Author, Bill Lascher, talks WWII Journalism Heroics at AM:PM PR

Portland author Bill Lascher was nominated by Literary Arts’ Oregon Book Awards program as a finalist in the general nonfiction category for his debut, “Eve of a Hundred Midnights.” While he didn’t win the award, his painstakingly researched book has received critical acclaim and rave reviews.

At an AM:PM PR gathering in his honor, Lascher’s presented the story of Mel and Annalee Jacoby’s mad dash to preserve their lives after Japan invaded the Philippines during WWII.

Eve of a Hundred Midnights is the unforgettable true story of two married journalists on an island-hopping run for their lives across the Pacific after the Fall of Manila during World War II—a saga of love, adventure, and danger. On New Year’s Eve, 1941, just three weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese were bombing the Philippine capital of Manila, where journalists Mel and Annalee Jacoby had married just a month earlier. The couple had worked in China as members of a tight community of foreign correspondents with close ties to Chinese leaders; if captured by invading Japanese troops, they were certain to be executed. Racing to the docks just before midnight, they barely escaped on a freighter—the beginning of a tumultuous journey that would take them from one island outpost to another. While keeping ahead of the approaching Japanese, Mel and Annalee covered the harrowing war in the Pacific Theater—two of only a handful of valiant and dedicated journalists reporting from the region.

The Book is now available in paperback wherever books are sold. Click here to listen to Bill Lascher preview his book on the Me And My Friends Podcast.