Season 8, Episode 10 - Robert Dugoni, Jeff Langholz, and Chris Crabtree
In Season 8, Episode 10 of "History Through Fiction: The Podcast," host Colin Mustful speaks with authors Robert Dugoni, Jeff Langholz, and Chris Crabtree about their novel Hold Strong. The book explores the tragic story of the Arisan Maru, a Japanese "hellship" carrying Allied POWs during World War II. The authors discuss their 11-year journey of extensive research, including declassified documents and firsthand exploration, to uncover this untold history. They share insights into their collaborative writing process, balancing historical accuracy with compelling storytelling, and honoring the heroism of figures like Father Thomas Cecina.
About the Authors
About the Authors
Robert Dugoni is a critically acclaimed New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and #1 Amazon bestselling author, reaching over 9 million readers worldwide. He is best known for his Tracy Crosswhite police series set in Seattle. He is also the author of the Charles Jenkins espionage series, the David Sloane legal thriller series, and several stand-alone novels including The 7th Canon, Damage Control, The World Played Chess, and Her Deadly Game. His novel The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell received Suspense Magazine’s 2018 Book of the Year, and Dugoni’s narration won an AudioFile Earphones Award. Washington Post named his nonfiction exposé The Cyanide Canary a Best Book of the Year.
Jeff Langholz is an award-winning teacher, researcher, entrepreneur, and writer whose work has appeared in more than 250 media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, National Geographic, and the Economist. His adventures span five continents and include stints as a rice farmer in West Africa with the Peace Corps, a Fulbright Scholar in South Africa, a salmon fisherman in Alaska, a tree farmer in Central America, and a mediator in New York. He is a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California.
Chris Crabtree is a teacher of middle and high school English language arts and literature at Costa Rica International Academy in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, where students have voted the popular instructor "Teacher of Year" several times. Chris and his wife, Vera, live in a rustic, rural town on the outskirts of Santa Cruz, Costa Rica, with their dogs Bety and Bruno.
From Robert Dugoni, Jeff Langholz, and Chris Crabtree comes an epic and inspiring novel—based on true events—about love, heroism, and resilience during the darkest chapters of World War II.
Sam Carlson, a small-town Minnesota projectionist, is sent to the Philippines during World War II, where he endures the Bataan Death March and brutal POW camps. Among 1,800 prisoners aboard the hellship Arisan Maru, his survival hangs by a thread. Meanwhile, his sweetheart, Sarah Haber, a math prodigy, is recruited as a codebreaker in Washington, DC. When Sarah intercepts a message about a Japanese convoy, the Navy’s mission to sink the Arisan Maru sets their lives on a tragic collision course. Inspired by true events, Hold Strong is a gripping tale of faith, courage, survival, and love amidst war.
