Rating: 
Summary: IN WAR, EVERYONE LOOSES
Review: In FLYBOYS James Bradley has dealt with all participants of the battles in the Pacific in World War II with sympathy and brutal honesty . I was a child at the time with a 'Flyboy" older brother, a West Point cadet, who died in a training crash of one of the unpredictable early combat airplanes Mr. Bradley described. After reading of the fate of pilots who survived training, I realize by brother's fate could have been even harsher.FLYBOY is not just a recital of events, but a search into the human involvement and influence of those events. Repeatedly both victims and perpetrators blamed war as the cause allowing individuals to commit atrocities and as a reason for victims to forgive their abusers. Former President Bush was one of the Flyboys who was miraculously rescued from capture and icy waters by a submarine crew. Having lost his two crewmen and having had a close brush with death, he lived the horror of war. It is unfathomable to me how one, who lived through this and later had children, could possibly, from a position of great power, allow another war to destroyed innocent people and put others' sons and daughters in harms' way. Perhaps this is an extension of many of the Flyboys reasoning that they were doing a job that had to be done. The Flyboys did their job well, as did James Bradley. It is a shocking story that needed telling, so we may someday cease to live such stories.
Rating: 
Summary: Bradley no repeat
Review: While Flags of Our Fathers was outstanding, Flyboys misses the mark in all categories. Bradley's research is questionable because there are so many factual errors. Sadly his liberal, bleeding heart bias pours out as he whines about America's treatment of Native Americans in the 19th century. SAVE YOUR MONEY! Flyboys is a STINKER!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Not for the nationalists or WWII trivia buffs
Review: I agree with some earlier posts here about some inaccuracies in Bradleys facts. I can over look these however because any one looking for a factual, historical account of the war in the Pacific would probably recognize right away that this book does not fall into that category. I found this book to be well written engaging and thought provoking... but.... Those looking for a gushing portrait of US war heroes should look elsewhere. Judging from the cover and the brief descriptions I read before buying this book, I'd say that is exactly the type of reader they're shooting for. Although I found that the pilots' stories were treated with care and found nothing in this book to detract from their heroism and bravery, the simple fact is that you can't tell a war story from the point of view of opposing sides and then bill it as a testament to a particular nations heroes. I think most people would agree on two things: first that war and expansionism whether American or Japanese or any nations, is atrocious (read: will include atrocities on both sides), and second that despite the atrocities that inevitably accompany every war effort, there are times where pacifism is equally if not more reprehensible. So in my mind there is no conflict with acknowledging the horrors of WWII - including those inflicted on our enemies - and being proud of the role the US played and the bravery of our soldiers. The problem in this book isn't that it's wrong to try and understand the actions and motivations of Japan - or even to find a way to equate them morally or civilly to the United States, it's that all of that objective reasoning ought to be in a completely separate book. When writing a tribute to a war hero you have the emotions of an entire nation to consider. The fire-bombing in Japan should be a footnote to the story to help explain the overall sentiment the Japanese soldiers would have had towards American pilots. On the flip side, the account of this tragedy ought to be just a footnote in an objective detached account of the Pacific war. If you want to look at it from both sides, it's best to leave your emotions at the door - If you want to get emotional about your heroes, you'd better stick to your side.
Rating:
Summary: Sad disregard of the planes they flew
Review: Bradley effectively documents Japanese atrocities, but shows virtually no understanding of the planes his "Flyboys" lived and died in. Corsairs, Helldivers, Avengers, Mitchells, and so on played vital roles in their crews' existence, each with its own combination of strengths and weaknesses. Bradley's aseptic descriptions of air combat fail to evoke these dynamic, visceral marriages of man and machine. Ironically, SBD Dauntless dive bombers appearing in the beautiful photographs on the jacket and flyleaves are identified nowhere in the text and were apparently flown by none of the main characters in this book. The Dauntless dominated most of the crucial Pacific naval battles with its unique combination of range, maneuverability, and toughness, but was being supplanted by the faster (but clumsier and less forgiving) Helldiver by the time Chichi Jima was attacked. Far better treatments of the Pacific air war exist.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping subject, wrong author
Review: James Bradley's irritating writing style is the least of the many problems with this effort. Essentially he's taken an engrossing subject suitable for a lengthy magazine article and turned it into a pretentious, self-indulgent tome. Even the title trivializes the severity of the subject.
Anybody remotely familiar with aviation realizes that Bradley is unsuited for the topic. He places jets in the US Navy in 1944, talks about "runways" on aircraft carriers, and even manages to morph the B-25 Mitchell into the "Billy" bomber. When his approach is not ignorant it's just plain silly.
Readers have to wonder: if he talked to so many aviators in researching the book, and got so much of it wrong, what's lacking in the core areas of Japanese atrocities?
He deserves credit for persistence in tracking the story, but in an ultra PC effort to appear objective, he insults every "flyboy" who helped rid the world of the Japanese empire.
