{"title":"William Geroux","description":"William Geroux wrote for the Richmond Times-Dispatch for twenty-five years. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Associated Press, and various regional magazines. His previous book is The Mathews Men. A native of Washington, DC, and a graduate of the College of William and Mary, he lives in Virginia Beach, VA.","products":[{"product_id":"the-ghost-ships-of-archangel-the-arctic-voyage-that-defied-the-nazis-paperback","title":"The Ghost Ships of Archangel: The Arctic Voyage That Defied the Nazis - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn extraordinary story of survival and alliance during World War II: the icy journey of four Allied ships crossing the Arctic to deliver much needed supplies to the Soviet war effort.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOn the fourth of July, 1942, four Allied ships traversing the Arctic split from their decimated convoy to head further north into the ice field of the North Pole. They were seeking safety from Nazi bombers and U-boats in the perilous white maze of ice floes, growlers, and giant bergs. Despite the many risks of their chosen route, the four vessels had a better chance of reaching their destination than the rest of the remains of convoy PQ-17. The convoy had started as a fleet of thirty-five cargo ships carrying $1 billion worth of war supplies to the Soviet port of Archangel--the only help Roosevelt and Churchill had extended to Joseph Stalin to maintain their fragile alliance against Germany. At the most dangerous point of the voyage, the ships had received a startling order to scatter and had quickly become easy prey for the Nazis. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe crews of the four ships focused on their mission. U.S. Navy Ensign Howard Carraway, aboard the SS \u003ci\u003eTroubadour, \u003c\/i\u003e was a farm boy from South Carolina and one of the many Americans for whom the convoy was a first taste of war; from the Royal Navy Reserve, Lt. Leo Gradwell was given command of the HMT \u003ci\u003eAyrshire, \u003c\/i\u003e a British fishing trawler that had been converted into an antisubmarine vessel. The twenty-four-hour Arctic daylight in midsummer gave them no respite from bombers or submarines, and they all feared the giant German battleship \u003ci\u003eTirpitz, \u003c\/i\u003e nicknamed the \"Big Bad Wolf.\" Icebergs were as dangerous as Nazis as the remnants of convoy PQ-17 tried to slip through the Arctic to deliver their cargo in one of the most dramatic escapes of World War II. At Archangel they found a traumatized, starving city, and a disturbing preview of the Cold War ahead.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51367968047327,"sku":"9780525557487","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/Nlmu-4zWNF9780525557487.webp?v=1789116986"},{"product_id":"the-fifteen-murder-retribution-and-the-forgotten-story-of-nazi-pows-in-america-hardcover","title":"The Fifteen: Murder, Retribution, and the Forgotten Story of Nazi POWs in America - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe revelatory true story of the long-forgotten POW camps for German soldiers erected in hundreds of small U.S. towns during World War II, and the secret Nazi killings that ensnared fifteen brave American POWs in a high-stakes showdown.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"In the pantheon of American history, it's very hard to find compelling, original stories, and even harder to find authors worthy of them. In \u003ci\u003eThe Fifteen\u003c\/i\u003e, William Geroux delivers the goods.\"--John U. Bacon, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Great Halifax Explosion\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe American government was faced with an unprecedented challenge: where to house the nearly 400,000 German prisoners of war plucked from the battlefield and shipped across the Atlantic. On orders from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Department of War hastily built hundreds of POW camps in the United States. Today, traces of those camps--which once dotted the landscape from Maine to California--have all but vanished. Forgotten, too, is the grisly series of killings that took place within them: Nazi power games playing out in the heart of the United States. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eProtected by the Geneva Convention, German POWs were well-fed and housed. Many worked on American farms, and a few would even go on to marry farmers' daughters. Ardent Nazis in the camps, however, took a dim view of fellow Germans who befriended their captors. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSoon, the killings began. In camp after camp, Nazis attacked fellow Germans they deemed disloyal. Fifteen were sentenced to death by secret U.S. military tribunals for acts of murder. In response, German authorities condemned fifteen American POWs to the same fate, and, in the waning days of the war, Germany proposed an audacious trade: fifteen German lives for fifteen American lives. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDrawing on extensive research, journalist and author William Geroux shines a spotlight on this story of murder and high-stakes diplomacy, and on the fifteen American lives that hung in the balance--from a fearless P-51 Mustang fighter pilot to a hot-tempered lieutenant colonel nicknamed \"King Kong.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ePropulsive and vividly rendered, \u003ci\u003eThe Fifteen\u003c\/i\u003e reminds us that what happens to soldiers after they exit the battlefield can be just as harrowing as what they experience on it.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51368457273567,"sku":"9780593594254","price":33.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/OR1XGZ_yo9780593594254.webp?v=1789128456"},{"product_id":"the-fifteen-murder-retribution-and-the-forgotten-story-of-nazi-pows-in-america-paperback","title":"The Fifteen: Murder, Retribution, and the Forgotten Story of Nazi POWs in America - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe revelatory true story of the long-forgotten POW camps for German soldiers erected in hundreds of small U.S. towns during World War II, and the secret Nazi killings that ensnared fifteen brave American POWs in a high-stakes showdown.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"In the pantheon of American history, it's very hard to find compelling, original stories, and even harder to find authors worthy of them. In \u003ci\u003eThe Fifteen\u003c\/i\u003e, William Geroux delivers the goods.\"--John U. Bacon, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Great Halifax Explosion\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe American government was faced with an unprecedented challenge: where to house the nearly 400,000 German prisoners of war plucked from the battlefield and shipped across the Atlantic. On orders from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Department of War hastily built hundreds of POW camps in the United States. Today, traces of those camps--which once dotted the landscape from Maine to California--have all but vanished. Forgotten, too, is the grisly series of killings that took place within them: Nazi power games playing out in the heart of the United States. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eProtected by the Geneva Convention, German POWs were well-fed and housed. Many worked on American farms, and a few would even go on to marry farmers' daughters. Ardent Nazis in the camps, however, took a dim view of fellow Germans who befriended their captors. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSoon, the killings began. In camp after camp, Nazis attacked fellow Germans they deemed disloyal. Fifteen were sentenced to death by secret U.S. military tribunals for acts of murder. In response, German authorities condemned fifteen American POWs to the same fate, and, in the waning days of the war, Germany proposed an audacious trade: fifteen German lives for fifteen American lives. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDrawing on extensive research, journalist and author William Geroux shines a spotlight on this story of murder and high-stakes diplomacy, and on the fifteen American lives that hung in the balance--from a fearless P-51 Mustang fighter pilot to a hot-tempered lieutenant colonel nicknamed \"King Kong.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ePropulsive and vividly rendered, \u003ci\u003eThe Fifteen\u003c\/i\u003e reminds us that what happens to soldiers after they exit the battlefield can be just as harrowing as what they experience on it.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51368981954783,"sku":"9780593594278","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/QSM9g-OEiB9780593594278.webp?v=1789135998"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/william-geroux.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}