Seventy-Five Years Ago, the Last American Soldier Who Paid the Ultimate Price for Desertion A New Edition of the Acclaimed Investigative Story In August 1944, a drab convoy of raw recruits destined to join the 28th Division lumbered along a windy French road strewn with dead animals, shattered bodies, and burning equipment. One of those draftees was 24-year-old Eddie Slovik, a petty thief from Detroit who had spent his youth in and out of reform schools. Eddie's luck had recently changed, however, with a steady ...
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Seventy-Five Years Ago, the Last American Soldier Who Paid the Ultimate Price for Desertion A New Edition of the Acclaimed Investigative Story In August 1944, a drab convoy of raw recruits destined to join the 28th Division lumbered along a windy French road strewn with dead animals, shattered bodies, and burning equipment. One of those draftees was 24-year-old Eddie Slovik, a petty thief from Detroit who had spent his youth in and out of reform schools. Eddie's luck had recently changed, however, with a steady factory job and marriage to a beautiful girl who gave Eddie hope and security for the first time in his life. But their honeymoon--like that of many other wartime newlyweds--was interrupted by the call to service. The convoy came under intense artillery fire, and in the confusion Slovik became separated from his unit. He joined a Canadian outfit and traveled with them before finally reporting to the 28th Division. He carried a rifle but no ammunition. He was assigned to a platoon but walked away. Refusing to kill, Slovik was arrested, court martialed, and condemned to death. Hundreds of soldiers were tried for desertion during World War II and sentenced to die, but only Eddie Slovik paid the price, supposedly as a deterrent, yet word of the nature of his death was never officially released to the public. In The Execution of Private Slovik , considered to be among the best investigative books ever written, journalist and author William Bradford Huie reconstructs this entire story with the full cooperation of the U.S. Army in order to find out what made Eddie Slovik an unlikely pacifist and why the affair was covered up. Through interviews with those who knew him and the hundreds of letters to his wife, the author reveals a hard luck depression-era kid who when faced with the reality of war realized that he simply could not kill another human being. Throughout, Huie reveals how Eddie Slovik's death has much to tell us about life and duty to one's country. This edition marking the seventy-fifth anniversary of the sentence being carried out, contains a new introduction by the author's daughter. Praise for The Execution of Private Slovik : "In the hands of an expert, who writes both passionately and with an almost transparent effort to be fair to all concerned, the story raises questions to which our wisest leaders still lack satisfying answers." -- New York Times "A remarkable story reported by a master."-- W. E. B. Griffin "Recommended reading for all military historians."-- Military Affairs "Tremendously moving."-- The Atlantic "It is very likely that William Bradford Huie's The Execution of Private Slovik will long survive the official histories of World War II. It is a big book and Mr. Huie deserves some sort of rich reward for this unburying of an incident of the war which must disturb us all. For Slovik was more than a 'coward.' He not only did not want to die but he did not want to kill, and one must look far in literature for a figure so moving as Private Slovik wandering about Europe not with bullets in his cartridge belt but with writing paper. The question is not 'How might we improve military procedures?' The question is, 'What has happened to love in our world when he who would rather love than kill must die?'"-- from a letter to the New York Times
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Add this copy of The Execution of Private Slovik to cart. $8.05, very good condition, Sold by Bob's Book Journey rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Austin, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1971 by Dell Publishing.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good. Book Private Edward Donald (Eddie) Slovik was a U.S. Army soldier during World War II and the only American soldier to be court martialed and executed for desertion since the American Civil War. A nightmare of the meticulous application of the letter of military law. First Dell printing--December 1971 stated on copyright page. Paperback with illustration of the execution on front cover, 250 pp. Light wear with small scuff mark on rear cover, no owner names or gift notes, text is age-toned otherwise unmarked, tight binding.
Add this copy of The Execution of Private Slovik to cart. $8.98, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published by Dell Pub Co.
Add this copy of The Execution of Private Slovik to cart. $10.00, fair condition, Sold by Princeton Antiques Bookservice rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Atlantic City, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 1970 by DELL PUBLISHING.
Add this copy of The Execution of Private Slovik to cart. $15.00, poor condition, Sold by Reed Books rated 1.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Birmingham, AL, UNITED STATES, published by Signet.
Add this copy of The Execution of Private Slovik to cart. $21.19, very good condition, Sold by Midtown Scholar Bookstore rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Harrisburg, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Westholme Publishing.
Add this copy of The Execution of Private Slovik to cart. $24.95, good condition, Sold by Wonder Book - Member ABAA/ILAB rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Frederick, MD, UNITED STATES.
Add this copy of The Execution of Private Slovik to cart. $29.15, good condition, Sold by Fireside Bookshop rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Stroud, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1954 by Jarrolds.
Add this copy of The Execution of Private Slovik to cart. $38.95, very good condition, Sold by Sequitur Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Boonsboro, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1954 by Duell, Sloan and Pearce.
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Very Good. Size: 8x5x1; [Stated First Edition] Bound in publisher's red cloth. Hardcover. No dust jacket. Good binding and cover. Shelf wear. Clean, unmarked pages. 247 p., 21 cm. Private Eddie Slovik, the only American to be executed for desertion since the Civil War.
Add this copy of The Execution of Private Slovik to cart. $39.80, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Westholme Publishing.
Add this copy of The Execution of Private Slovik to cart. $40.00, like new condition, Sold by Between the Covers-Rare Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Gloucester City, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 1970 by Delacorte Press.
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Fine in Near Fine jacket. First republished edition, with a newly added preface and epilogue. 230pp. Fine in a lightly rubbed, near fine dust jacket with light toning and gentle bumping along the edges, with a small tear on the rear flap fold. Explores the events surrounding the 1945 French execution of American Private Edward Donald Slovik, the first and only American soldier to be so executed since 1864.
Exciting and thoughtful; a fast read. Kids today probably have little idea of what went on during WWII. The incident in this book shows an unfortunate dark side to one of those events. A story more folks should know.