Rating: 
Summary: A Dark Chapter in the Pacific; Flyboys and Cannibals in WWII
Review: James Bradley, author of FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS, has written in this book what is certain to be a controversial, yet compelling, chronicle of savagery, inhumanity and depravity which will shock many. The first half of the book is Bradley's interpretation of Japanese and American history of the 1800-1900s, and he spends most of the effort tracing various atrocities committed by both sides as they become part of the Imperialist nations seizing the lesser nations of the world to pillage their resources. He goes to great, perhaps excessive, lengths to make American leaders and actions of the period appear roughly morally equivalent to those of Japan; establishing a backdrop for the horrors the Japanese on the island of Chichi Jima visit on American aviators captured there during World War II. The second half of the book describes the nine Flyboys who will be shot out of the skies over the island, outlining their lives leading up their shoot downs and describing the tragic and horrific outcome as they are ultimately murdered, mutilated and cannibalized by their captors. President George Herbert Walker Bush tells his story as he is shot down bombing this same island, escaping in a daring daylight rescue by American submarine. He gives some valuable insights into the thinking of Flyboys as they faced the dangerous bombing missions. The author also introduces the reader to the worst and best of Japanese military men; the psychopathic murderers and the youthful conscripts who befriend the Flyboys present a stark contrast in ideology and reveal much about the sadism inculcated in Japanese soldiers. The details of the executions and cannibalism make for some very sobering reading. The book culminates with the US Military cover up of the trials of the Japanese murderers and dialogue with many of the surviving Japanese who were involved in the events. Bradley has done a fine job of making the Flyboys human, along with their captors, and the book is certainly graphic, yet readable, and it is highly recommended for its revelation of a dark chapter in American history.
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Summary: Queasy! Will offend WWII veterans
Review: Another reader here sees a pro-American bias to James Bradley's Flyboys. I saw something else-a sense of ethical confusion by Mr. Bradley. He seems to think American pilots bombing Japan were as morally guilty as the Japanese who tortured and cannibalized the Americans on Chi Chi Jima. Mr. Bradley makes this point very clearly, giving very detailed and very upsetting descriptions of burned Japanese bodies during the Tokyo fire raids. The author thinks that each side was equally evil during the war. This should offend any American who fought for his country during WWII. Throughout the book, Mr. Bradley seems determined to establish moral equivalence between Japan's atrocities against Allied prisoners and the American bombing of Japan. One one hand he is out to make the "Flyboys" (why always in capitals?) into heroes, as he did in his much-better book, Flags of our Fathers. But on the other hand, he can't help himself from suggesting that these same pilots were, if not war criminals, then at least complicit in war crimes. This really started bothering me. The author's scholarship on the Pacific war is in depth. But the story isn't as good. Overall the story doesn't have the emotional impact as Faith of our Fathers. If you have a weak stomach... beware. The book gives shocking details about cannibalism by Japanese military personel that will just turn your stomach. I wonder what the families of the captured American pilots think about that. Mr. Bradley should probably have left some of this awful stuff buried. Technical note: The book is all about pilots who flew Avenger torpedo bombers. So why is there a Dauntless dive-bomber on the cover and inside? Mr. Bradley needs to do some boning up on aviation history.
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Summary: Flyboys: A story of rationalization ?
Review: I anticipated a good read when I bought Flyboys by James Bradley. I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Bradley's Flags of Our Fathers. I expected another story about heroism and tragedy. Although, the story of the Flyboys at Chichi Jima was one of heroism and tradegy, I was greatly disappointed by the rationalization of Japanese behavior and the apologetic tone for U.S. behavior inherent in the book. Thus, although the Japanese were the aggressor and invader of China, the return of the Liaodong peninsula to China is called the "Shame of Liaodong". The Chinese nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek is "ruthless" and the communist Mao Tse-tung is "wily" and "brilliant". American flyboys kill Japanese civilians, and the American "white" government has few qualms. Right and wrong depends on what side you are on, according to Mr. Bradley. War is truly horrrible and immoral. But please, let's remember that there is a difference between the motivation behind the destruction done by an invader and aggressor , and the motivation behind the destruction brought on by a country fighting back to end a war. The huge loss of civilian life in Japan, while tragic, saved thousands, perhaps millions of lives, and not just Americans. It is not fair to apologize for American behavior in WWII, and then rationalize the horrendous slaughter of American Flyboys on Chichi Jima and elsewhere as understandable.
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Summary: A new review on the war in the Pacific
Review: One of the best books I have read. It was so thought provoking, I kept thinking about it for days. It changed my mind about Hirohito, who has been portrayed as a helpless dupe, who went along with his generals in the conduct of the war. I arrived in Tokyo, October, 1946, which was a year after the war ended, but the devestation was still awesome. I soon discovered the Japanese culture was more like ours than I thought possible. You would feel safer walking in Tokyo late at night then any city in US. I don't recall a single injury to an occupation serviceman. I suggest you try to keep an open mind, when reading, as the author makes some valid points, which the reader could find unsettling. Why did so many humans have to die to arrive at a peaceful solution we have today? I feel the use of the atomic bomb was justified, but why did we fire bomb so many German cities late in the war, when it was so close to an end.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing.....
Review: I think he documented the stuggle of the downed airmen and the Japanese captors very well. I don't think his comparisons of American and Japanese expansion are accurate or valid. It becomes very clear very quickly this author has a "pro-Japanese" view of the world, vivid in his blurb at the end of his acknowledgements for his scholarship program for American high school and college students to study in Japan. Overall I was very disappointed.
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