Sergeant York and His People

Description

Readers interested in the history of World War I and in the general view of the War while it was still going on will surely agree that Sergeant York and His People by Sam K. Cowan is a real gem.

The novel is based on the true story of a WWI American hero, Alvin York, but it is also a wonderful character development story at the same time. The reader meets the protagonist, the future sergeant as he is leaving his Tennessee home to join the war. The book then goes on to describe the hardships this brave young man goes through and the path that transforms him into a hero. Sergeant York is in the Forest of Argonne when he finds himself surrounded by German soldiers with machine guns, yet he does not run – he decides to fight the enemy until his last breath. He adopts a clever strategy and defeats the Germans, taking all 132 of them prisoners and escorting them to the American lines.

The book is, in fact, a somewhat idealistic account of a man’s life, but it is also a detailed account of how the character of the hero has come to being. The reader is offered not only the story of how York captures the Germans, of what he thinks and what he sees in Argonne, but also a detailed account of how his personality developed up to the point of joining the Army. Cowan presents the hero’s family, his family history and his surroundings in great detail, making this book a masterfully written biography of a war hero and of an era, too.

Sam K. Cowan’s book enjoyed success at the time it was published and later on as well, inspiring Hollywood to make it into a movie – in the film released in 1941, the role of Sergeant York was played by none other than Gary Cooper.
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