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Trinity

4.16 of 5 stars 4.16 · rating details · 9,464 ratings · 606 reviews

From the acclaimed author who enthralled the world with Exodus, Battle Cry, QB VII, Topaz, and other beloved classics of twentieth-century fiction comes a sweeping and powerful epic adventure that captures the "terrible beauty" of Ireland during its long and bloody struggle for freedom. It is the electrifying story of an idealistic young Catholic rebel and the valiant and...more

Paperback, 912 pages

Published July 25th 2006 by Avon (first published February 5th 1976)

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Nov 11, 2009 Jennifer rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Jennifer by: Mrs. Davis

Shelves: favorites, own

This is one of the select few on my bookshelves that I've bothered to read more than once (quite a feat, as the book is roughly 800 pages or so) and has got to be one of my top five, if not my absolute favorite book of all time. This is the first Uris book I read, and I became an instant fan. Leon Uris is a masterful story-teller who irrevokably draws you in to his tales, and this one is about 19th century Ireland in which several decades of Irish history are woven into the stories of three fami...more

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Dec 01, 2008 David rated it 1 of 5 stars

In all of Leon Uris's books, the schema is very simple. There are good guys, and there are bad guys, and nowhere is there room for even a shade of ambiguity. This kind of cartoonish view of the world leads to books which might be better classified as propaganda than as historical fiction.

This was certainly the case for "Exodus", which amounted to thinly disguised propaganda. "Armageddon", dealing with the Berlin airlift, also tended toward crude 'good guy/bad guy' categorizations, but didn't bot...more

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Feb 03, 2010 Chrissie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Chrissie by: Mom

Shelves: hf, ireland, text-checked

STILL NO SPOILERS!

Done. Not one of my favorite books. I think lots of other people might like it. The history clearly chronicled in ythe last 100 pages was a plus. For me the characters had no depth. What you get is a story of Ireland's history through the 1800s and up to the beginning of the Great War. The tone is negative from start to finsih. The troubles will not end, the battles will continue forever. That is the message. I DO understand Irish history better after reading the book. That is...more STILL NO SPOILERS!

Done. Not one of my favorite books. I think lots of other people might like it. The history clearly chronicled in ythe last 100 pages was a plus. For me the characters had no depth. What you get is a story of Ireland's history through the 1800s and up to the beginning of the Great War. The tone is negative from start to finsih. The troubles will not end, the battles will continue forever. That is the message. I DO understand Irish history better after reading the book. That is why historical fiction is good - if the story doesn't grab you well then you can at least learn something.

Through page 528 of 751:I feel like I am the odd-ball. I can see why so many like this book. You come to understand the plight of the Irish situation. However this wasn't news to me when I started. For me the main character is just too GOOD. Nothing can deter him. When he falters, his friends are there to quickly nudge him back. I do not believe in PATRIOTISM. I know Irish feel a great love for their country. Russians too, but me I see good and bad things in all countries. I could never say I must live in just THAT one country. There are countries I might NOT choose to live in, at least not for more than a short time, but there are lots of countries where I would be happy. This all encompassing adoration for the country of your birth is hard for me to understand. On a lighter note - I really need the character Caroline in this book. She gives a breath of fresh air. She laughs, thinks and is practical. You do get to really know several characters in this book, the same characters return time and time again. I don't think anybody should avoid this book if you want a long, gripping story of the Irish experience. IF you think what is bothering me would also bother you, then maybe think twice.

Through page 458: Actually my previous comment is wrong. I do care about these people. The whole situation is so horrible. Even the strongest of the Irish themselves say that part of the probelem is the Irish themselves. They have been misstreated so long and so terribly that they have no will any more. It is hard to watch. It is so depressing when the strongest of them "fills up his friend's glass with ale", when they give up, when they accept defeat, when all that is enjoyable is another drink, when the two buddies accept to never see each other again. I have a hard time accepting such defeat. I know enough history to know that others too have gone through equally hard times and they have not succumbed to liquor. They have not accepted defeat. Maybe it is necessary to die fighting, but at least you go on fighting. This is so depressing. OK, maybe I am suppose to feel the horror so I can accept how some of the Irish have resorted to terrorism and violence. And the humor in thiz book is only sarcastic; there is no joy visible ever in these poor people's lives.

