I’m not a WW11 fan but thought that this book would be interesting. It didn’t disappoint at all. It has everything think you ever need in WW11 history. The historical aspects of each character is right on where it should be. It makes my want to know more about that time in our history. I highly recommend this book.

A story that I had never heard of about corrupt politicians, I have heard of those, but here is a group of returning veterans taking a stand against politicians, sheriffs, and others for a fair election after boxes had been stuffed . A really fascinating story.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for this ARC.

I had never heard anything about Athens, Tennessee. Not surprising, since I am from Ireland. But there’s a good tale here and possibly should be know by more people. I found parts of the book confusing in the way the story was laid out but over all it was an enjoyable read and a fascinating piece of history.

This is a very interesting book historically, shedding light on a little known 1946 "ballot box" event in Tennessee. The story is also very timely to out present day world, including recent US history. Other reviewers have given accurate outlines of the story; my contribution is to enthusiastically encourage wide readership of Chris DeRose's "The Fighting Bunch: The Battle of Athens.".

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for sending me an advance review copy for an unbiased review.

True story of WW2 soldiers who fought for freedom and came home to find anything and had to fight for freedom and democracy in their East Tennessee hometown. Good story and character descriptions.

The Fighting Bunch: The Battle of Athens and How World War II Veterans Won the Only Successful Armed Rebellion Since the Revolution is fascinating to read. Five stars.

Interesting story, with an interesting presentation of flipping between home and war up to the point of the rebellion. I love getting to read about interesting historical topics that are often overlooked or less prevalently published and spoken about.

Thank you Net Galley and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

DeRose tells an important story, and I'm grateful he wrote it. I will say, the writing and storyline was a bit choppy. BUT, I love the stories he shares of true heroes in American history. Both of my grandfathers fought in the Pacific Theater in WWII, so the stories these brave soldiers relayed in the book were of great note to me. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this book.

The incredible, untold story of the WWII veterans who destroyed a corrupt political machine―the only successful armed rebellion on US soil since the War of Independence.

They fought for freedom abroad and returned to find that they had lost it at home. A corrupt political machine was in charge, kept in power by violence and stolen elections - the worst allegations of vote fraud ever brought to the attention of the Department of Justice, according to the Attorney General.

The GIs formed a nonpartisan, all-veteran ticket. On Election Day, the GIs and their supporters found themselves assaulted, intimidated, arrested, and even shot. A small band of veterans - the Fighting Bunch - armed themselves and marched on the jail to demand an honest count. The sheriff and his men refused. These men who thought they had seen the last of war returned to the battlefield, one last time.

This episode in U.S. history has never been more relevant, but has never been fully told. At the time of the rebellion, national news outlets jammed the phone lines into town, asking questions before the shooting had stopped. Journalists beat a path to Athens from across the country. Hollywood came calling, but the people of McMinn County had moved on.

After years of research, including exclusive interviews with the remaining witnesses, archival radio broadcast and interview tapes, scrapbooks, letters, and diaries, author Chris DeRose has reconstructed one of the seminal―yet untold―events in American election history. (less)

The young men of McMinn County, Tennessee, are coming home after fighting in World War II. But the disturbing scenes they find upon their return surpass even the outrageous tales they've been told by family and friends. The deep corruption of the Machine running things in the town of Athens, Tennessee, and across the county extends through the police force, the judicial system, and local elections and voting. Nothing happens unless the Machine okays it, profits by it, and assigns the people in charge of it.


But the brave GIs didn't survive years of brutal battles and ensure returning in a much-anticipated homecoming in order to see their loved ones pushed around by swaggering, greedy, corrupt men who think they're untouchable. If there's a way to end the reign of the wide-reaching Machine, these are just the clever, fearless, determined citizens to do it.

I was completely taken with the compelling story of the spunky main players; the shockingly blatant, pervasive cheating and stealing by those in office locally and across the state; and the way the story unfolded to its crisis point. (And that's before I realized that friends of ours are from Athens, which added a layer to the legendary story for me.)

Have you read this book? Had you ever heard of this story? I couldn't get over the facts of the situation--and this was my middle-of-the-night book, so my constantly astounded reactions didn't exactly help me get back to sleep.

I received a prepublication copy of this book from St. Martin's Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Chris DeRose tells the story of an actual battle to free ballot boxes from a corrupt county government just after World War Two. Athens Tennessee was in the grip of a political machine who used armed sheriffs deputies to seize and stuff ballot boxes, ensuring dominance of the county government. When the veterans returned from defending democracy in Europe and the Pacific they were faced with harassment by serifs deputies who bullied residents for years with impunity. In the election of August 1946 they took things into their own hands. This story could never be properly told until now.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

"The only successful armed rebellion on US soil since the American Revolution"--if that makes you say, "Wait, what?" then this book is for you. Political corruption in local government and police came to a head in Athens, Tennessee after WWII, and a group of GIs had to take matters into their own hands. Then they mostly avoided talking about it for the rest of their lives, leading the author down many rabbit holes to try to find out what really happened. The book could have used a bit more structural editing, but the story is very much worth knowing.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for a digital ARC for the purpose of an unbiased review.

