The unforgettable true story of two married journalists on an island-hopping run for their lives across the Pacific after the Fall of Manila during World War II—a saga of love, adventure, and danger.On New Year’s Eve, 1941, just three weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese were bombing the Philippine capital of Manila, where journalists Mel and Annalee Jacoby had married just a … just a month earlier. The couple had worked in China as members of a tight community of foreign correspondents with close ties to Chinese leaders; if captured by invading Japanese troops, they were certain to be executed. Racing to the docks just before midnight, they barely escaped on a freighter—the beginning of a tumultuous journey that would take them from one island outpost to another. While keeping ahead of the approaching Japanese, Mel and Annalee covered the harrowing war in the Pacific Theater—two of only a handful of valiant and dedicated journalists reporting from the region.
Supported by deep historical research, extensive interviews, and the Jacobys’ personal letters, Bill Lascher recreates the Jacobys’ thrilling odyssey and their love affair with the Far East and one another. Bringing to light their compelling personal stories and their professional life together, Eve of a Hundred Midnights is a tale of an unquenchable thirst for adventure, of daring reportage at great personal risk, and of an enduring romance that blossomed in the shadow of war.
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This is an amazing read. Melville and Annalee Jacoby are 25-year-old journalists who will stop at nothing to tell the store of the war in the Pacific in the early days of World War II. Part biography, part war story, part travelogue, Eve of a Hundred Midnights is a rare combination that I could hardly set down once I’d begun to read.
Initially interested in China, and the plight of the Chinese as Japan intensifies its multi-year war against them, Mel Jacoby narrowly escapes the Japanese first in China and then in Indochina before settling into Manila on the eve of the Pearl Harbor (and SE Asia) bombardments. He and his bride of just a few weeks take what is literally the last boat out of Manila and join MacArthur and his troops at Corregidor, from whence they must again make a harrowing escape.
What I loved about this book is that not only was it well-written, and not only did it tell a compelling story about the Jacobys, but also Bill Lascher has done a phenomenal job of making sense of the war in China, as well as the early days of the war in the Pacific. From the invasion of Manchuria to the incident at the Marco Polo bridge, and then certainly the events in Indochina and beyond, these were great, complicated geopolitical events that too many authors choose to gloss over for the sake of not dragging readers too deep into the weeds. (James Bradley’s Flyboys is similarly in-depth, and came to mind many times as I read Lascher’s work.) I also appreciated the nuanced way in which he captured the zeitgeist in Manila, which was so conflicted between anger at the U.S. over delayed independence and pride, for lack of a better term, in being a protectorate. And their faith, oh the misplaced faith that so tore at Melville and Annalee…
Eve of a Hundred Midnights is a fascinating portrait of World War II journalism and journalists. It also has the rare quality of reading like travel writing, so that the reader is whisked through Asia and the South Pacific alongside the Jacobys.
This is a wonderful book about a part of American History that is rarely addressed in popluar literature. I grew up on tales of Ernie Pyle, I think that Mel Jacoby and his wife belong right up there with him.
Very good historical book about a time in our history, that all should know about.
Great story about Asia during the lead up to America’s involvement with WW2. This couple were definitely adventurous! So glad the author was gifted the correspondence of two exceptional journalists.
The story of these two journalists and their colleagues in the Pacific during WWII is packed with action and information about this area during the war, which I found fascinating. A very good read.
Most of the book is really about Mel and how he ended up in Manila prior to the US retreat and Japanese army’s arrival. It’s a very interesting story, about living in a war capital, navigating the different censors and political bodies, and seeing war grow ever closer, all the while trying to report the news in a way that no one back home was actually doing. I really enjoyed this, because it was a perspective that we don’t usually get. Lascher includes a hefty reference section in the back, and it’s a pretty good bet that Mel and Annalee actually did think and feel as he portrays them, because he quotes their letters and cables extensively. Lascher is a very engaging writer, and makes Mel and Annalee’s story into just that: a story. I think he does wax poetic a couple of times; the epilogue is a great example of this. It’s very purple and completely unnecessary to the content of the book. Overall, though, this was a really great book that offered a fairly unique perspective into a part of the war, and the lead-up to it, that we don’t typically get to see. Very interesting.
I just couldn’t get interested!
Just too much detail. Couldn’t finish. Dissappointed.
The true story of journalists striving to survive the Japanese in China and on through the Pacific during WWII is fascinating and scary. A look through their eyes at this era in history and dangers they faced is a reminder that the view we see in our history books and in our news reports doesn’t even cover the bravery and dedication of these heroes.
The sub-title, star-crossed lovers, hadn’t even begun after 156 pages. Too many foreign town names, too many unimportant characters—I’ve only quit reading 3 books in my life—-this was #3!
Having read a lot of history of WWII I found this very interesting because it had information that I had not read before. Good read.
Very slow moving sometimes too wordy
This was a fascinating book with characters better than fiction! What an amazing woman! Most Americans don’t know enough about the war in the Pacific..
A true story that I found romantic, tragic, inspiring, and informative. It dwells on details and name-drops frequently, but it did happen and in momentous times. Some reviews found it boring but I found it riveting. I did not know the outcome until I encountered it but I had my suspicions. It has been a couple of days since I finished it and still feel intensely about the characters. They LIVED. And persevered in situations that I would have shrunk from. They deserve to be remembered.
I gave up reading after half way through because it was soooo slow and he’d just met the woman he would marry. I didn’t get to the adventure of their freighter journey to freedom. I bought it for the adventure theme of a dinner book club. Could not recommend it.