Throgugh page 410: What is happening is simply horrible. I ought to care more. I don't know whose fault that is - the author's or mine! But we all know what has happened to the Irish people is horrendous.

Through page 375: If you like a good, long epic story about a family I recommend this book. I have no trouble understanding why lots of people like it. Escape into that family and time and place. But I find it rather predictable. No, I don't know EVERYTHING that is going to happen, but when something happens I just think: OK, fine,that happened. I don't really care terribly much. I do not want to discourage people who like this kind of STORY. It is simply a GOOD story. Somehow that isn't enough for me.

"In the ensuing half hour Brigid made full disclosures (to Father Cluny), which included rolling in the grass and hay with him(her boy friend), pressing her body to his deliberately and enjoying it to the point of allowing further liberties on her breasts and three times between her legs, however with clothing in between.

Since the death of Father Lynch, Father Cluny had been receiving a great number of retroactive confessions. Some were more serious than this, some were better. He was thinking in terms of declaring a general amnesty rather than have half the parish serve penance. Their crops might rot what with all that praying."

Through page 250: I AM learning Irish history. I DO like some of the characters. Here is another book where the antics of the church make me happy I am NOT religious. BUT, when you start looking at how many pages you have read and how many are left AND when I keep going back to GR to check out other books rather than reading this - well then there is something wrong. It is a good story, but I am simply not emotionally engaged.

Through page 124: I wouldn't say the characters are terribly nuanced. Some, partucularly Caroline Weed, are amusing. She is so outspoken. The relationship between her and her father is as direct as it could be. Would a daughter act as she acts in the 1880s? I think it is possible, although not usual. It IS amusing. On a completely different issue, that of how the British viewed the Irish, I cannot help but make a comparison to how, today, the Jews in Israel look upon the Palestinians. Both the British and the Israelites see the indigenous people as being lazy, good-for-nothing scoundrels. They feel they have brought prgress and knowledge to the uncultivated, uneducated and lazy people from whom they took their land. Of course I am generalizing here; not every one behaves so badly. I personally have heard this view from a woman I know currently living in Israel, so the comparison just smacked me in the face.

Through page 60: I had mixed feelings when I started this book. First of all I HAD to read it and that is not a good way to start a book. I am getting into the book, and I am enjoying it. It follows two struggling Catholic families living in the small village Ballyutogue situated on Lough Foyle in Ulster. You learn about the family ancestors and their role in Northern Ireland's history starting at the beginning of the 19th century. The reader clearly understands the antagonism between the Scotts who were Presbyterian, the Irish Catholics and the ruling English(Anglicans). The Scotts were kicked out of England and came to get a better life in Ireland, but there they never had the high status of the English. The English encouraged the Catholics and Scotts to see each other as enemies. The winner was of course the English. Then the potatoe famine of the 1840s brought terrible suffering to the peasants, both the Catholics and the Presbyterians. Uris does a vey good job of allowing the reader to understand the horror of the potatoe famine. It is September and all the stored potatoes turn black. This is the peasants ONLY source of food through the coming winter and how could next year's crop be owed if all was destroyed. These people had nothing to begin with and then also no food. How do you feed your children. Can you imagine the horror? Then of course those who should help don't. This is a scenario we see that continues today. The history is clear. Some may say it is black and white, but this is a general description of what happened. Obviously some Englsih did try and help, but they were in any case few and far between, and not enough to turn the tide of disaster. On another issue, you learn alot about Irish customs, superstitions and village life. The wake at a funeral was fun to read about - the importance of spirits and fairies, the partying and lamenting are all rolled together. Another plus are the wonderful maps all throughout the book.

