{"product_id":"the-fighting-sullivans-bruce-kuklick-9780700623549","title":"The Fighting Sullivans: How Hollywood and the Military Make Heroes","description":"In November of 1942, the five Sullivan brothers from Waterloo, Iowa, were killed when a Japanese torpedo sank their ship during the most ferocious naval engagement fought in the South Pacific. The family's loss, the most extraordinary for the United States in its military history, was immortalized--and valorized--in the 1944 film \u003ci\u003eThe Fighting Sullivans\u003c\/i\u003e. This book tells the story of how calamity, with the help of Hollywood and the wartime publicity machine, transformed a family of marginal and disreputable young men, intensely disliked in their hometown, into heroes. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe Sullivan boys joined the armed forces after Pearl Harbor, and the US Navy accepted that they would all serve on one ship, the light cruiser \u003ci\u003eUSS Juneau\u003c\/i\u003e. The five brothers gave the navy great publicity, but when the ship went down and survivors were not rescued, the service faced a serious problem. \u003ci\u003eThe Fighting Sullivans\u003c\/i\u003e examines the campaign that followed, as the navy and its partners in Hollywood turned a tragedy of errors into a public relations victory. Bruce Kuklick shows how the myth of the Sullivan family was created using bits and pieces of real events, but with twists that turned the boys into superhumans and their beleaguered parents into self-sacrificing patriots. He explores the close relationship between Hollywood studios and the military, which aimed to boost morale and support for the war. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA study in mythmaking, \u003ci\u003eThe Fighting Sullivans\u003c\/i\u003e offers a behind-the-scenes look at the manufacture of heroes in twentieth-century wartime America.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Bruce Kuklick\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 070062354X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780700623549\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University Press of Kansas\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/07\/2016\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 224\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.15lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.50h x 6.20w x 0.90d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 06\/01\/2017","brand":"Bruce Kuklick","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":43925720760575,"sku":"9780700623549","price":32.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_4892bf5b-7f9b-41de-b36e-4a9ac7912708.jpg?v=1681078955","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-fighting-sullivans-bruce-kuklick-9780700623549","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}