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All Roads Lead to Rome : Searching for the End of My Father's War

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Title: All Roads Lead to Rome : Searching for the End of My Father's War
Description: Finalist for the 2025 Next Generation Indie Book Award ​Finalist for the National Indie Excellence Award What happens when a seasoned journalist and travel writer takes on his most challenging assignment yet—crossing not just continents but also history—by retracing his father's steps on the battlefields of Italy in World War II? When a slim packet of his father's letters came to light after his mother's death, Bill Thorness began a quest to rediscover his father. Thorness traveled to the World War II battlefields where America's first team of commandos fought. The youngest son of one of those commandos, Thorness gained a sense of the horror his father had kept from his family while standing on the mountain where the First Special Service Force fought. Then, standing on a bridge in Rome, he reflected on the loss his father must have felt in not making it to the end of the campaign to liberate the Eternal City. In All Roads Lead to Rome Thorness considers his father's decisive moments in battle and beyond, and how he soldiered on as a disabled veteran through his life, raising a family and succumbing to an early death. Alternating between reimagined battle scenes and present-day travels, Thorness explores World War II and family history, the value and limits of memory, the attitudes of war, and our society's inadequate understanding and support of combat veterans, who may return with physical and emotional scars that change them deeply. Thorness steps into his father's shoes to revisit his story and finish that walk into Rome, weaving an account that is part travelogue, part history, and part memoir about the ravages of war.
Authors: Bill Thorness
Resource Type: eBook.
Subjects: Monte La Difensa, Battle of, Italy, 1943, World War, 1939-1945--Commando operations--Italy, Soldiers--United States--Biography, Veterans--North Dakota--Epping--Biography
Categories: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Military, HISTORY / Wars & Conflicts / World War II / General
Database: eBook Collection (EBSCOhost)
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  Data: All Roads Lead to Rome : Searching for the End of My Father's War
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  Data: Finalist for the 2025 Next Generation Indie Book Award ​Finalist for the National Indie Excellence Award What happens when a seasoned journalist and travel writer takes on his most challenging assignment yet—crossing not just continents but also history—by retracing his father's steps on the battlefields of Italy in World War II? When a slim packet of his father's letters came to light after his mother's death, Bill Thorness began a quest to rediscover his father. Thorness traveled to the World War II battlefields where America's first team of commandos fought. The youngest son of one of those commandos, Thorness gained a sense of the horror his father had kept from his family while standing on the mountain where the First Special Service Force fought. Then, standing on a bridge in Rome, he reflected on the loss his father must have felt in not making it to the end of the campaign to liberate the Eternal City. In All Roads Lead to Rome Thorness considers his father's decisive moments in battle and beyond, and how he soldiered on as a disabled veteran through his life, raising a family and succumbing to an early death. Alternating between reimagined battle scenes and present-day travels, Thorness explores World War II and family history, the value and limits of memory, the attitudes of war, and our society's inadequate understanding and support of combat veterans, who may return with physical and emotional scars that change them deeply. Thorness steps into his father's shoes to revisit his story and finish that walk into Rome, weaving an account that is part travelogue, part history, and part memoir about the ravages of war.
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      – Code: 940.540092
        Scheme: ddc
        Type: prePub
      – Code: B
        Scheme: ddc
        Type: prePub
    Languages:
      – Code: eng
        Text: English
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Monte La Difensa, Battle of, Italy, 1943
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: World War, 1939-1945--Commando operations--Italy
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Soldiers--United States--Biography
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Veterans--North Dakota--Epping--Biography
        Type: general
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      – TitleFull: All Roads Lead to Rome : Searching for the End of My Father's War
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            NameFull: Bill Thorness
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          Dates:
            – D: 01
              M: 01
              Type: published
              Y: 2024
            – D: 17
              M: 12
              Type: profile
              Y: 2024
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              Value: 9781640126275
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              Value: 9781640126411
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            – TitleFull: All Roads Lead to Rome : Searching for the End of My Father's War
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