Xmas present from my Mom who is Scotch - Irish. She says that is where we got our tempers from. (less)

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Mar 14, 2009 Cheryl rated it 5 of 5 stars

I don't know how I forgot to record this book...I just found it in my garage, one of the few that escaped garage sales or Goodwill! I keep it around hoping to one day re-read it. I recall running late for work, or returning from lunch, during the time that I read this book because I simply had to wrench myself away from the story (often making a bathroom stop to dry my eyes and reapply mascara). My dull review could never do it justice.

It's a story about a family in Ireland, following their liv...more

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Sep 16, 2012 Holly added it · review of another edition

Shelves: irish-lit

"We are all absurd actors on the stage of the diabolical." Spoken by the character who provides the backbone of the novel, Conor Larkin. This isn't just a book of historical fiction, it really is quite good literature as well. Parallel's for analyzing abound, and feel a second reading would do it justice but at nearly 900 pages I don't know..I would even say it belong's in required reading in any Irish Lit class. The story catapult's the reader into the lives of the Irish from mid-1850's to the...more

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Jul 28, 2012 Owen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ireland, literature

Having come to "Trinity" after a break of some twenty years since reading the Uris classics "Exodus," "Mila 18" and "Armageddon," it was a very pleasant surprise to be able to discover that old zest for life, that lusty undercurrent which marks his work and fills it with an unmistakable energy. At the same time, "Trinity" enabled me to discover something about my own Irish background, and put the perspective of history into a new position for me altogether. In fact, so tainted were we, some of u...more

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Jun 03, 2012 Heather Lindsay rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book - I had to finish it by checking it out of the library because my particular edition was missing about 100 pages in the middle of the novel.
I can't say enough good things about this book. What I learned in public school and on the news about the conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland was spare and more from the Protestant's perspective. Reading this book gave me a rich context for understanding the issues from the Catholic's perspective. Although it is fiction,...more I loved this book - I had to finish it by checking it out of the library because my particular edition was missing about 100 pages in the middle of the novel.
I can't say enough good things about this book. What I learned in public school and on the news about the conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland was spare and more from the Protestant's perspective. Reading this book gave me a rich context for understanding the issues from the Catholic's perspective. Although it is fiction, historical events, laws, policies, and figures (from William of Orange and Oliver Cromwell to Winston Churchill) are part of the novel. Uris manages to develop so many characters, even those who make brutal decisions with devastating consequences. Some I wanted to hate but I did not because of Uris' approach to developing those characters. Uris weaves in the history of the laws as they applied to the Irish over the centuries and the relationships are complex - issues of class, religion, land ownership, corruption of Church officials, manipulation of Protestant congregations and use of the Bible to stoke criminal behavior, the Industrial Revolution, and the universal themes of sibling rivalry, pleasing one's father (as well as challenging the father), the inspiring strength of a mother's love and the terrible fate of woman in a man's world, sexuality, challenging authority of Church/State, what makes a leader, bravery in the face of certain death, the quest for freedom, and doomed love affairs. Because the novel spans many years and tells the history of Ireland's struggle for Home Rule from many perspectives, it is simply brilliant. I imagine few authors could do what Uris did, comparable to what George Eliot did in Middlemarch and Tolstoy did in War and Peace. Although it is tragic in many ways, and I don't know that Uris intended this, the novel is uplifting and hopeful - how people can gather their strength to fight a battle that will result in a defeat simply to make that defeat glorious and inspiring so others will fight too -that to me is the power the dream of freedom carries for the individual. The themes of this book connect to every culture that has ever been colonized, demonized by its colonizer, and devastated by disease, loss of cultural heritage, and loss of family.
(less)

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Jan 22, 2010 Linda C rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

I loved this book and have read probably six times. Great love story and great historical fiction at the same time.

The first review on Goodreads really panned this book and all of Leon Uris' books in general-- do NOT believe that review or his comments about other Uris books, in particular Exodus. This person's comments were basically that the situation was presented one-sided, without any shades of gray, and the book was little more than propaganda.

