David E. Kelly – författare

Italy in the 1580's and in a town just south of Florence, a doctor is mourning the death of his young daughter. She has been cruelly taken from him by a plague that has swept through his village. In despair at his failure to save her from the disease, he begs God to spare his remaining child, his heir from the same fate, vowing to undertake a great pilgrimage if he survives. His son endured. As time and the pestilence moves on, his life returns to a sort of normality but the thought of the debt that needs to be repaid to God is weighing heavily on his mind. In a bid to unburden himself, he goes to meet with a family friend, a priest who is considered an expert in the art of pilgrimage . The priest suggests that he should take a route north, believing that a short journey like that to Rome, would not do justice to the great miracle that had been gifted to him, after all, the contrition must match the granted privilege. Leaving his wife and son, he travels from his home in Arezzo, setting off on the epic journey to visit some of the great wonders of the medieval age, meeting the good, the bad and the mad along the way. He travels over the Alps by the Great St Bernard Pass, walking north through Switzerland then up through France before crossing the channel into Elizabethan England, a country hostile to foreign catholics like himself. Under constant suspicion, he makes his way across this alien land before sailing to Ireland to do penance at the shrine of a once famous Saint, Begnet, on a tiny island just off the coast of this mystical land.

In March 2004, the unprovoked ambush, killing and desecration of the bodies of American civilian security contractors in Fallujah, Iraq, caused the National Command Authorities in Washington, DC. to demand that the newly arrived Marine Expeditionary Force there take action against the perpetrators and other insurgent forces. Planned Stability and Support Operations were cast aside as insurgent fighters dared the Marines to enter Fallujah. Marine infantrymen, tankers, helicopter crews, and amphibious vehicle drivers all pitched into high-intensity battles and firefights during the first fights of Fallujah in April 2004. Across the board cooperation and innovation marked these fighting Marines in combined arms fights that no one expected. Marines fought in the streets, conducted house-to-house searches, cleared buildings of enemy, and used tank main guns in direct support of urban environment operations. Helicopter crews supported operations on the ground with rockets and machine-gun fire, and Amtrac Marines transported forces to face enemy RPG and machine-gun fire. Marines from infantry squad members to a battalion commander were interviewed by Marine Corps field historians within days or weeks of the events at nearby combat outposts and camps. This book combines these interview notes and the words of the men themselves to create a unique narrative of Marines in this combat.

"This book will add to the long and distinguished collection of marine history and is well worth the read for anyone interested in personal accounts of modern combat. It also provides a good snapshot into urban combat and the tactics and techniques necessary to succeed in it." — Military ReviewIn March 2004, the unprovoked ambush killing and desecration of the bodies of American civilian security contractors in Fallujah, Iraq, caused the National Command Authorities in Washington, DC. to demand that the newly arrived Marine Expeditionary Force there take action against the perpetrators and other insurgent forces. Planned Stability and Support Operations were cast aside as insurgent fighters dared the Marines to enter Fallujah. Marine infantrymen, tankers, helicopter crews, and amphibious vehicle drivers all pitched into high-intensity battles and firefights during the first fights of Fallujah in April 2004. Across the board cooperation and innovation marked these fighting Marines in combined arms fights that no one expected. Marines fought in the streets, conducted house-to-house searches, cleared buildings of enemy, and used tank main guns in direct support of urban environment operations. Helicopter crews supported operations on the ground with rockets and machine-gun fire, and Amtrac Marines transported forces to face enemy RPG and machine-gun fire. Marines from infantry squad members to a battalion commander were interviewed by Marine Corps field historians within days or weeks of the events at nearby combat outposts and camps. This book combines these interview notes and the words of the men themselves to create a unique narrative of Marines in this combat. Casualties only stiffened the will of the Marines to crush the enemy. A late April political plan called for the withdrawal of Marine forces from the city, and Marines at every level, though frustrated, understood the need to allow this attempted solution to play itself out.