Iwo Jima Icon

Iwo Jima Icon tells the story of how the most famous photograph of the 20^th Century came to be taken. The book goes beyond that memorable moment in American history to introduce a remarkable man: Joe Rosenthal, the Pulitzer Prize-winning combat photographer responsible for that iconic image. The text follows the career of this son of Russian immigrants from his childhood in Washington, DC, to his years as an apprentice photojournalist in San Francisco. Despite being classified 4-F (because of poor eyesight), Rosenthal managed to work his way through five island invasions in World War II's Pacific campaign, ending up on a cold February day in 1945 at the summit of Iwo Jima's Mt. Suribachi, where the Marines raised two American flags. The book describes his unexpectedly coming upon the second flag raising and relates the first-ever detailed, comprehensive account in which Rosenthal explains his thought process and preparations for taking his photograph.

This book does not leave its readers there, at Rosenthal's pinnacle of professional achievement. The authors, through their friendship with Rosenthal, found themselves in possession of a second story: one that stretched decades beyond the events of 1945 and the scope of their first book on the Iwo Jima story, Shadow of Suribachi. Thanks to their ongoing relationship with Rosenthal (via phone calls, letters, visits to San Francisco, and taped interviews), they became custodians of a second story: one distorted by conspiracy theories and slanderous accusations of staged flag raisings, posed photographs, and fake news stories.

Here was a story of one man's struggle to defend the legitimacy of his famous photograph, as well as the integrity of the Marines he so admired. It pitted him against formidable adversaries, including national newspapers and magazines as well as authors, Hollywood films, television dramas and reviewers. Until his death in 2006 at age 94, Rosenthal was engaged in a valiant effort to set the record straight.