{"title":"Books by Stephen L. Moore","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780399583568","title":"As Good As Dead","description":"\u003cb\u003e“[A] truly uplifting tale of deliverance from certain death . . . A deeply personal read, in which the reader is drawn into the highs and lows of the action, the tragedy, and the salvation, because Moore has so successfully drawn out the characters. . . . Compelling reading and hard to put down.”—\u003ci\u003eNaval History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe heroic story of eleven American POWs who defied certain death in World War II, \u003ci\u003eAs Good as Dead\u003c\/i\u003e is an unforgettable account of the Palawan Massacre survivors and their daring escape.  \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn late 1944, the Allies invaded the Japanese-held Philippines, and soon the end of the Pacific War was within reach. But for the last 150 American prisoners of war still held on the island of Palawan, there would be no salvation. After years of slave labor, starvation, disease, and torture, their worst fears were about to be realized. On December 14, with machine guns trained on them, they were herded underground into shallow air raid shelters—death pits dug with their own hands. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJapanese soldiers doused the shelters with gasoline and set them on fire. Some thirty prisoners managed to bolt from the fiery carnage, running a lethal gauntlet of machine gun fire and bayonets to jump from the cliffs to the rocky Palawan coast. By the next morning, only eleven men were left alive—but their desperate journey to freedom had just begun. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eAs Good as Dead \u003c\/i\u003eis one of the greatest escape stories of World War II, and one that few Americans know. The eleven survivors of the Palawan Massacre—some badly wounded and burned—spent weeks evading Japanese patrols. They scrounged for food and water, swam shark-infested bays, and wandered through treacherous jungle terrain, hoping to find friendly Filipino guerrillas. Their endurance, determination, and courage in the face of death make this a gripping and inspiring saga of survival.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43206054084786,"sku":"9780399583568","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780399583568_ada2a2ef-c6d7-45fe-8bf1-d3e9900d6850.jpg?v=1786014168"},{"product_id":"9780593472873","title":"Strike of the Sailfish","description":"\u003cb\u003eA gripping true-life thriller about the first US submarine to sink a Japanese aircraft carrier—and the sub’s tragic twist of fate\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 1939 off the New England coast, the submarine USS \u003ci\u003eSqualus\u003c\/i\u003e accidentally sinks to the bottom of the sea during a training exercise, killing half her crew. Coming to the rescue is the USS \u003ci\u003eSculpin\u003c\/i\u003e, in many ways the \u003ci\u003eSqualus\u003c\/i\u003e’s twin. As their oxygen supply dwindles, the remaining crew aboard the \u003ci\u003eSqualus\u003c\/i\u003e are saved in a time-consuming, white-knuckle operation. Eventually the sunken submarine is raised, repaired, and returned to duty, with a new name: the \u003ci\u003eSailfish\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFour years later, on patrol during the darkest days of the Pacific War, the \u003ci\u003eSailfish\u003c\/i\u003e’s radarman picks up the tell-tale signs of a Japanese convoy, known by U.S. intelligence to include aircraft carriers, the most formidable of all enemy ships. Never before has an American submarine taken down a carrier—much less in the middle of a typhoon. Immediately, the crewmen swing into action, embarking on a deadly game of cat-and-mouse as this once-dead boat evades enemy cruisers to stalk closer and closer to their prized target. Little do they know that aboard the Japanese carrier are survivors of an attack on the USS \u003ci\u003eSculpin\u003c\/i\u003e, the very boat that saved the \u003ci\u003eSqualis\u003c\/i\u003e-turned-\u003ci\u003eSailfish\u003c\/i\u003e back in ’39.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAuthor Stephen L. Moore takes readers inside the nine-hour duel, narrating the action aboard both the \u003ci\u003eSailfish\u003c\/i\u003e and the doomed carrier, where the American POWs fight against all odds to save their own lives before the ship goes down. Employing a wealth of new information, including long-lost survivors' accounts, fresh interviews with the last of the sub's crew, and official patrol reports, \u003ci\u003eStrike of the Sailfish\u003c\/i\u003e is the thrilling story of this strange chapter of naval history.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43230243127474,"sku":"9780593472873","price":28.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780593472873_b501f043-469c-4375-94bf-f5462e32af35.jpg?v=1786014562"},{"product_id":"9780593475867","title":"Fighting Fifteen","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe inspiring, action-packed tale of VF-15, the elite group of U.S. Navy “top gun” pilots that destroyed more enemy planes than any other Pacific War squadron.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDavid McCampbell ended his tour of duty as the navy’s “ace of aces,” with thirty-four confirmed enemy planes shot down, and received the Medal of Honor. His “Fighting Fifteen” played a major part in bringing an end to the Pacific War. But when the squadron was commissioned in 1943, most of its men—some barely out of their teenage years—were completely new to aerial combat. A string of deadly crashes during training in their rugged new F6F-3 Hellcats led the men to be booted off their first carrier. With their commander fired and McCampbell installed in his place, the group’s future looked bleak.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut McCampbell transformed this ragged group of talented but disparate individuals into a selfless team of well-trained aviators, and by the time they formally entered the Pacific War with a series of daring island strikes, they were ready. Nicknamed \"Satan's Playmates,\" during six critical months of combat the squadron destroyed a record-setting 660 enemy planes across air and ground. Twenty-six of the men would eventually become aces, ascending to an elite fraternity and immortalizing the “Fabled Fifteen.” Now, using previously unknown accounts from the aviators themselves, military historian Stephen L. Moore places readers in the heart of the action as McCampbell and his flying band of brothers battle the Japanese navy and its formidable Zero fighters to the death.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56367776465269,"sku":"9780593475867","price":31.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780593475867_8e5b437e-dea4-4191-8ca6-c6353b055325.jpg?v=1786014584"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-stephen-l-moore.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}