JAMES CAMPBELL mounted an expedition to New Guinea to retrace the route of the Ghost Mountain Boys and discovered a wilderness almost unchanged in more than sixty years. He is the author of The Final Frontiersman and has written for Outside magazine as well as many other publications.
“Riveting... The Ghost Mountain Boys offers a new, harrowing world
to explore.”
—Richmond Times-Dispatch
“The Buna campaign in New Guinea was one of the most awful slogs of
World War II and one of the least reported. Now we are fortunate to
have Jim Campbell’s outstanding Ghost Mountain Boys illuminate the
heroes of the 32nd Division.”
–James Bradley, bestselling author of Flags of Our Fathers and
Flyboys
“The ragged heroes cursed to serve in MacArthur's New Guinea
campaigns faced some of the most hellish fighting in all of World
War II. In this intimate and at times excruciatingly vivid account,
James Campbell feelingly recreates the American army's encounters
not only with a fanatical foe but with more insidious adversaries
like jungle rot, malaria, and the venomous creepy-crawlies of the
rainforest. The result is both a classic war story and a spirited
safari through one of the most exotic landscapes on earth.”
—Hampton Sides, author of Ghost Soldiers and Blood and Thunder
“Jim Campbell's The Ghost Mountain Boys is one of those rare World
War II tales that really do deserve to be retold. Thoroughly
researched and expertly written, this engaging
narrative will please both military historians
and readers looking for an exciting odyssey of
extraordinary courage and determination.”
—Alex Kershaw, author of The Longest Winter and The Few
“Campbell has crafted a compelling war history, one that reads as a
page-turner.”
—FiftyPlus magazine
“Campbell brings to vivid life one of the more forgotten, grislier
campaigns of World War II, the Buna Trail campaign in New Guinea.
The Japanese were trying to get a foothold on the south coast of
the island, opposite Australia. The American Thirty-second Infantry
Division had the job of driving them back over the Owen Stanley
Mountain. It succeeded, at the cost of more than 10,000 casualties,
four-fifths of them from tropical diseases contracted in the face
of heavy rain, astonishing depths of mud, rugged terrain,
perpetually rancid weather, shortage of supplies (including
medicines), and, not incidentally, the Japanese. The most poignant
part of the book consists of the letters of an army surgeon who
eventually committed suicide, but every part of the book entitles
it to a berth in WWII collections.”
—Booklist
“In this compelling and sprightly-written account — grounded in
oral interviews with the dwindling list of survivors, diaries,
letters, and official records — Campbell shines a long-overdue
light on the equally-deserving heroes of the Red Arrow
Division.”
—Military.com, Tom Miller
“The Ghost Moutain Boys reads like an epic movie script, with
nonstop action from beginning to end. Campbell has done a stellar
job telling this remarkable story of perseverance, bravery and
human suffering. For those that already know the 32nd Division's
story, this work tells their tale with the sort of depth and detail
that is sure to enlighten even further. For those that haven't
heard of their dramatic stand, this story will be forever etched in
memory.”
—Martin Dugard, author of Training Ground and Last Voyage of
Columbus
“A gut-wrenching saga of young, unequipped soldiers bravely
fighting and dying in the hellish jungles of New Guinea. Campbell’s
poignant, personal accounts of the U.S. Army’s 32nd Division
slogging through the ‘ultimate nightmare country’ are as
relevant as today’s nightmarish headlines from Iraq.”
—Charles Jones, author of BOYS OF ’67: From Vietnam to Iraq, the
Extraordinary Story of a Few Good Men
“The boys of Wisconsin and Michigan who crossed the hellish jungles
of New Guinea and laid down their lives in MacArthur’s crusade for
the Pacific–and their wives, sweethearts and children–can finally
rest easy. James Campbell’s Ghost Mountain Boys is the literary
monument they deserve. As riveting as Black Hawk Down and as
gut-wrenching as Ghost Soldiers, Campbell’s account reminds us of
their endurance, sacrifice, and heroism--and also of what a
privilege it is to be an American.”