Princess Fuzzypants here: Driving down I-75, you may pass a place called Athens Tennessee. You could be forgiven for not knowing that a monumental battle took place here, a David vs Goliath event, when the little guys took on the powerful and prevailed. It has all the excitement and intrigue of a Hollywood movie but it is all true.

In this case, the citizens of Athens took on the political machine that ruled every aspect of their lives. The larceny and avarice were but the tip of the iceberg. For years, people could be fined, arrested, beaten and even killed for committing whatever crime the particular police officer chose to dream up. People resigned themselves to the reality that it would be futile to fight back. But then something happened. The WWII veterans who had fought in both the European and Pacific theatres for democracy, returned home to find there was no democracy. Before long, they decided enough was enough. They set out to beat the machine legally, at the polls, and they would have won but on Election Day in 1946, the corrupt and powerful swooped in to deny them their victory.

Watchers at polls were held hostage, ballot boxes were stolen, polls were closed and people were beaten when they tried to exercise their right to vote. It looked like the bad guys were going to prevail and then something magical happened. These GI fought back. And these guys knew how to do it. They were hardened battle veterans. By the time the smoke had cleared, the ballots were freed and when the legitimate count was made, they swept into office. The thugs brought in to thwart the election were sent packing but rather than celebrate their victory, the GI’s did not advertise their feats. They may have skimmed close to the legal line and did not want to risk their freedom.

Once the initial press died down, the story lay dormant until the author did the research and wrote this exciting and inspiring book. Kudos to the Fighting Bunch and kudos to the author for telling their story.

Five purrs and two paws up.

4.5 stars
An eye opening, informative read. The Fighting Bunch is a comprehensive account of what took place and I found it was well written and delivered. I would recommend this book and author.

The Fighting Bunch by Chris DeRose

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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Story Notes

This book is so apropos for our time. Daily, we see similar situations played out before us and so many are choosing to ignore what is happening. If more people read this true story and learned from these brave individuals, their eyes would be opened to those who seek power at the cost of others freedom and lives. I loved learning about these people and their courage to stand up for others. They had just given their country their time and energy and then came home to ensure what they fought for was not being taken away again. I'm not usually a big autobiography reader but those like this one give me a chance to see real happenings of the past that can encourage me to be a better person. I really liked how it was told from many perspectives so that there were no details missed. Each person added more depth to the story and increased the angst I felt for these in such a terrible situation. Their fight was honest but brutal and they did everything necessary to ensure that every voice was heard and give credence. I will certainly be recommending this book to others and hope that they will read and learn about such incredible history. Well done, Mr. DeRose!

I received this temporary complimentary E-book from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley in order to provide a fair and honest review. I will receive no fiscal compensation for this review and the opinions expressed herein are entirely my own.

While men were going off to war (though many were under 21 and couldn't vote) the people of Athens Tennessee's McMinn County lived under a totalitarian style government. People were intimidated into not voting, but that didn't matter because the local gangsters counted the ballots and stuffed the ballot boxes for their candidates. People were stopped in their cars and forced to pay off the deputies to NOT put them in jail. Deputies were known to beat up people (some hospitalized) just for the fun of it and shot those who disagreed with the Mayor or Chief of Police.

This was a patriotic community and almost everyone of the 18K inhabitants had one of more men in the services, some had as many as five. So while overseas fighting the Japanese and Germans, their families lived under a regime that would have made Hitler of Stalin proud. When these men came home, they heard the stories of beatings, embezzlement and extortion. They decided to take on this group head-on. They formed the GI ticket for office.

After picking a slate of people to run for office, they and their families were beginning to be intimidated by the local deputies for non existing violations. They had to pay and poll tax at the voting had to show a receipt for the tax payment. The deputies would tear them up an tell them the couldn't vote. On election day all the voting precincts were 'protected' by armed thugs hired by the Mayor and his crew.

After a day of total voter intimidation, the Mayor had all the ballot boxes taken to the government offices, his bank vault and the jailhouse. Members of the GI party poll watchers were held hostage to keep them from watching the count. They saw the electors counting marked ballots for the GIs being called for the Mayor, and piles of ballots added into the total brought in by Deputies. The GIs decided to fight fire with fire.

So began what was called the Battle of the Ballots, in August 1946. You'll have to read the rest yourself, but after it was over, no one in the town wanted to speak about it and for over 50 years no one spoke. Kids grew up in this town who never heard what their fathers and families had done. Now the story is told.

