Although The Mosquito Bowl is the title of Bissinger’s work of nonfiction, the game itself is merely a blip in the book. Rather, it is a vehicle to bring together the story of five young men who participated in the bowl game and how their lives played out in Okinawa in 1945. Bissinger tells the biographies of Marines George Murphy, Tony Butkovich, Robert Bauman, David Schneider and John McLaughry. All five could have remained stateside and played football, but instead they chose to join the Marines and fight for their country. In depicting their lives on Okinawa, Bissinger vividly describes the horrors of war.

While the title of this book is totally misleading, Bissinger does a good job of describing five good men and their gruesome life in World War II.

*I’ve just read two works of nonfiction that describe the atrocities and senselessness of war. No more “war books” for me for a while.