—Dean King, author of Skeletons on the Zahara
“Every reader wants to believe in the author, that he has visited
places of the heart, mind and world, to fetch us back facts,
insights, revelations, even sufferings. James Campbell has delved
as deeply as a writer can into the 32 nd Division’s nightmare
struggle on World War II New Guinea. The Ghost Mountain Boys is
what he lugged back from the jungle and steaming streams. The tale
is fearsome, authentic, and brave.”
–David L. Robbins, author of The Assassins Gallery and War Of The
Rats"
“An absorbing account of the climax of the New Guinea campaign,
perhaps MacArthur's worst- managed battle and a terrible ordeal for
the seasoned Australian and raw American troops who fought
there.”
—Library Review
"Author Campbell (The Final Frontiersman) retraces the steps of the
U.S. Army’s 32nd Infantry Division, and its harrowing fight to
capture Buna, New Guinea from the Japanese, in this
grunt’s-eye-view of one harrowing WWII mission. The 32nd was a
National Guard Division that had made a name for itself on the
battlefields in WWI, but by the time America entered WWII, they
were less than prepared. Still, the division was shipped to
Australia without any effective combat training, from which they
were sent to navigate New Guinea’s rain forests without any jungle
training, or even proper supplies. Eager to take the fight to the
enemy, the men of the 32nd were not ready for their fight against
the island itself, a poorly mapped country with no overland roads,
virtually impassable mountains, crocodile-filled swamps and
disease-carrying mosquitoes. Campbell’s novel-like retelling shows
how they accomplished what many would call impossible, or at least
suicidal; at the same time, Campbell accounts for the Japanese in
New Guinea, who suffered the same, if not worse—both high commands
viewed New Guinea as crucial, but not crucial enough to properly
support. This intense narrative is a fitting tribute and an
excellent, relevant illustration of that elusive phenomenon known
as the fog of war."
—Publishers Weekly
“Sometimes you see it written in a fiction review that the
geographical setting is as much of a character in the novel as the
actual characters. This observation can be extended to nonfiction
as well, for in James Campbell's superb The Ghost Mountain Boys,
the island of New Guinea is one of the most fearsome characters you
will ever want to come across, in fiction or real life…The Ghost
Mountain Boys is carefully organized, researched and written with
great sensitivity and understanding.”
—Chicago Sun Times
"The Ghost Mountain Boys is an accurate and up-close telling of a
fierce fight. It's a gripping story. In the end, it is also
inspirational.”
—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"Riveting... The Ghost Mountain Boys offers a new, harrowing
world to explore."
-Richmond Times-Dispatch
"The Buna campaign in New Guinea was one of the most awful slogs of
World War II and one of the least reported. Now we are fortunate to
have Jim Campbell's outstanding Ghost Mountain Boys
illuminate the heroes of the 32nd Division."
-James Bradley, bestselling author of Flags of Our
Fathers and Flyboys
"The ragged heroes cursed to serve in MacArthur's New Guinea
campaigns faced some of the most hellish fighting in all of World
War II. In this intimate and at times excruciatingly vivid account,
James Campbell feelingly recreates the American army's encounters
not only with a fanatical foe but with more insidious adversaries
like jungle rot, malaria, and the venomous creepy-crawlies of the
rainforest. The result is both a classic war story and a spirited
safari through one of the most exotic landscapes on earth."
-Hampton Sides, author of Ghost Soldiers and Blood and
Thunder
"Jim Campbell's The Ghost Mountain Boys is one of those rare
World War II tales that really do deserve to be retold. Thoroughly
researched and expertly written, this engaging narrative will
please both military historians and readers looking for an exciting
odyssey of extraordinary courage and determination."
-Alex Kershaw, author of The Longest Winter and The
Few
"Campbell has crafted a compelling war history, one that
reads as a page-turner."
-FiftyPlus magazine
"Campbell brings to vivid life one of the more forgotten, grislier
campaigns of World War II, the Buna Trail campaign in New Guinea.
The Japanese were trying to get a foothold on the south coast of
the island, opposite Australia. The American Thirty-second Infantry
Division had the job of driving them back over the Owen Stanley
Mountain. It succeeded, at the cost of more than 10,000 casualties,
four-fifths of them from tropical diseases contracted in the face
of heavy rain, astonishing depths of mud, rugged terrain,
perpetually rancid weather, shortage of supplies (including
medicines), and, not incidentally, the Japanese. The most poignant
part of the book consists of the letters of an army surgeon who
eventually committed suicide, but every part of the book entitles
it to a berth in WWII collections."
