book is so worth your time! It's amazing.

Here is the story, lest it be forgotten of the storied 3rd Division, the “Marne Men” named in WW1. This division saw more fighting and won more medals than any other WW2 outfit. In it’s ranks were the ordinary men turned heroes that made it’s fame. The author does one hell of a job telling the stories of these men which make the chapters of the history book called the Third Division. The descriptions of combat is at it’s most vicious. The living conditions are the worst imaginable and accounts of raw courage are bar none…

The stories make you understand what our men and women had to go through. I couldn’t put it down.

Some great stories and the allied effort in Italy moving northward. The book was very informative in general on the American forces pushing up through Italy. It is my opinion the story bogs down a bit with some detail but is requisite to cover the battles, efforts, tactics and results of this small part of WWII. The story is really about the Medal of Honor recipients but covers a lot of ground

I follow the author Alex Kershaw on social media and have bought several of his books (The First Wave is particularly brilliant) after seeing him discuss them online and this book was no different. Its a great read with plenty of detail but it never gets bogged down in minutae. It's basically a history of the 3rd division which featured the famous Medal of Honor recipient Audie Murphy. It taps into one of the lesser known units and their mostly unrecognised efforts. Buy it now.