Reviews

“A multifaceted, moving story of five American Ivy League students who committed themselves to fight alongside the British in the spring of 1941.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Rachel S. Cox’s Into Dust and Fire is an inspired saga about a group of young Americans who
hated Nazi totalitarianism to the core. Their rash bravery is the stuff of legend. This is an important
new contribution to our growing World War II must-read library.”
—Douglas Brinkley, Professor of History at Rice University and author of The Wilderness Warrior

“Rachel Cox’s book achieves a kind of miracle—bringing to startling life the story of five young Americans who volunteered to fight for Britain while the United States was still sitting out the war behind the Atlantic Ocean. Cox is a vigorous, intelligent writer, and her book is a dramatic tale of war, love, hardship, suffering and loss. Memories fade when war is over. The dead are mourned and then missed and finally forgotten. Cox’s miracle is to bring back these five young men in the moment when they risked everything to join the fight against Hitler.”
—Thomas Powers, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Killing of Crazy Horse 

“A moving, beautifully-written tale of five young Ivy Leaguers, romantics and idealists all, who left their privileged lives in peacetime America to join the British Army in its pre-Pearl Harbor struggle against the Nazis. In her quest to trace the wartime experiences of her uncle, Rob Cox, and his four colleagues, Rachel Cox has produced a masterpiece of storytelling, infused with romance, danger, adventure, humor, and heartbreaking loss. It is, hands down, the best description of the transformation of untested young men into soldiers that I have ever read.”
—Lynne Olson, author of Citizens of London and Troublesome Young Men

“Into Dust and Fire is a beautifully written book that evokes World War II in North Africa in a way that has rarely – if ever – been bettered. Meticulously researched, it casts fresh perspectives on this key period of the war. Moving and thought-provoking, this is a wonderful book.”
—James Holland, author of Together We Stand: America, Britain, and the Forging of an Alliance

“Rachel Cox has written an inspiring, richly-documented historical account that captures the essence of American valor. Into Dust and Fire fills in an essential piece of World War II history that will last for the ages.”
—Ken Gormley, Dean and Professor of Law at Duquesne University and award-winning author of Archibald Cox: Conscience of a Nation