What people say about Battle Songs:
“It is amazing that this book is not already listed with the classics. Paul Zolbrod brings the reader right into the smoke, blood, fear, sacrifice, and insanity, of war, as seen through the eyes of these four young men.”
“Paul G. Zolbrod has written an outstanding book about four young men from the mining and farm communities of western Pennsylvania who in 1951 were drafted into the U.S. army to fight in Korea. The book is divided into “four movements”, each describing the experience of one of the Pennsylvanians. But this is more than a novel about the war, it deals with the relationship of the group, the environment from which they came, and questions about the morality of war. A really great read.”
“Battle Songs follows the fortunes of four young men from Pennsylvania who are drafted into the Korean War: Sam, Dick, Fran, and Ben. The author does as good a job of introducing the reader to 50s small-town life in Pennsylvaia (coal-mining towns) as he does to the horrors of the Korean War. Both prove to be fascinating subjects.
The narration is detailed, nuanced, and poignant: ‘Very few people paid any attention to the inductees. . . . The young men were all old enough to remember the Second World War, when the newly drafted were paraded through the streets in broad daylight like heroes, not smuggled out through alleyways at night. People cheered as men left for the Big War . . . . But when these youngsters left to fight in Korea in 1951, there was neither ceremony nor public sadness. They were simply taken away from life and noise and freedom to fight a war that people even then wanted to pretend did not exist, and that people now have either forgotten or never knew of to begin with.’
Several scenes have stayed with me–a big fight between a newcomer and a townie back in Pennsylvania, a sniper picking of the wounded as they are being transported to the hospital in Korea, a climb of Oku Hodaka, a 2,000-foot-high mountain in Japan, near where Sam has been assigned to a medical detachment. All in all, this book is well worth the read.”
“When I sat down to read Battle Songs, I intended to read just one chapter and then go about my day. Instead, my entire afternoon was spent reading this book. I simply could not put it down. The characters are so compelling, it was essential that I know how their stories ended. And, what an ending. Paul Zolbrod’s novel of four young men who become soldiers in the Korean War is full of depth and wisdom, history and cultural significance. Historical, geographical, literary, and cultural research is effortlessly and eloquently woven into a story of friendship, war, and coming of age in the 1950’s. It is poignant, heartbreaking, at times amusing, and full of rich detail and authentic characters that will stay with the reader for a very long time. This is the perfect book not only for veterans of any war, but their loved ones as well.”
Battle Songs is available on Amazon.com. Sales from the book help the museum further its literary programs.
MAMF Library & Letters 