Adam Makos Books In Order

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Adam Makos is an American historian, editor, publisher and author. The New York Times bestselling author is best known for writing biographies and war novels such as “A Higher Call” and “Spearhead.”

The author developed an interest in writing while he was still in high school. He was a cofounder of a magazine that told stories of war veterans from the Iraq War and going back to World War I titled “Valor.”

Adam also authored what was a novel that followed the seamen and marines who were active in the Pacific theater during the Second World War titled “Voices of the Pacific.” In 2018, “Devotion” , his third novel, was optioned to be made into a film.

As for his education and early life, Makos is a native of the small town of Williamsport in Pennsylvania. While he was born in Williamsport, he spent much of his childhood in Montoursville and went to Lyter Elementary School, before proceeding to Montoursville High School.

During his high school years, he participated in the French Club and turned down an invite for a trip to Paris that just happened to be on the ill fated TWA Flight 800.

As a child, Adam Makos grew up with Bryan’s brother in the mountains of northern Pennsylvania. They were fortunate enough to have their grandfathers Mike Makos and Francis Panfili in their lives.

These were men that were marines who flew B-17 bombers during World War II and it was from their stories that the young author’s imagination was stoked. Their grandfathers would often take them to museums and airshows and build them plastic models of tanks and airplanes.
While they were in middle school, they decided to become journalists and created homemade newsletters. They were to write about pilots of the past and planes which was the thing that they were most passionate about.

They went with the title the “Ghost Wings Club” newsletter that Makos now thinks is a silly name in hindsight. Over the years, that weirdly titled newsletter would become the “Valor” magazine as Adam Makos enjoyed adventures chasing stories.

He had tea at the home of Prince Charles, accompanied Special Forces in Iraq on a raid, visited the President in the Oval Office and flew a T-38 jet and B-17 bomber.

Adam Makos has said that the one story he worked on that he strongly felt had to be made into a book was the story of Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler. It was from this that he wrote the novel “A Higher Call” that would become an international and New York Times bestselling title.

He followed that up with “Voices of the Pacific,” which was an oral history following the life and times of fifteen verans of the Second World War. While “A Higher Call” was an astounding and epic novel that made his career, he would soon have another in “Devotion.”

The novel saw the author travel all the way to the world’s recluse nation in North Korea to investigate a forgotten but soul stirring war. Makos now makes his home in Denver, Colorado from where he writes his novels
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Since the Greatest War generation is fast fading, he is in a race to take down as many of their stories as he can so that he can share the stories with his readers.

“A Higher Call” by Adam Makos is a novel set a few days before the Christmas of 21943. At the opening of the novel, a severely cripped B-17 bomber is struggling to navigate its way across wartime Germany. At the helm is a 21 year old pilot who is in charge of a crew that has been decimated, with half either dead or wounded.

They had been attacked by an ace German pilot piloting a Messerschmitt. The encounter would be famous as World War II’s most incredible encounter.
The novel follows Franz and Charlie on harrowing missions as they deal with having to take off in English fog caused by the flaming wreckage of planes that were once piloted by friends. They also have to deal with bursts of flak lighting up the cockpit, and packs of enemy fighters that circled his bomber like sharks.

Franz faced off with 1,000 bombers, a crash at sea, and sandstorms in the desert. Ultimately, the two would face off against each other and what would transpire would have the top secret classification by the American 8th Air Force.

It was an encounter that haunted Franz and Charlie for more than four decades until a last mission that would forever change their lives.

Adam Makos’s novel Spearhead is a riveting Second World War story that tells the story of an American tank gunner that goes on a quest into Nazi journey. It is in the heart of the Third Reich that he engages in an iconic armored duel that surprisingly forges a long lasting bond with his enemy.

Clarence Smoyer is a gentle giant from Pennsylvania whose talent shines through as soon as he is made the gunner of a Sherman tank. Initially, Clarence and his fellow tank crew in Spearhead, the legendary third armored division believed they were invincible until they met a murderous German unit.
The legendary Panther has a vicious gun that is capable of slicing through one Sherman to destroy the one next or behind it. Because of this fact, the lead tank would always take the hit in any encounter with the German Panther.

The Americans then come up with a state of the art super tank named the Pershing after seeing too many of their men cut down at the Battle of the Bulge. But with the introduction of the Pershing, Clarence and his colleagues will now have to lead every attack.

A lowly corporal finds himself with the responsibility of leading a charge into what would become the largest and most complex urban war of World War II.

“Devotion” by Adam Makor is an inspirational story that follows the life and times of one of the most famous aviator duos in the history of the US Navy. These are African American Ensign Jesse Brown who is the son of sharecroppers from Mississippi and a white New England boy from the country club scene in Lieutenant Tom Hudner.

The latter had decided to not join Harvard and instead fly warplanes for the US during World War II. On his part, Jesse was the United States Navy first black carrier pilot at a time when he would not even be served in a bar. Even though much of the US was still segregated, Tom and Jesse combined forces as Fighter Squadron 32 wingmen.

The author takes us into the cockpit as the young aviators learn on the job in what has to be one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. Landing on the deck of an aircraft carrier is dangerous enough,. but then the two have to fight a war in Korea too. In Korea, they help marines in foxholes by providing air support as the North Koreans invade the south.

In a tale of selfness and bravery, the novel asks how far friends would go for the sake of friendship.

One Response to “Adam Makos”

1. Donald J. Booth: 2 years ago

   Read all your books except “Voices of the Pacific. I must read it!

   Reply