Fighting Back is the story of Stan Andrews, an assimilated American
Jew and World War II veteran who became one of the first fighter pilots
in the history of the Israeli Air Force.
"Jeffrey and Craig Weiss have uncovered the story of a Jewish hero in
the mold of a Leon Uris character. Readers will enjoy trying to keep up
with Stan Andrews--a typical Jewish New Yorker turned daring combat
pilot--as he chases history from the air force planes of the United
States and the nascent state of Israel."
-Dan Senor, New York Times bestselling co-author of Start-Up Nation:
The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle.
"Absorbing and beautifully written, Fighting Back tells the thrilling
story of an unlikely American Jewish hero. At a time when some American
Jews are distancing themselves from the Jewish state, this book is a
powerful reminder of the deep roots connecting American Jewry and
Israel."
-Yossi Klein Halevi, senior fellow, Shalom Hartman Institute, author,
Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor
In 1948, Stan Andrews left a comfortable postwar life in Los Angeles to
travel to the war-torn Middle East, where a four-front Arab invasion
threatened to destroy the newly-declared State of Israel. There he
joined the Israeli Air Force and became one of its first fighter pilots.
Andrews was an unexpected volunteer for the fight for a Jewish state. He
was many things--an artist, writer, assimilated Jew, ladies' man, pilot,
and combat veteran of the Pacific War. He had previously been aloof from
the struggle for Jewish independence but found himself so roused by the
anti-Semitism of 1940s America that he decided to go to Israel and risk
everything. Stan made the most of his time in Israel, serving in fighter
and bomber squadrons and leaving his mark on an Israeli Air Force that
has since become the stuff of legend.