I disagree with that assessment, but also wan...more

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Apr 23, 2013 Ben rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

If you watch Braveheart (and who hasn't?), you can't help root for Scotland to win its independence from England. If you read Trinity, you'll feel the same way about Ireland.

Even in 900 pages of paperback, the book feels as quaint and intimate as the Emerald Isle itself. Although focused on the period from the 1880's up to the Easter Rising of 1916, Uris also tells the story of other key historical periods, including Cromwell's conquest, the Rebellion of 1798, and the Great Famine.

Uris' characte...more

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Aug 11, 2012 Gary rated it 4 of 5 stars

The most wonderful thing about Leon Uris' books are his testament to the eternal indomitable strength of the human spirit. This novel explores the agony and struggles of Ireland through the story of a fictional Irish fighter, Conor Larkin. The book begins with the deth of Kilty Larkin, the father of Tomas, and grandfather of Conor. It captures the sights, sounds , smell and experiences of Iralnd in 19th century Ireland through the eyes of Conor's childhood friend Seamus. Conor is visited by a sh...more The most wonderful thing about Leon Uris' books are his testament to the eternal indomitable strength of the human spirit. This novel explores the agony and struggles of Ireland through the story of a fictional Irish fighter, Conor Larkin. The book begins with the deth of Kilty Larkin, the father of Tomas, and grandfather of Conor. It captures the sights, sounds , smell and experiences of Iralnd in 19th century Ireland through the eyes of Conor's childhood friend Seamus. Conor is visited by a shanachie ( type of Irish spirit) of a n Irish storyteller who has experienced the early rebellions of the 19th century and the 1846 potato famine. This sets him off on the path of Irish revolution against British rule.

He grows up to become a master craftsman, rugby player, poet and eventually revolutionary and gun runer.
The book is filled with good and evil characters : The aristocratic British overlords the Hubbles and sir Frederick Weed who plays the Orange Card to strengthen British rule over Ireland and the great profits to be made out of the country, As such the book explores the horror of the poverty and exploitation suffered at the time by the Irish people.

I fell in love with the beautiful and valiant lover of Conor's the working class Protestant Shelley McLeod, who joins herself body and soul to Conor and his cause. and I was sickened and haunted by the cruel and horrific murder of Shelley at the hands of a group of fanatical and embittered Protestant women who are followers of the fiery and bigoted Loyalist preacher, Oliver Cromwell McIvor.

The last few chapter of the book are interesting that they encapsulate a précis of Ireland's history in the early years of the twentieth century until the 1916v Easter Rising and home Rule.
The only real downside to the book is the way all Protestant Loyalists are depicted as villainous and the bias towards the Catholic and Republican side. When the truth is there have been wrongs and rights on both sides of this conflicts, atrocities commited by all and tragedies suffered by all.
Nevertheless this epic is exciting,illuminating,sad,humorous, brutal and picturesque.(less)

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Jun 17, 2007 Katie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Leon Uris is a fantastic storyteller. This book follows the events of an Irishman named Conor Larkin who, by nature, was larger than life. Larkin needed the 19th century as much as the 19th century needed him. The end is a crashing, tragic, dazzling explosion of nonstop events. It makes me wish I was Larkin. (The sequels are embarrassing, I would start and stop your Uris experience with this book.)

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Aug 22, 2010 Caitlin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010

Let's begin by stipulating that Uris is a pulp fiction writer and should be read and reviewed on those terms. There's absolutely nothing wrong with pulp fiction - it's a great and wonderful genre full of entertainment value.

