Face of a Hero [Paperback]

Louis Falstein (Author), Louis Falskin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1999

A rediscovered novel of World War II air combat that predates Catch-22 by a decade.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This long-forgotten 1950 novel caused a stir last year when the London Times published a letter indicating that it was incredibly similar to Heller's classic Catch-22, which it predated by more than ten years. This autobiographical tale describes the horrors of World War II both in aerial combat and the Nazi death camps.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 253 pages
• Publisher: Steerforth Press; Second Printing edition (January 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883642698
• ISBN-13: 978-1883642693
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,118,232 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Haunting Book, December 15, 1999

By 

Joseph N. Shugrue - See all my reviews

This review is from: Face of a Hero (Paperback)

Book deserves all the praise it has gotten. At age 18 I was an aerial gunner who flew 28 missions out of Italy. This remarkably accurate book brought me back in haunting ways to times that seem like a dream to me now. Falstein's hero knew what he was fighting for. He felt others did not. In fact, however, like Falstein, a big percentage of WWII airmen I knew were idealistic in the better sense of that word. A mad man was tying to enslave the world and they in their own way were trying to stop him. That simple! Great book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gripping Memoir That Stands Out Among the Brummagem, September 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Face of a Hero (Paperback)

As an earlier review said, this is a straight memoir, not a novel per se. And as such, it is thoroughly clear-eyed, insightful and moving. A "Old Man" (34 year-old) B-24 Liberator gunner rides crew with the young boys who rapidly become old men as well. Falstein's ruminations show the men as they ineluctably crumble on the inside with each successive mission in their vulnerable, lumbering bombers -- not knowing exactly what they are fighting for, but knowing, simply, that they must go on. A stunning memoir, one of the finest out there; worth more than many others put together.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book not only to read but to very much feel, August 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Face of a Hero (Paperback)

Face of a Hero is a book i first read back in 1951 when i was a teenager and WW2 was still fresh in my adolesent mind and altho at that time there were many things i could not fully fathom, it was a book i never forgot, but the book never again was to be seen until a recent visit to a bookstore almost 50 years later. Having now once again read it as a senior citizen I realize why i never forgot it. This war story carries an impact that i personally feel Catch 22 does not, that of a mans feeling down deep inside and certainly not one of heroics. If you look for a flag waving novel filled with statistics of how many planes (we) shot down or bombs dropped, read something else. But if you wish to share a mans terror at 10,000 ft. or the smell of death in a hospital room. This i feel is a class A read