Football is war. That is mainly what Bissinger (Friday Night Lights) reminds readers of in his new account of a forgotten moment during World War II. The Mosquito Bowl was a Christmas Eve football game between two regiments of the U.S. Marine Corps that happened in 1944. Of the 65 marines that played that day, 20 men were or would be drafted by the NFL. Within months, 15 of the players would lose their lives during the invasion of Okinawa. Twenty others would be wounded. The author takes readers onto the battlefield the same way he previously took them onto the gridiron. He introduces the men who led the fighting, both on the field and in the Pacific Theater, before creating a compelling narrative of a marine's life in Guadalcanal and during the invasion of Okinawa. Fans of Bissinger's previous books will find a rich character-driven narrative about two of the dirtiest and deadliest battlefields of World War II. VERDICT Bissinger has found a way to merge sports with World War II to give readers a heartbreaking narrative of what many young men went through in the last days of World War II. Highly recommended.--John Rodzvilla

Bissinger (Friday Night Lights) effortlessly combines sports and military history in this gritty account of a football game played by U.S. Marines on Guadalcanal in December 1944. Noting that no other branch of the military attracted more college gridiron stars, Bissinger spotlights, among others, Notre Dame captain George Murphy and the University of Wisconsin's two-time All-American end, David Schreiner. After months of trash-talking between these and other former collegiate football players in the 4th and 29th regiments of the 6th Marine Division on Guadalcanal, the two sides squared off on the parade ground in T-shirts and dungarees, playing a hard-fought game that devolved into a bloody brawl among the "dirt and pebbles and shards of coral." The football action is vivid but brief, as the game turned out to be "two hours of life that turned into death several months later," when 15 of the 65 Marines who played in the Mosquito Bowl were killed and 20 more wounded during the Battle of Okinawa. The book excels in its sweeping yet fine-grained portraits of how these Marines got to Guadalcanal and in the harrowing descriptions of Pacific Theater combat, including the bloody fight for Sugar Loaf Hill on Okinawa. This is a penetrating tale of courage and sacrifice. Agent: Eric Simonoff, WME. (Sept.)

For two hours on Christmas Eve in December 1944, thousands of miles from home, on the island of Guadalcanal, 65 men from the 4th and 29th regiments of the 6th Marine Division, many of whom had been college football stars before the war and were seemingly headed for NFL careers, took part in a football game that allowed them to relive past glories and forget the war, if only briefly. The contest, which came to be known as the Mosquito Bowl, was fiercely competitive, with each regiment determined to best the other. The players knew they would soon see action on the battlefield, but they had no idea that they were being readied for the invasion of Okinawa, where 15 of them would die and many more would be injured. Bissinger, author of the football classic Friday Night Lights, employs the familiar narrative-nonfiction device of focusing on a few of the characters involved in a larger story and immersing the reader in their lives, sharing their thoughts, their fears, and their dreams of what their lives might be like if they were to make it home. This well-researched and impassioned book not only chronicles a little-known moment in sports history but also offers a poignant snapshot of the tragedy of war. Bissinger says of these brave men who sacrificed everything, "They deserved so much more."

A uniquely focused World War II history interweaving military heroics and college football. Many books describe the consequential Battle of Okinawa in 1945, but this one deserves serious attention. Pulitzer Prize--winning journalist Bissinger, author of Friday Night Lights, makes good use of his sports expertise to deliver a vivid portrait of college football before and during WWII, when it was a national obsession far more popular then professional leagues. He recounts the lives and families of a group of outstanding players who made their marks before joining the Marines to endure brutal training followed by a series of island battles culminating in Okinawa, which many did not survive. The author, whose father served at Okinawa, offers illuminating diversions into Marine history, the birth of amphibious tactics between the wars (they did not exist before), the course of the Pacific war, and the often unedifying politics that guided its course. To readers expecting another paean to the Greatest Generation, Bissinger delivers several painful jolts. Often racist but ordered to accept Black recruits, Marine leaders made sure they were segregated and treated poorly. Though many of the athletes yearned to serve, some took advantage of a notorious draft-dodging institution: West Point. Eagerly welcomed by its coaching staff, which fielded the best Army teams in its history, they played throughout the war and then deliberately flunked out (thus avoiding compulsory service) in order to join the NFL. In December 1944 on Guadalcanal (conquered two years earlier), two bored Marine regiments suffered and trained for the upcoming invasion. Between them, they contained 64 former football players. Inevitably, they chose sides and played a bruising, long-remembered game, dubbed the Mosquito Bowl. In the final third of the book, Bissinger provides a capable account of the battle, a brutal slog led by an inexperienced general who vastly underestimated his job. The author emphasizes the experience and tenacity of his subjects, most of whom were among the 15 killed. College football and World War II: not an obvious combination, but Bissinger handles it brilliantly. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.