James Carl Nelson tells the dramatic true story of five brilliant young soldiers from Harvard, a thrilling tale of combat and heroism. Five Lieutenants tells the story of five young Harvard men who took up the call to arms in the spring of 1917 and met differing fates in the maelstrom of battle on the Western Front in 1918. Delving deep into the motivations, horrific experiences, and ultimate fates of this Harvard-educated quintet—and by extension of the brilliant young officer class that left its collegiate and post-collegiate pursuits to enlist in the Army and lead America's rough-and-ready doughboys—Five Lieutenants presents a unique, timeless, and fascinating account of citizen soldiers at war, and of the price these extraordinary men paid while earnestly giving all they had in an effort to end "the war to end all wars." Drawing upon the subjects' intimate, eloquent, and uncensored letters and memoirs, this is a fascinating microcosm of the American experience in the First World War, and of the horrific experiences and hardships of the educated class of young men who were relied upon to lead doughboys in the trenches and, ultimately, in open battle.

This multilayered history of World War I's doughboys captures the experiences of American soldiers as they trained for war, voyaged to France, and faced the harsh reality of combat on the Western Front in 1917-18. Hallas uses the words of the troops themselves to describe the first days in the muddy trenches, the bloody battles for Belleau Wood, the violent clash on the Marne, the seemingly unending morass of the Argonne, and more, revealing what the doughboys saw, what they did, how they felt, and how the Great War affected them.