Those Who Fall

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What to expect

As a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber pilot, John Muirhead led missions into northern Italy, Germany, and Bulgaria during World War II. Ultimately, he was shot down and taken prisoner.

John Muirhead’s re-creation of those years is a breathtaking mingling of ravaging horrors and silent, surreal images; of raw, tumultuous memory and elegantly paced narrative; of lightening humor and measured reflection.

Seldom has a reader been made to feel terror so viscerally. Rarely has a reader ascended the skies so thrillingly. And never has one felt so close to the numbing fear, the boredom, the eerie beauty, and the dislocated sensibilities of war in the air as in Those Who Fall.

Critics Review

  • “The terror and desperation…are as real as can be…Excellent.”

    New York Times Book Review
  • “First-time author Muirhead relates his experiences as a B-17 bomber pilot in World War II and as a prisoner of war. Stationed in Italy with the 301st bomber group, he flew missions to the northern part of that country, to Germany, and to Romania. It was on a mission to the Ploest oil fields that he was shot down, captured, and imprisoned in Bulgaria. The quality of writing and imagery in the storytelling raise this book above the genre. Highly recommended for most collections.”

    Library Journal

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