the last thing you surrender by leonard pitts jr

Leonard Pitts always takes race issues head on and this book, set during WW II, in both Alabama and the European and Pacific Theaters, covers a lot of ground. What does it take to change someone's mind about race? What does it take for a country and a people to move forward, transformed?

Set against a backdrop of violent racial conflict on both the front lines and the home front, The Last Thing You Surrender explores the powerful moral struggles of individuals from a divided nation. a black man, who as a child saw his parents brutally lynched, is conscripted to fight Nazis for a country he despises and discovers a new kind of patriotism in the all-black 761st Tank Battalion. a young black woman, widowed by the same events at Pearl, finds unexpected opportunity and a dangerous friendship in a segregated Alabama shipyard feeding the war. Pulitzer-winning journalist and bestselling novelist ( Freeman) Leonard Pitts, Jr.'s new historical page-turner is a great American tale of race and war, following three characters from the Jim Crow South as they face the enormous changes World War II triggers in the United States.Īn affluent white marine survives Pearl Harbor at the cost of a black messman's life only to be sent, wracked with guilt, to the Pacific and taken prisoner by the Japanese. SynopsisĬould you find the courage to do what's right in a world on fire? Set against a backdrop of global conflict, The Last Thing You Surrender delves deep into the personal and moral struggles that divided communities and families in an America about to transform.

Meanwhile, Thelma finds unexpected opportunity in the shipyards feeding the war effort, while her angry alcoholic brother is conscripted to fight Nazis for the country he despises. His experience of the war's horrors-both in battle and in captivity-threatens his essential humanity. George is sent back to the Pacific, where he is eventually taken prisoner by the Japanese. He learns that the man who lost his own life after saving him was the estranged husband of Thelma Gordy, a young black woman from Alabama. George Simon, a principled young Marine from an affluent white Southern family, survives serious injury at Pearl Harbor. Unfolding in three theaters of the war-the Pacific, Europe, and America's Deep South-this powerful novel is certain to challenge the way many Americans have looked at this pivotal time in US history. Pitts offers readers a page-turning story about the enormous changes World War II triggered in America. This latest novel by Pulitzer-winning journalist and bestselling novelist ( Freeman) Leonard Pitts, Jr., is a great American tale of race and war.

The last thing you surrender by leonard pitts jr