For three terrifying years German U-boats turned the Atlantic Ocean into a killing field, but in May 1943 the Allies struck back successfully and reversed the tide of war. In just one month, using new tactics, new technology, and the coordinated forces of a new generation of submarine hunters, the Allies destroyed 41 U-boats and damaged 37 others. Noted naval historian Michael Gannon illuminates the epic battle and those who shaped it, from the men who made key command decisions to the sailors trapped inside the steel-hulled U-boats as they were pounded by Allied depth charges. Drawing on never-before-released transcripts of secretly recorded conversations of U-boat POWs, Gannon tells the story of two powerful enemies going head to head in a desperate naval battle and explains why the U.S. emerged the victor. Black May was a Military Book Club main selection and a Book of the Month Club alternate when originally published in hardcover. "Michael Gannon possesses an extremely rare talent. He combines the skeptical eye of the historian, the fastidious care of the researcher, and the dash and enthusiasm of the popular writer....Black May is a serious military study but its narrative power beats any fiction I have read in years." Len Deighton, author of Blood, Tears, and Folly "Black May is another amazing job of research and writing....I can't think of another book that tells both sides of the story with such depth and drama." Thomas Fleming, author of The New Dealers' War "Black May does the best job I have seen yet of describing in detail why the U-boats lost the Battle of the Atlantic....It is a significant addition to the history of World War II." Vice Admiral James F. Calvert, USN (Ret.), U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings "A splendid book....Black May is a gripping tale of the undersea (or U-Boat) war by one of our finest naval historians." Carlo D'Este, author of Patton: A Genius for War