When Hell Froze Over

by E M Halliday

"The only armed combat that has ever occurred between Soviet and American forces...An astounding story." Harrison E. Salisbury, The New York Times "A narrative of combat superbly told." Chicago Sun-Times "Vivid...almost unbelievable." Omaha World Herald "Engrossing...a superb re-creation of the battles." Spokane Chronicle Blood and Ice On November 11, 1918, World War I officially ended. But for the men of the ill-starred American Expeditionary Force to North Russia, the fighting had only begun. Plagued by meager supplies, poor leadership, and the lack of a clear-cut objective, this small but valiant American contingent fought impossible odds, scoring several stunning victories against the Bolsheviks before superior numbers and the bone-breaking arctic winter that had defeated Napoleon forced them to withdraw. Now, in the clear, forthright account, E.M. Halliday re-creates one of the most obscure but important of America's foreign an epic of confusion, endurance, failure-and gallantry-that history almost forgot and the Russians never forgave. Perhaps the Russians have never forgotten these events? E. M. Halliday was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and attended Columbia University and the University of Michigan (where he got a Ph.D. in literature with a dissertation on the novels of Ernest Hemingway). During World War II he was an enlisted reporter for Army newspapers and a field correspondent for Yank, the Army magazine. From 1946 to 1962 he taught literature and history at the University of Michigan, the University of Chicago and North Carolina State. In 1951-1952 he was a Fulbright scholar in France. From 1963 to 1979 he was a senior editor with the history magazine, American Heritage. The author of many magazine and journal articles, he has also written the young adult history Russia in Revolution, John Berryman and the Thirties (a memoir of his long friendship with the poet) and has a book on Thomas Jefferson, Understanding Thomas Jefferson, forthcoming from HarperCollins in the fall of 2000. He lives in New York City with a word processor and a cat.

258 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1955

Reviews

[Laurie Stoll]

This book is one of the best stories I have read in a long time. (Yes, I admit I've been reading a lot of "thrift store bargain books" that I've had sitting around for years.)

Even still, especially for a first time author this is a great read. I will definitely be following this author for other stories he may write.

The following is an excerpt from the inside jacked: "Shark Tank is the extraordinary debut novel by a new star of crime fiction, and provides readers with a fresh, original, and truly unpredictable ride that will blow them out of the water!"

[Michael Hermann]

This book is kind of hard for me to say anything about. I definitely didn't hate the book, and as a matter of fact I found O'Neill's writing style to be quite entertaining. The story had a good flow and was very action packed, but that being said, it was very disjointed at times and it kind of felt like he threw some things in because he had to try to bridge from one scene to the next and he didn't have a good way to do so. His bridges didn't really hurt the story, but they really didn't add anything either, although I feel like they could have. At the end of the story, I was kind of wondering what the point was in adding some of the things he put in the story. Even with that, I still enjoyed the book, and would say if you want to read something different, give this book a try.

[Karl Faruzel]

I found it a bit disjointed. Good character development. Worth a read ,even though it bounced around a lot. Wrap up was a little odd.

[Bill Thibadeau]

I found the story line to be an interesting concept. The book is well written but the character development was not up to the story. As a result, I found my mind drifting as I was reading.
There was some good humor and character interaction. I enjoyed the ending. I plan on reading more by this author in the hopes that experience will prove beneficial. My rating would actually be 3.5 stars if the site allowed.

[Jonathan]

They call it a "high-octane" thriller. First thriller is what I say, but it does show promise.

[Candy]

Mystery novel. Good beach read.

[Gina Stulz]

I really liked this book. Quick read. Rooted for the bad guy!