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Devil Dog

The Amazing True Story of the Man Who Saved Americ

Illustrated by Spain Rodriguez

About The Book

Pulp History brings to life extraordinary feats of bravery, violence, and redemption that history has forgotten. These stories are so dramatic and thrilling they have to be true.

In Devil Dog, the most decorated Marine in history fights for America across the globe—and returns home to set his country straight.

Smedley Butler took a Chinese bullet to the chest at age eighteen, but that did not stop him from running down rebels in Nicaragua and Haiti, or from saving the lives of his men in France. But when he learned that America was trading the blood of Marines to make Wall Street fat cats even fatter, Butler went on a crusade. He threw the gangsters out of Philadelphia, faced down Herbert Hoover to help veterans, and blew the lid off a plot to overthrow FDR.

About The Author

Photo Credit: Sibylla Herbrich

David Talbot, author of the New York Times bestseller Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years, is the founder and CEO of Salon. He lives in San Francisco.

About The Illustrator

Product Details

  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster (December 6, 2011)
  • Length: 160 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781451683585

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Raves and Reviews

“These books are a brilliant idea. This is history at its most engaging and dramatic.”
—Dave Eggers, author of Zeitoun and What Is the What

“Amazing . . . Spain's comic pages and illustrations are great, as always. . . . This series is a great idea. . . [Devil Dog] is an excellent book, and a part of American history that needs telling.”
—R. Crumb

“These surprising stories leap off the colorful page in an utterly fresh way—history and dramatic storytelling live anew here. This entertaining series will appeal to readers of many different ages and experiences.”
—Doug Stanton, author of Horse Soldiers

“Pulp History is lively and rich, a rollicking rip through history. Unbelievable! But true.”
—Evan Thomas, author of The War Lovers and Sea of Thunder

“These beautifully told and illustrated books unearth parts of our lost history and transform them into utterly gripping yarns that thrill at every turn. The Pulp History series is the rarest find: accounts that are faithful to the historical record and yet have the spell of the greatest adventure novels.”
—David Grann, author of The Lost City of Z

“These books are smart, cool and incredibly absorbing. I wish I’d had them when I was a kid. But that hasn’t stopped me from devouring them as a grown-up.”
—Lev Grossman, author of The Magicians

“Pulp History is a brilliant, beautifully executed idea. As I groped for appropriate praise to lavish on these nifty works of bona fide and little-known history—‘fabulous,’ ‘fantastic,’ ‘incredible’—I kept coming up with words that are synonymous with fiction. Which I guess is part of the point. Bravo.”
—Kurt Andersen, author of Heyday

“The true-life story of Smedley Butler will illuminate your life and your understanding of American history in the early twentieth century. It’s like no other story I’ve ever read.”
—Max Cleland, former U.S. Senator and author of Heart of a Patriot

“This approach to history may never win Pulitzers, but that doesn't appear to be its aim. It's too busy kicking ass.”
—Ben Marks, KQED

“These works are smart, direct and engaging. And the subject matter—such as the life of the extraordinary Smedley Butler, or Winston Churchill’s SOE and its dirty war behind Nazi lines—angles its way into history in new, surprising ways.”
—David Simon, creator of The Wire and Treme

“A stew of ka-pow! color graphics, unsung heroes and neck-slitting villains . . . ‘Pulp History’ blends action comics and stories of people whose lives were stranger than fiction. The result is a unique, eye-popping literary hybrid.”
—Meredith May, San Francisco Chronicle

“Blood-stirring . . . Great reading for just about anyone.”
—Sasha Watson, Slate

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More books from this author: David Talbot