Martin Russ Explained

Martin Faxon Russ (February 14, 1931, in Newark, New Jersey – December 6, 2010 in Oakville, California) was an American military author, Marine, and associate professor at Carnegie-Mellon University.^[1] He attended the South Kent School, and St. Lawrence University for two years before enlisting in the US Marine Corps in 1951.^[2]

His first book, The Last Parallel, a New York Times bestseller and a Book of the Month Club selection, was based (with changed names) on his service in the 1st Battalion of the 1st Marine Regiment of the 1st Marine Division during the Korean War.^[3] J. D. Salinger called it “a very legitimate, sinewy, authentic war book”;^[4] the New York Herald Tribune called it “Top rank among soldiers’ war records of all time.”^[2] It was later optioned, but not produced, by director Stanley Kubrick.^[5] Most of his later work was based on interviews with combat veterans.^[6]

Publications

Fiction

• Half Moon Haven (1959)
• War Memorial (1967)

Non-fiction

• Happy Hunting Ground (1968)
• Line of Departure: Tarawa. Doubleday (1975).
• Breakout: The Chosin Reservoir Campaign, Korea 1950. Penguin Books (2000).

Memoirs

• The Last Parallel (1957)
• Showdown Semester: Advice from a Writing Professor (1988)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Writer and Marine Martin Russ, 1931-2010. December 10, 2010. November 28, 2019.
2. The Last Parallel, Signet Books paperback edition January 1958, rear cover.
3. Able Company, First Battalion, First Regiment, First Marine Division, The Last Parallel, p. 54.
4. Fromm International edition, 1999, rear cover
5. Web site: The Kubrick FAQ. Mark Ervin. November 28, 2019. etal.
6. News: Dennis Hevesi. Martin Russ, a Marine Who Wrote About Combat, Dies at 79. The New York Times. December 9, 2010.