With Uris' books the formula is pretty simple: Our hero is noble, well-read, and self-sacrificing. He's closed himself off, but is waiting for the right woman. The right woman is also noble and self-sacrificing, but strong-willed and beautiful. He sets these folks down in th...more

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Mar 28, 2011 Gayle rated it 5 of 5 stars

FANTASTIC NOVEL! This was a bestseller in the mid seventies - and I never read it! Finally decided to tackle the over 600 page Irish historically based fiction of Ireland under British rule and abuse....Made me feel sorry for my distant Irish relatives, and I was disturbed how horrible the English were to the Irish people, and how brave and nobel they were in spirt of starvation and abuse and lack of freedom....There were some real heros that changed the course of history ---this is a fascinatin...more

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Jan 24, 2013 Shelli rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: buddy-read, read-in-2013

This book was a very hard read at times... filled with so little hope, but I learned so much. I knew very little about the Protestant/Catholic struggle in Ireland in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Another tragic time in history where ignorance caused hatred fueled by religious fervor. One of my favorite quotes came from my favorite character in the book, Conor Larkin. He is an Irish Catholic rebel who spends his life fighting for his implausible cause.
....They sat across from one another and...more

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Mar 19, 2012 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am enjoying this story that enlightens about "the troubles" in Ireland, but the fine print makes reading too much, too long an issue.

And, many weeks later, the same holds true--fabulous story, but very fine print on yellowed pages is way harder to read than anything on my Nook.

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Oct 18, 2009 Dennis rated it 4 of 5 stars

Conor Larkin from Ballyutogue is the embodiment of Irish republicanism at the height of the Victorian era when Britain still exerted maximum control over its global empire, including Ireland. He and best friend Seamus O’Neill learn early in life about the horrendous wrongs repeatedly foisted upon the Irish by the British imperialists, whose attitudes and actions agitated the deep-seeded longings for freedom among the Irish in the years leading up to Bloody Sunday and the Irish War of Independenc...more

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May 31, 2009 Jan C rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Leon Uris fans

Shelves: ireland

When I read this, I think I read it on two levels. First, I went through a period where I couldn't put Leon Uris down. And I think this was still in that period because I was in college then. And I certainly remember sitting at the kitchen table reading one or another of his books late into the night.

And, at this point, I hadn't read too many books about Ireland. It was a good story. But it shouldn't be taken as history. As I learned when I read a historical acocunt of the Irish Rebellion. The f...more

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Nov 09, 2012 DT Krippene rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: my-top-twenty

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Dec 28, 2009 Owen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Uris is a Jewish author who gets the Irish perfectly. This book is essential reading to understand the Irish culture- Uris creates characters that travel through the famine, works with the Fenians, and into the Irish Republican Brotherhood, who become the IRA of the Easter Rising, Michael Collins, etc. I was handed the book and ordered to read it at 13 by my father. I will refrain from typing about this book ad nauseum, and say only these two things: 1) there is a literary device used in this bo...more

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Jan 05, 2009 Midoil1 rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is an old book that I am embarrassed to say I only picked up in 2008. Why can't the catholics and the protestants live togather in Northern Ireland? I can't even begin to cover it all in this review but I will say that I will never look at the British the same ever again. My last name, Tuck, might be a deriviative of Took which is Scotish and Irish. Aside from the realization that Tolkein had an "infernal Took" in his tales of the shire, this book was like talking to an elder of your town,...more

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Dec 30, 2008 Jonathan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Reading Trinity gave me a much better understanding of the conflict between the Irish and the English, the Catholics and the Protestants. You can read as many textbooks as you like, but getting the novelist's perspective on daily life and conflict between these parties really illuminates the hatred between them, and crimes committed by each. Sometimes-narrator Seamus Fergussen underplays his own role in the risings and revolutions of the early 20th century, glorifying the exploits and larger-tha...more

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Jun 27, 2012 Mollie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was given this book by a friend who knew I was, at the time, interested in Ireland and Irish history. She never warned me that Conor Larkin was written so well as to become a living, breathing presence. I loved this book. I loved that I learned something about Irish history and about the religious conflict. I love it that Conor was a croppie with a talent and that the screen he was 'mending' is as clear to me as the file cabinet across the room. I fell in love with Conor Larkin, and cried when...more