-Booklist
"In this compelling and sprightly-written account - grounded in
oral interviews with the dwindling list of survivors, diaries,
letters, and official records - Campbell shines a long-overdue
light on the equally-deserving heroes of the Red Arrow
Division."
-Military.com, Tom Miller
"The Ghost Moutain Boys reads like an epic movie script,
with nonstop action from beginning to end. Campbell has done a
stellar job telling this remarkable story of perseverance, bravery
and human suffering. For those that already know the 32nd
Division's story, this work tells their tale with the sort of depth
and detail that is sure to enlighten even further. For those that
haven't heard of their dramatic stand, this story will be forever
etched in memory."
-Martin Dugard, author of Training Ground and Last Voyage
of Columbus
"A gut-wrenching saga of young, unequipped soldiers bravely
fighting and dying in the hellish jungles of New Guinea. Campbell's
poignant, personal accounts of the U.S. Army's 32nd Division
slogging through the 'ultimate nightmare country' are as relevant
as today's nightmarish headlines from Iraq."
-Charles Jones, author of BOYS OF '67: From Vietnam to Iraq, the
Extraordinary Story of a Few Good Men
"The boys of Wisconsin and Michigan who crossed the hellish
jungles of New Guinea and laid down their lives in MacArthur's
crusade for the Pacific-and their wives, sweethearts and
children-can finally rest easy. James Campbell's Ghost Mountain
Boys is the literary monument they deserve. As riveting as
Black Hawk Down and as gut-wrenching as Ghost
Soldiers, Campbell's account reminds us of their endurance,
sacrifice, and heroism--and also of what a privilege it is to be an
American."
-Dean King, author of Skeletons on the Zahara
"Every reader wants to believe in the author, that he has visited
places of the heart, mind and world, to fetch us back facts,
insights, revelations, even sufferings. James Campbell has delved
as deeply as a writer can into the 32 nd Division's nightmare
struggle on World War II New Guinea. The Ghost Mountain Boys
is what he lugged back from the jungle and steaming streams. The
tale is fearsome, authentic, and brave."
-David L. Robbins, author of The Assassins Gallery and
War Of The Rats"
"An absorbing account of the climax of the New Guinea campaign,
perhaps MacArthur's worst- managed battle and a terrible ordeal for
the seasoned Australian and raw American troops who fought
there."
-Library Review
"Author Campbell (The Final Frontiersman) retraces
the steps of the U.S. Army's 32nd Infantry Division, and its
harrowing fight to capture Buna, New Guinea from the Japanese, in
this grunt's-eye-view of one harrowing WWII mission. The 32nd was a
National Guard Division that had made a name for itself on the
battlefields in WWI, but by the time America entered WWII, they
were less than prepared. Still, the division was shipped to
Australia without any effective combat training, from which they
were sent to navigate New Guinea's rain forests without any jungle
training, or even proper supplies. Eager to take the fight to the
enemy, the men of the 32nd were not ready for their fight against
the island itself, a poorly mapped country with no overland roads,
virtually impassable mountains, crocodile-filled swamps and
disease-carrying mosquitoes. Campbell's novel-like retelling shows
how they accomplished what many would call impossible, or at least
suicidal; at the same time, Campbell accounts for the Japanese in
New Guinea, who suffered the same, if not worse-both high commands
viewed New Guinea as crucial, but not crucial enough to properly
support. This intense narrative is a fitting tribute and an
excellent, relevant illustration of that elusive phenomenon known
as the fog of war."
-Publishers Weekly
"Sometimes you see it written in a fiction review that the
geographical setting is as much of a character in the novel as the
actual characters. This observation can be extended to nonfiction
as well, for in James Campbell's superb The Ghost Mountain
Boys, the island of New Guinea is one of the most fearsome
characters you will ever want to come across, in fiction or real
life...The Ghost Mountain Boys is carefully organized,
researched and written with great sensitivity and
understanding."
-Chicago Sun Times
"The Ghost Mountain Boys is an accurate and up-close telling
of a fierce fight. It's a gripping story. In the end, it is also
inspirational."
-Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Ask a Question About this Product More... |