Goodbye, Darkness

This emotional and honest memoir from a renowned biographer-historian recounts his experiences as a young soldier during World War II.

The nightmares began for William Manchester twenty-three years after the war ended. In his dreams he lived with the recurring image of a battle-weary youth (himself), “angrily demanding to know what had happened to the three decades since he had laid down his arms.” To find out, Manchester visited those places in the Pacific where as a young Marine he fought the Japanese, and in Goodbye, Darkness, examines his experiences on the line with his fellow soldiers (his “brothers”).

“Gripping. . . . It is impossible for an American to read this book without pride in what his country accomplished in those days of enormous challenge.” —Christian Science Monitor

“When Manchester speaks of the awesome heroism and hideous suffering of the Marines he lived with and fought with, he is reverent before the mystery of individual courage and gallantry.” —Baltimore Sun

“Never have the savagery, madness, ferocity, violence, guts, crud, gristle, and gore of war been better put down on paper. . . . Goodbye, Darkness belongs with the best war memoirs ever written.” —Los Angeles Times