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Jul 11, 2011 Katlyn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Even though it simplifies many aspects, Trinity is an example of how historical fiction can begin to explain the complications of the present. In terms of Ireland and in particular Northern Ireland the novel begins to lay out and explain the animosity that those who are not Irish and were not brought up on that island do not completely understand when first faced with the baffling animosity between the groups involved. Leon Uris created wonderful characters from all sides of Ireland's Trinity wh...more

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Jul 02, 2009 Thomas DeWolf rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I loved the Leon Uris of Battle Cry, Exodus, and QBVII. Not so much the Leon Uris of The Haj and Mitla Pass. Of all he wrote my favorite is Trinity. Thirty years of Irish history, the intersecting lives of three families, and Conor Larkin. Trinity is a long book that flies by. Action, love, suspense and characters you'll care about long after you finish the book. The summer that Conor and Seamus spent at the Booley House is one of the most idyllic sections of any book I know; especially as it st...more

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Apr 20, 2013 Ivan Benedict rated it 4 of 5 stars

Uris is a great storyteller. The main characters
are well-developed. The descriptions of Ireland in
the late 1800's, early 1900's are gripping. I knew
some of the history, but Uris makes it come alive.
The book is long, but well worth the read.
SPOLER ALERT:
In the end the two main characters (including the
one who is usually the narrator of the story)die
in a violent raid that doesn't seem to have any
meaning. This is a strange ending. We don't
even get to the point where most of Ireland gains
home rule...more

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Apr 19, 2010 Stefan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction-and-fantasy

Leon Uris's epic historical novel was fairly entertaining but, also somewhat disappointing. The atmosphere of the time was well captured. Uris also succeeded at creating an engaging cast of diverse characters and exploring their relationships. I really got a feel for the settings of Dublin, Belfast and so forth, which were described in significant detail. Furthermore, the dialogue felt authentic. On the other hand, I found 'Trinity' a bit too long. I was disappointed to find that a certain port...more

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Apr 09, 2009 Brian rated it 4 of 5 stars

I could not put all 800 pages of this book down. Fantastic book, makes me want to catch the first plane to Ireland. Also makes me want to strangle an Englishman... which I guess is scary.

The main characters and events in this book are completely fiction, which I don't like. Uris even completely invented a town to set the story in. I'm sure that some of these fictional elements must overlap with actual, historical events and people. So it is very difficult for me to tell what is actually true and...more

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Jan 09, 2011 1sttime0ffender rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is one of my favorite books. I have read it several times and it gets better with each read. I am not usually not a fan of historical fiction but this book is an exception. The story focuses on different families from different social and religious backgrounds. Their lives cross and impact one another using real events as a backdrop. I guess that pretty much describes EVERY historical fiction novel. However as this book takes place in mid-1800's Ireland that is what got me interested. I wan...more

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Jan 05, 2011 Brian rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

5/2/09 - 6/10
Trinity is an interesting piece of historical fiction about Ireland in the late 1800s and early 1900s. I had heard good things about it and was looking forward to it. However, it was a bit slow and simplistic (both in plotting and characterization). The plot was rather slow and a bit over dramatic but had flashes of good stuff. The characters were hollow and not well fleshed out. Overall, not bad, but it was a let down.

For more info, check out:

Book on wikipedia

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Jun 07, 2012 Mike rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction-historical, military, period-v-late-modern, politics

Recently attempted a re-read of this, years after my first read. I had a vague recollection that it was a pulpy take on Ireland from the Famine through the Easter Rising and independence. My re-read confirmed that memory. What I hadn't remembered was Uris' simplistic, black-and-white, pulpy view of the world. In this retelling, there are no shades of gray, there are no ambiguities, only a highly burnished world of clear heroes and villains.

Overall I found it to be a starry-eyed vision of the co...more

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About Leon Uris

Leon Marcus Uris (August 3, 1924 - June 21, 2003) was an American novelist, known for his historical fiction and the deep research that went into his novels. His two bestselling books were Exodus, published in 1958, and Trinity, in 1976.

