LEAH GARRETT is a professor at Hunter College. Her last book, Young Lions- How Jewish Authors Reinvented the American War Novel, won and was shortlisted for several major literary awards. She lives in New York City with her husband, the thriller writer Adrian McKinty, and their two daughters.
A lively, expertly researched history of an obscure WWII unit whose heroism deserves recognition. * Kirkus Review * Garrett recounts in this dramatic and deeply researched history the WWII exploits of X Troop, a British commando unit made up of Jewish refugees from Austria, Germany, and Hungary...Garrett folds vivid profiles of Lord Mountbatten, Lord Lovat, and other prominent military figures into the story, and skillfully draws from war diaries and interviews with surviving X Troopers. This scrupulous history shines a well-deserved spotlight on its heroic subjects. * Publishers Weekly * This is Inglorious Basterds-but much better. Because it is the real story of clandestine Jewish fighters wreaking havoc against the Nazi war machine. -- Norman Ohler, New York Times best-selling author of Blitzed and The Bohemians Leah Garrett's X Troop is brilliantly researched, utterly gripping history: the first full account of a remarkable group of Jewish refugees-a top-secret band of brothers-who waged war on Hitler. -- Alex Kershaw, New York Times best-selling author of The Longest Winter, The Bedford Boys, and The Liberator Part history and part mystery, X-Troop: The Secret Jewish Commandos of World War II tells a compelling and little known story about an improbable group of British soldiers who made an important contribution to the war effort. Their transformation from interned enemy aliens to soldiers with high security clearances is fascinating. -- Deborah E. Lipstadt, author of Antisemitism Here and Now