The characterization of this 1946 episode in the title as “the Only Successful Armed Rebellion since the Revolution” and the sentence in the text “Their successful armed rebellion is without precedent since the American Revolution” (Kindle location 58) are both false and should be retracted. I don't expect the publisher to pulp remaining copies of the book, or the author to engage in a loud public apology, but I think future editions should be changed, and the copies available for download should be corrected.

However, I enjoyed the book – interesting and well-written. Maybe the middle dragged a bit but the last 50 pages galloped along very enjoyably. I am grateful that Netgalley and St. Martin's Press gave me a free advance electronic copy to read. I'm sorry I led with this sole, but important, complaint.

About my claim in the first paragraph, I believe an earlier successful armed rebellion was the 1898 North Carolina episode known variously as the Wilmington Insurrection , the Wilmington Race Riot, and the Wilmington Massacre, in which white citizens slaughtered African-Americans and their political allies with weapons, after which they installed a government more to their liking without an election. This, in my sight, meets the definition of a “successful armed rebellion”, in the sense that, like the episode portrayed in this book, it achieved the ends desired by the people bearing arms. Wilmington 1898 is, however, a sadder and less heroic episode than the one narrated in this book.

My qualm with this characterization should not be read as a condemnation of the book as a whole. However, given the state of race relations today, it is not a mistake that should be passed over silently, as it could be interpreted as another instance of white people ignoring the injuries they have inflicted on non-white people. This is not an example of political correctness run amuck – facts are facts. I urge you to read about Wilmington. There is an excellent new (2020) book out about it. Wilmington 1898 also features prominently in an older excellent long historical novel by John Sayles.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy for review.

This was a nice little slice of American history that is definitely not widely known, at least I had never heard of this. In the little town of Athens, TN, halfway between Chattanooga and Memphis, there resides a tight knit community. These are people who have lived there for generations, and everyone knows everyone else. There is also rampant political corruption. Seriously, my mind was blown at the amount of corruption, and the fact they weren't even trying to hide it. It starts with the 1936 elections. Paul Cantrell bullies and buys his way into a local office. I can't remember exactly which one, as he ends up holding multiple over a 10 year span. He then brings all his bully buddies with him along for the ride. The townsfolk end up living in a state of constant fear. Business owners have to pay for protection, illegal gambling halls and moonshiners are free to do whatever they please. Election days are the worst though. People are arrested for "voting wrong", the ballots are stuffed, or changed, people are held at gun point (!) as they vote. It seems to get worse after many of the men are called off to fight in the war. We follow a few of them, but especially Bill White, as they fight to defend freedom overseas only to arrive home to see their freedoms gone. The vets decide to create a GI ballot and take back the town, and boy do they ever utilize those combat skills. It was quite a wild ride, with a happy ending. I think the author did a great job in terms of all the research, and overall flow of the story. My only issue was that some chapters would start in TN and then jump to a soldier for a paragraph and that would be the end. So parts were slightly choppy for me but overall I really enjoyed learning about this little rebellion and the men that took down a huge political machine.

The Fighting Bunch ( The Battle of Athens and How World War II Veterans Won The Only Successful Armed Rebellion Since The Revolution) is based in Athens Tennessee. There are members of the town who have taken the town hostage by making sure that whenever there is an election they control it. By stuffing the ballot box, outright stealing the ballot box or just blatantly counting the ballots wrong, they systematically take over the town, and when people try to let others know what is going on, they are ignored or are so far entrenched in the conspiracy that they themselves are complicit. What disgusted me was that men in this town/county fought for their country in WWII and were treated horribly when they returned. They fought, so they could rid the world of evil, a man who took control and was running over anything and anybody, and then they come home only to see the same thing in their town. It had to be such a punch in the gut. But, these men took control and when the next election came, they were prepared. These men, saved their town and democracy and made sure their vote was heard! Admirable is what they were!! 4⭐
⭐
Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press, Sara Beth Haring and Chris DeRose for this amazing book in exchange for my honest review.

“The Fighting Bunch” is a compelling yet little known piece of history, regarding an armed rebellion that took place in Athens, Tennessee in 1946. Local politics had become so corrupt that it affected every level of government, disenfranchising local voters and all but stripping them of civil rights. Demobilized GIs returning from the battlefields of World War II took a stand, making their own local political party and ultimately resorting to armed resistance to defend democracy at home just as they had done abroad.

DeRose has written a fabulously well-researched book here, fascinating and in depth without being dry, as sometimes occurs with history. Unprecedented access to first hand sources makes “The Fighting Bunch” really stand out. What I found so compelling about this book was not just that what DeRose outlined really took place - I had never thought something like this would happen on American soil - but that it is so timely with the current political climate in America. We deal today with voter suppression, disenfranchisement, and corruption; the legitimacy of elections are being called into question, the prevailing political party will stop at nothing to hold onto their power…It’s all too real, and truly I think we all as citizens of this nation could take a few tips from the GIs in Athens, Tennessee in terms of defending not only our rights but those of our neighbors.

A fascinating book I would recommend to any interested in domestic political history.