Book cover of The Last Thing You Surrender: A Novel of World War II

Book description

Could you find the courage to do what's right in a world on fire?

Pulitzer-winning journalist and bestselling novelist (Freeman) Leonard Pitts, Jr.'s new historical page-turner is a great American tale of race and war, following three characters from the Jim Crow South as they face the enormous changes World…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked The Last Thing You Surrender as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

You know you love an author when you read one of his/her books, then go back and read the rest. Leonard Pitts Jr. is one of those writers. This is the closest you'll come to watching a movie while you're reading a novel.

“War is hell” is a phrase heard often enough that’s now a bloodless abstraction you think but never feel. This epic World War II novel by the Pulitzer-winning columnist does not let readers off so easily.

The book’s title refers to humanity and sense of self, serving up graphic descriptions of the sort of brutality usually described in politely neutered legalese. But not here. And it does the same with Jim Crow-era lynchings in the American South, connecting everything as part of the human race’s ongoing struggle.

The best “difficult” read I’ve encountered in years.

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