Leon Uris was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Jewish-American parents Wolf William and Anna (Blumberg) Uris. His father, a Polish-born immigrant, was a pa...more Leon Marcus Uris (August 3, 1924 - June 21, 2003) was an American novelist, known for his historical fiction and the deep research that went into his novels. His two bestselling books were Exodus, published in 1958, and Trinity, in 1976.

Leon Uris was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Jewish-American parents Wolf William and Anna (Blumberg) Uris. His father, a Polish-born immigrant, was a paperhanger, then a storekeeper. William spent a year in Palestine after World War I before entering the United States. He derived his surname from Yerushalmi, meaning "man of Jerusalem." (His brother Aron, Leon Uris' uncle, took the name Yerushalmi) "He was basically a failure," Uris later said of his father. "He went from failure to failure."

Uris attended schools in Norfolk, Virginia and Baltimore, but never graduated from high school, after having failed English three times. At age seventeen, while in his senior year of high school, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and Uris enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He served in the South Pacific as a radioman (in combat) at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and New Zealand from 1942 through 1945. While recuperating from malaria in San Francisco, he met Betty Beck, a Marine sergeant; they married in 1945.

Coming out of the service, he worked for a newspaper, writing in his spare time. In 1950, Esquire magazine bought an article, and he began to devote himself to writing more seriously. Drawing on his experiences in Guadalcanal and Tarawa he produced the best-selling, Battle Cry, a novel depicting the toughness and courage of U.S. Marines in the Pacific. He then went to Warner Brothers in Hollywood helping to write the movie, which was extremely popular with the public, if not the critics. Later he went on to write The Angry Hills, a novel set in war-time Greece.

According to one source, in the early 1950's he was hired by an American public relations firm to go to Israel and "soak up the atmosphere and create a novel about it". That novel would be Exodus, which came out in 1958 and became his best known work. Others say that Uris, motivated by an intense interest in Israel, financed his own research for the novel by selling the film rights in advance to MGM and writing articles about the Sinai campaign. It is said that the book involved two years of research, and involved thousands of interviews. Exodus illustrated the history of Palestine from the late 19th century through the founding of the state of Israel in 1948. It was a worldwide best-seller, translated into a dozen languages, and was made into a feature film in 1960, starring Paul Newman, directed by Otto Preminger, as well as into a short-lived Broadway musical (12 previews, 19 performances) in 1971. Uris' novel Topaz was adapted for the screen and directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Uris' subsequent works included: Mila 18, a story of the Warsaw ghetto uprising; Armageddon: A Novel of Berlin, which reveals the detailed work by British and American intelligence services in planning for the occupation and pacification of post WWII Germany; Trinity, an epic novel about Ireland's struggle for independence; QB VII, a novel about the role of a Polish doctor in a German concentration camp ; and The Haj, with insights into the history of the Middle East and the secret machinations of foreigners which have led to today's turmoil.

He also wrote the screenplays for Battle Cry and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

Uris was married three times: to Betty Beck, with whom he had three children, from 1945 through their divorce in 1968; Margery Edwards in 1969, who died a year later, and Jill Peabody in 1970, with whom he had two children, and divorced in 1989.

Leon Uris died of renal failure at his Long Island home on Shelter Island, aged 78.

Leon Uris's papers can be found at the Ransom Center, University of Texas in Austin. The collection includes all of Uris's novels, with the exception of The Haj and Mitla Pass, as well as manus(less)

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“Love can't mature in one room. It has to come out of the full sharing of everything: joys, aspirations, downfalls, all of it. That's the only real path to love.” — 10 people liked it

“If you're lucky enough to fall in love, that's one thing. Otherwise all that was ever truly beautiful to me was boyhood. It's the meal we sup on for the rest of our lives. Love puts the icing on life. But if you don't find it...you must call on your childhood memories over and over till you do.” — 9 people liked it

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