The world of Col. John W. Thomason, USMC

by Martha Anne Turner

Martha Anne Turner's work is the first biography of Thomason in more than twenty years. The World of Colonel John W. Thomason, MSMC is overdue. Traces Thomason's three-dimensional career, Marine officer, author, artist, over much of the world. Miss Turner's study isn't just the portrayal of the metamorphosis of a romantic youth, unendowed with traditional moorings, into a mature man and conversion into the artist in two mediums that he became This is the saga of an era reaching across two world wars and detailing the excitement John Thomason brought to the scene through his tremendous talent and personal dynamism.

405 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[Jake Nihart · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the better biographies I've read and not even a single rating or picture on GoodReads. There isn't much on GoodReads related to John W. Thomason, which is a head-scratcher considering how prolific and widely read his books were in the 1920s and 1930s. His friend Ernest Hemingway considered Thomason the greatest authority on warfare of his time, and included him more than any other author in his anthology Men at War.

This biography was written in 1984 by a local grassroots Texas historian named Martha Anne Turner. Her writing is on a higher plane than most contemporary biographers, yet you'll only find her stuff on eBay or a used bookstore if you're lucky.