Fortress in the Rice

Indianapolis/New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc.. Near Fine in Very Good+ dj. (c.1951). First Edition. Hardcover. [nice clean copy, minimal shelfwear to book; jacket shows just a touch of edgewear, tiny chip at top of spine, small scratch mid-spine]. Novel set in the Japanese-occuped Philippines during World War II. "In this powerful, fast-moving novel of the Philippines, from Pearl Harbor to the return of the Americans, [the author] has dealt with a whole society, created a world in a fashion achieved by few American novelists. [The narrative involves] battles, love affairs, torture chambers, orgies, political machinations, [and] marches through the jungle -- each of these reflect[ing] in one way or another the central struggle in the Philippines and the basic conflict that attends the human condition." Appel had gathered background information for this book while stationed in the Philippines as a special assistant to the U.S. High Commissioner immediately after the end of the war. The book later served as the basis for the 1963 film CRY OF BATTLE, directed by Irving Lerner and starring Van Heflin and Rita Moreno. (Somebody once called Appel "the best hard-boiled writer you've never heard of" -- oh, wait, that somebody was me.) .