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Eric Hammel

Goodreads author profile

born

June 29, 1946 in Salem, Massachusetts, The United States

gender

male

website

http://www.EricHammelBooks.com

genre

History, Biographies & Memoirs

influences

Walter Lord, John Willard Toland

member since

December 2011

About this author

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I was born in 1946, in Salem, Massachusetts, and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I graduated from Central High School of Philadelphia in January 1964 and earned a degree in Journalism from Temple University in 1972.

My road to writing military history began at age 12, when I was stuck in bed for a week with a childhood illness. My father bought me the first paperback book I ever owned, Walter Lord’s Day of Infamy. As I devoured the book, I realized that I wanted to write books exactly like it — what we now call popular narrative history. Lord had pieced together the book from official records illuminated with the recollections of people who were there.

I began to write my first military history book when I was 15. It eventually turned o...more I was born in 1946, in Salem, Massachusetts, and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I graduated from Central High School of Philadelphia in January 1964 and earned a degree in Journalism from Temple University in 1972.

My road to writing military history began at age 12, when I was stuck in bed for a week with a childhood illness. My father bought me the first paperback book I ever owned, Walter Lord’s Day of Infamy. As I devoured the book, I realized that I wanted to write books exactly like it — what we now call popular narrative history. Lord had pieced together the book from official records illuminated with the recollections of people who were there.

I began to write my first military history book when I was 15. It eventually turned out to be Guadalcanal: Starvation Island. I completed the first draft before I graduated from high school. During my first year of college, I wrote the first draft of Munda Trail, and I got started on 76 Hours when I was a college junior. Then I got married and went to work, which left me no time to pursue my writing except as a journalism student. I quit school at the end of my junior year and went to work in advertising in 1970. I completed my journalism degree in 1972, moved to California in 1975, and finally got back to writing while I operated my own one-man ad agency and started on a family.

76 Hours was published in 1980, and Chosin followed in 1982. At the end of 1983 I was offered enough of an advance to write The Root: The Marines in Beirut to take up writing books full time. The rest, as they say, is history. I eventually published under my own imprint, Pacifica Press, which morphed into Pacifica Military History.

At some point in the late 1990s, I realized I had not written in five years, so I pretty much closed down the publishing operation, and pieced together a string of pictorial combat histories for Zenith Press. I "retired" in 2008 and took up writing as a full-time hobby. And here we are. Now I am publishing several new narratives under the Pacifica Military History imprint, reprinting all of my older books as print-on-demand trade paperbacks, and also converting my body of older works to digital format for sale under Amazon.com's Kindle program and other e-book programs. I also publish ebook editions of other people's new military history and military fiction at http://www.PacificaMilitary.com

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Eric Hammel's Blog

Big Publishers Don't Want to Sell Ebooks

Have you noticed that most ebooks released by the major publishers sell for $12.99 to $16.99? And ebooks from smaller publishers usually sell for no more than $9.99?

This is because the big--"traditional"--publishers have no desire to sell you ebooks. In fact the only reason they sell ebooks at all is to comply with contract terms they force down the throats of their authors. To get ebook rights... read more »

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Published on May 16, 2012 19:58 • 12 views • Tags: author-royalty, ebook-pricing

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Books by Eric Hammel

Average rating: 3.94 · 205 ratings · 18 reviews · 43 distinct works

	Chosin: Heroic Ordeal of the Korean War 4.00 avg rating — 23 ratings — published 1981 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Guadalcanal Decision At Sea: The Naval Battle Of Guadalcanal 3.79 avg rating — 24 ratings — published 1988 — 5 editions	My rating:
	Guadalcanal: Starvation Island 4.29 avg rating — 14 ratings — published 1987 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Fire in the Streets: The Battle for Hue, TET 1968 3.80 avg rating — 15 ratings — published 1991 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Six Days in June: How Israel Won the 1967 Arab-Israeli War 3.75 avg rating — 12 ratings — published 1992 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Carrier Clash: The Invasion of Guadalcanal and the Battle of the Eastern Solomons August 1942 3.85 avg rating — 13 ratings — published 1988 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Iwo Jima: Portrait of a Battle: United States Marines at War in the Pacific 4.57 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 2006 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Aces Against Japan: The American Aces Speak: Aces Against Japan: The American Aces Speak 4.12 avg rating — 8 ratings — published 1995 — 5 editions	My rating:
	The Root: The Marines in Beirut, August 1982-February 1984 4.17 avg rating — 6 ratings — 5 editions	My rating:
	The Siege Of Khe Sanh: An Oral History 3.91 avg rating — 11 ratings — published 1989 — 6 editions	My rating:

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Eric Hammel is now friends with Sharon Hunter
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Eric Hammel

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Eric's Recent Updates

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Eric's Bookshelves

Eric's Friends (1)

Eric's Fans (7)

Eric Hammel

Goodreads author profile

2 postsEric Hammel's Blog

combine editionsBooks by Eric Hammel

Upcoming Events

rssEric's Recent Updates

Topics Mentioning This Author

Eric's Friend Comments

Flag Abuse

Add New
Videos

2 posts
Eric Hammel's Blog

combine editions
Books by Eric Hammel

rss
Eric's Recent Updates