Adam Makos

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About Adam Makos

Hailed as "a masterful storyteller" by the Associated Press, Adam Makos is the author of the New York Times bestsellers "A Higher Call," and "Spearhead," as well as the critically-acclaimed "Devotion." Inspired by his grandfathers' service, Adam 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, Adam has flown a WWII bomber, accompanied a Special Forces raid in Iraq, and journeyed into North Korea in search of an MIA American airman.

You can follow Adam's work at:
www.AdamMakos.com
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Pamphlet

Titles By Adam Makos

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A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II Dec 19, 2012

by Adam Makos , Larry Alexander

( 7,305 )

$13.99

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER: “Beautifully told.”—CNN • “A remarkable story...worth retelling and celebrating.”—USA Today • “Oh, it’s a good one!”—Fox News

A “beautiful story of a brotherhood between enemies” emerges from the horrors of World War II in this New York Times bestseller by the author of Spearhead.

December, 1943: A badly damaged American bomber struggles to fly over wartime Germany. At the controls is twenty-one-year-old Second Lieutenant Charlie Brown. Half his crew lay wounded or dead on this, their first mission. Suddenly, a Messerschmitt fighter pulls up on the bomber’s tail. The pilot is German ace Franz Stigler—and he can destroy the young American crew with the squeeze of a trigger...

What happened next would defy imagination and later be called “the most incredible encounter between enemies in World War II.”

The U.S. 8th Air Force would later classify what happened between them as “top secret.” It was an act that Franz could never mention for fear of facing a firing squad. It was the encounter that would haunt both Charlie and Franz for forty years until, as old men, they would search the world for each other, a last mission that could change their lives forever.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback , MP3 CD

Spearhead: An American Tank Gunner, His Enemy, and a Collision of Lives in World War II Feb 19, 2019

by Adam Makos

( 2,097 )

$12.99

THE NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, LOS ANGELES TIMES, AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER

“A band of brothers in an American tank . . . Makos drops the reader back into the Pershing’s turret and dials up a battle scene to rival the peak moments of Fury.”
—The Wall Street Journal

From the author of the international bestseller A Higher Call comes the riveting World War II story of an American tank gunner’s journey into the heart of the Third Reich, where he will meet destiny in an iconic armor duel—and forge an enduring bond with his enemy.

When Clarence Smoyer is assigned to the gunner’s seat of his Sherman tank, his crewmates discover that the gentle giant from Pennsylvania has a hidden talent: He’s a natural-born shooter.

At first, Clarence and his fellow crews in the legendary 3rd Armored Division—“Spearhead”—thought their tanks were invincible. Then they met the German Panther, with a gun so murderous it could shoot through one Sherman and into the next. Soon a pattern emerged: The lead tank always gets hit.

After Clarence sees his friends cut down breaching the West Wall and holding the line in the Battle of the Bulge, he and his crew are given a weapon with the power to avenge their fallen brothers: the Pershing, a state-of-the-art “super tank,” one of twenty in the European theater.

But with it comes a harrowing new responsibility: Now they will spearhead every attack. That’s how Clarence, the corporal from coal country, finds himself leading the U.S. Army into its largest urban battle of the European war, the fight for Cologne, the “Fortress City” of Germany.

Battling through the ruins, Clarence will engage the fearsome Panther in a duel immortalized by an army cameraman. And he will square off with Gustav Schaefer, a teenager behind the trigger in a Panzer IV tank, whose crew has been sent on a suicide mission to stop the Americans.

As Clarence and Gustav trade fire down a long boulevard, they are taken by surprise by a tragic mistake of war. What happens next will haunt Clarence to the modern day, drawing him back to Cologne to do the unthinkable: to face his enemy, one last time.

Praise for Spearhead

“A detailed, gripping account . . . the remarkable story of two tank crewmen, from opposite sides of the conflict, who endure the grisly nature of tank warfare.”
—USA Today (four out of four stars)

“Strong and dramatic . . . Makos established himself as a meticulous researcher who’s equally adept at spinning a good old-fashioned yarn. . . . For a World War II aficionado, it will read like a dream.”
—Associated Press

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback , Audio CD

Devotion: An Epic Story of Heroism, Friendship, and Sacrifice Oct 27, 2015

by Adam Makos

( 1,338 )

$13.99

THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER • SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • From America’s “forgotten war” in Korea comes an unforgettable tale of courage by the author of A Higher Call.

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, Jesse and Tom joined forces as wingmen in Fighter Squadron 32. Adam Makos takes us into the cockpit as these bold young aviators cut their teeth at the world’s most dangerous job—landing on the deck of an aircraft carrier—a line of work that Jesse’s young wife, Daisy, struggles to accept.

