<p><font face="Verdana">&lt;p&gt;They were our husbands， our fathers， our lovers， our sons. They were Americans and Marines. And this is their story: &lt;i&gt;The Big War&lt;/i&gt;， Anton Myrer's panoramic novel of Marines in the Pacific in World War II. This is the story of Alan Newcombe， the Boston society Harvard man; Danny Kantaylis， the natural-born leader; Jay O'Neill， the barroom scrapper. Myrer does not glorify war; he does not flinch from describing what the actual experience of warfare was like for a desperate group of Marines trapped in some of the worst fighting conditions of the war. We learn about their lives at home and their fates on the battlefield.&lt;/p&gt;</font></p>