Vet News: Major Publishers Revive Free Books For U.S. Troops Serving Overseas

WASHINGTON -- Three major book publishers have kicked off a historic revival of the "Armed Services Editions" (ASE).

First published in 1943, more than 123 million paperback books were handed out to U.S. troops overseas. More than 1,300 titles were published, including mysteries, biographies, crime stories, adventure novels, and classic works of literature by such authors as Hemingway, Steinbeck, and Melville. The original ASEs were discontinued in 1947 after WWII troops returned home.

Hyperion, Simon & Schuster, and Dover Publications will join together in publishing and distributing free "cargo pocket" size books, which will have the same vinatage appearance as the original ASEs to U.S troops throughout the world, including Afghanistan, the Middle East, Cuba, Asia, and Europe, as well as forces stationed on forward deployed U.S. warships. More than100,000 copies of the following four titles will be sent to U.S.forces abroad through December:

* Medal of Honor: Profiles of America’s Military Heroes from the Civil War to the Present, by Allen Mikaelian, with commentary by Mike Wallace (Hyperion, 2002);

* Henry V, by William Shakespeare (Dover, 2002);

* The Art of War, by Sun Tzu (Dover, 2002); and

* War letters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars, edited by Andrew Carroll (Washington Square Press/Simon & Schuster, 2002).

Books will continue to be distributed for as long as they can be funded, and, ideally, new titles will be added to the list. For further information or questions, please contact Andrew Carroll at (202) 338-1109 or [email protected]

SOURCE: Defense Department press release