Deployed to the Mediterranean, Tom and Jesse meet the Fleet Marines, boys like PFC “Red” Parkinson, a farm kid from the Catskills. In between war games in the sun, the young men revel on the Riviera, partying with millionaires and even befriending the Hollywood starlet Elizabeth Taylor. Then comes the war no one expected, in faraway Korea.

Devotion takes us soaring overhead with Tom and Jesse, and into the foxholes with Red and 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 and save them. When one of the duo is shot down behind enemy lines and pinned in his burning plane, the other faces an unthinkable choice: watch his friend die or attempt history’s most audacious one-man rescue mission.

A tug-at-the-heartstrings tale of bravery and selflessness, Devotion asks: How far would you go to save a friend?

Praise for Devotion

“Riveting . . . a meticulously researched and moving account.”—USA Today

“An inspiring tale . . . portrayed by Makos in sharp, fact-filled prose and with strong reporting.”—Los Angeles Times

“[A] must-read.”—New York Post

“Stirring.”—Parade

“A masterful storyteller . . . [Makos brings] Devotion to life with amazing vividness. . . . [It] reads like a dream. The perfectly paced story cruises along in the fast lane—when you’re finished, you’ll want to start all over again.”—Associated Press

“A delight to read . . . Devotion is a story you will not forget.”—The Washington Times

“My great respect for Tom Hudner knows no bounds. He is a true hero; and in reading this book, you will understand why I feel that way.”—President George H. W. Bush

“This is aerial drama at its best—fast, powerful, and moving.”—Erik Larson, New York Times bestselling author of Dead Wake

“Though it concerns a famously cold battle in the Korean War, make no mistake: Devotion will w

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback , Audio CD

Voices of the Pacific: Untold Stories from the Marine Heroes of World War II Apr 2, 2013

by Adam Makos , Marcus Brotherton

( 914 )

$5.99

From the New York Times bestselling author of Spearhead and A Higher Call comes an unflinching, brutal, and relentless firsthand chronicle of United States Marine Corps’ actions in the Pacific during World War II.

Following fifteen Marines from the Pearl Harbor attack, through battles with the Japanese, to their return home after V-J Day, Adam Makos and Marcus Brotherton have compiled an oral history of the Pacific War in the words of the men who fought on the front lines. With unflinching honesty, these Marines reveal harrowing accounts of combat with an implacable enemy, the friendships and camaraderie they found—and lost—and the aftermath of the war’s impact on their lives.

With unprecedented access to the veterans, rare photographs, and unpublished memoirs, Voices of the Pacific presents true stories of heroism as told by such World War II veterans as Sid Phillips, R. V. Burgin, and Chuck Tatum—whose exploits were featured in the HBO® miniseries, The Pacific—and their Marine buddies from the legendary 1st Marine Division.

Includes rare photos!

Other Formats: Kindle , Hardcover , Paperback , MP3 CD

Eine höhere Pflicht: Wie ein deutscher Pilot seinem amerikanischen Feind im Zweiten Weltkrieg das Leben schenkte (German Edition) Sep 12, 2014

by Adam Makos

( 127 )

$21.91

Sie sind erbitterte Feinde, als sie am 20. Dezember 1943 in über acht Kilometern Höhe aufeinandertreffen: der Amerikaner Charlie Brown in seinem vom Flakfeuer schwer beschädigten B-17-Bomber und der deutsche Jagdflieger Franz Stigler, der den gegnerischen Piloten einfach nur vom Himmel holen müsste, – doch er tut es nicht. Stattdessen gibt Stigler dem Bomber Geleit über die deutsche Flugabwehr hinweg bis auf die Nordsee hinaus und rettet Brown und seiner gesamten Besatzung das Leben.
Die Geschichte der beiden Fliegerasse ist Legende. Und sie ist wahr. Der Historiker und Journalist Adam Makos hat sich, unterstützt von Starautor Larry Alexander, jahrelang bis ins kleinste Detail mit den Ereignissen beschäftigt und die Beteiligten getroffen. Eine höhere Pflicht ist kein Buch über einen kurzen Augenblick des Mitleids, sondern ein Buch darüber, was es bedeutet, in einem Krieg Pilot zu sein, und was für einer Pflichtverletzung es gleichkam, so zu handeln, wie es Franz Stigler richtig erschien. Es ist ein Buch auch über die Freundschaft, die Charlie Brown und Franz Stigler seit ihrem Wiedersehen 1990 verband – bis zu ihrem Tod 2008.
Die wunderbare Geschichte eines deutschen Helden.

Other Formats: Paperback

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