The co-op bookstore for avid readers
Book Cover for: Unsinkable: Five Men and the Indomitable Run of the USS Plunkett, James Sullivan

Unsinkable: Five Men and the Indomitable Run of the USS Plunkett

James Sullivan

Critic Reviews

Great

Based on 8 reviews on

BookMarks logo
In the bestselling tradition of Indianapolis and In Harm's Way comes a "captivating...gripping" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) account of the USS Plunkett--a US Navy destroyer that sustained the most harrowing attack on any Navy ship by the Germans during World War II, later made famous by John Ford and Herman Wouk.

"A reflection on the nature of storytelling itself" (The Wall Street Journal), Unsinkable traces the individual journeys of five men on one ship from Casablanca in North Africa, to Sicily and Salerno in Italy and then on to Plunkett's defining moment at Anzio, where a dozen-odd German bombers bore down on the ship in an assault so savage, so prolonged, and so deadly that one Navy commander was hard-pressed to think of another destroyer that had endured what Plunkett had. After a three-month overhaul and with a reputation rising as the "fightin'est ship" in the Navy, Plunkett (DD-431) plunged back into the war at Omaha Beach on D-Day, and again into battle during the invasion of Southern France--perhaps the only Navy ship to participate in every Allied invasion in the European theatre.

Featuring five incredibly brave men--the indomitable skipper, who will receive the Navy Cross; the gunnery officer, who bucks the captain every step of the way to Anzio; a first lieutenant, who's desperate to get off the ship and into the Pacific; a seventeen-year-old water tender, who's trying to hold onto his hometown girl against all odds, and another water tender, who mans a 20mm gun when under aerial assault--the dramatic story of each plays out on the decks of the Plunkett as the ship's story escalates on the stage of the Mediterranean. Based on Navy logs, war diaries, action reports, letters, journals, memoirs, and dozens of interviews with the men who were on the ship and their families, Unsinkable is a timeless evocation of young men stepping up to the defining experience of their lives. "If you were moved by Norman Maclean's A River Runs Through It, by William Kent Krueger's This Tender Land...by the values we hold dear, decency, sacrifice, steadfastness, then Unsinkable will take you to a place long dead in your soul, and flood it with light" (Doug Stanton, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Horse Soldiers).

Book Details

  • Publisher: Scribner Book Company
  • Publish Date: Apr 12nd, 2022
  • Pages: 416
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.40in - 5.60in - 1.20in - 0.75lb
  • EAN: 9781982147846
  • Categories: Wars & Conflicts - World War II - European TheaterMilitary - NavalMilitary - United States

More books to explore

Book Cover for: Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man, Lynn Vincent
Book Cover for: The Silver Waterfall: How America Won the War in the Pacific at Midway, Brendan Simms
Book Cover for: X Troop: The Secret Jewish Commandos Who Helped Defeat the Nazis, Leah Garrett
Book Cover for: Cracking the Nazi Code: The Untold Story of Agent A12 and the Solving of the Holocaust Code, Jason Bell
Book Cover for: The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War, Malcolm Gladwell
Book Cover for: The Boys of Pointe Du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the U.S. Army 2nd Ranger Battalion, Douglas Brinkley
Book Cover for: Fire and Fortitude: The US Army in the Pacific War, 1941-1943, John C. McManus
Book Cover for: To the End of the Earth: The US Army and the Downfall of Japan, 1945, John C. McManus
Book Cover for: The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945, Rick Atkinson
Book Cover for: Sand and Steel: The D-Day Invasion and the Liberation of France, Peter Caddick-Adams
Book Cover for: Black Snow: Curtis Lemay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb, James M. Scott
Book Cover for: Iwo Jima: World War II Veterans Remember the Greatest Battle of the Pacific, Larry Smith
Book Cover for: Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945, Ian W. Toll
Book Cover for: Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest, Stephen E. Ambrose
Book Cover for: Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest, Stephen E. Ambrose

About the Author

Sullivan, James: - James Sullivan was born and raised in Quincy, Massachusetts, and has an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. He has written for The New York Times and National Geographic Traveler, the magazine. He lives with his family outside Portland, Maine, 3.4 miles from the birthplace of film director John Ford, who steamed into Omaha Beach on Plunkett.

More books by James Sullivan

Book Cover for: Edge of Resurrection, James Sullivan
Book Cover for: Taxes: Taxes For Beginners - The Easy Guide To Understanding Taxes + Tips & Tricks To Save Money, James Sullivan
Book Cover for: National Geographic Traveler Vietnam, 4th Edition, James Sullivan
Book Cover for: The Papers of Sir William Johnson, William Johnson
Book Cover for: Over the Moat: Love Among the Ruins of Imperial Vietnam, James Sullivan
Book Cover for: The History of the District of Maine, James Sullivan
Book Cover for: Observations upon the government of the United States of America. By James Sullivan, Esq. attorney-general of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts., James Sullivan
Book Cover for: Observations Upon the Government of the United States of America., James Sullivan
Book Cover for: The Path to Riches: An Inquiry Into the Origin and Use of Money, and Into the Principles of Stocks and Banks: To Which Are Subjoined Some, James Sullivan
Book Cover for: A Dissertation Upon the Constitutional Freedom of the Press in the United States of America / By an Impartial Citizen., James Sullivan
Book Cover for: Interesting Correspondence Between His Excellency Governour Sullivan and Col. Pickering: In Which the Latter Vindicates Himself Against the Groundless, James Sullivan
Book Cover for: An Appeal to the Impartial Public., James Sullivan
Book Cover for: Interesting Correspondence Between His Excellency Governour Sullivan and Col. Pickering; in Which the Latter Vindicates Himself Against the Groundless, James Sullivan
Book Cover for: La ciencia detrás de los incendios urbanos, James Sullivan
Book Cover for: Undercover Kevin Saves The World: One secret spy kid, one dangerous mission, and an the entire world to save, James Sullivan

Critics’ reviews

Praise for this book

"Unsinkable, a fine narrative in its own right, is also a reflection on the nature of storytelling itself, as well as a valuable and entertaining contribution to the record... Mr. Sullivan takes pains to illuminate and honor a lost world." -Wall Street Journal "Accounts of self-sacrifice and devotion to duty, especially those rendered with humility, have lately been in short supply, and we need them... In telling this story, in locating members of Plunkett's crew and coming to know them, Sullivan performs a kind of miracle." -Boston Globe "Captivating...Sullivan delivers a gripping account...a vivid portrait of the sailors, wives, girlfriends, and families and their world, in which the Plunkett's battles often seem like interludes. As is typical in war, tedium was the norm, excitement came at rare intervals, and one horrendous incident ensured the ship's place in history." -Kirkus Reviews, STARRED review "Sullivan recreates the heat and chaos of the crew's epic struggles to keep the Plunkett afloat, fighting onboard fires and preventing detonation of depth charges and ammunition as the ship burned. Readers, especially those with command of naval terminology, can virtually become part of the crew's frenzied reeling as they aided their injured, dying, and dead comrades and kept the Plunkett seaworthy." -Booklist