The Book Prize Index

Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War

Mark Harris

Traces the World War II experiences of five legendary directors including John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra and George Stevens to assess the transformative impact of the war and period beliefs on Hollywood. By the author of Pictures at a Revolution.

War & MilitaryWar & Military · high confidenceWar & Military81 signalsLlm Classifier: War & Military -> War & MilitaryOpen Library: World War, 1939-1945 -> War & MilitaryOpen Library: Motion pictures and the war -> War & MilitaryWorld War IISoldiers, Veterans & Combat ExperienceWar & Military Strategy

Award History

0 wins · 1 total

AwardYearResultCategory / Notes
Los Angeles Times Book Prize for History2014FinalistSecondary source
View all award history (1)
Experimental book profileGenerated by GPT-5.4 nano · may contain inaccuracies

This is an unverified interpretation of the catalog description, offered as an opt-in discovery experiment—not as bibliographic fact. Automated checks have flagged this profile for extra review.

  1. 01 Central figures

    • John Ford90%
    • William Wyler88%
    • John Huston83%

  2. 02 Central places

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

  3. 03 Suggested argument

    World War II experiences and period beliefs of five legendary Hollywood directors transformed how Hollywood functioned and what it believed.

    Model confidence 60%

  4. 04 Reading orientation

    35 / 100 academic

    Serious trade

    An estimate of intended readership and scholarly apparatus—not quality or importance.

Confidence percentages are the model's own estimates. Profile confidence: 62%.