Rating: 
Summary: Good insight on untold story.
Review: Flyboys tells the incredible and previously untold story of what happened to American pilots shot down and captured over the Japanese islands in the Pacific, most notably Chichi Jima. Although not as well written as his first book, Flags Of Our Fathers, this is worth reading if only to gain entry to the world of the American Pilots of WWII and what happened to them if they were shot down. The book also tells about the little known intensive firebombing of Japan prior to dropping the A-bombs that led to their surrender. The stories contained in this book give a great explanation of why pilots and the airwar were so instrumental to the Allied victory in WWII.
Rating: 
Summary: A Gripping Story About American Aviators in the Pacific
Review: This book describes the attacks against the Japanese-held island of Chichi Jima. Located approximately 150 miles north of its more familiar neighbor Iwo Jima, Chichi Jima served as an early warning radar and radio station for the Japanese. Nine American aviators were shot down over the island. One, George Bush, would later become President of the United States. The others disappeared.In the course of this excellent book by the author of "Flags of Our Fathers", the reader is taken back to the 1850s and the birth of the Japanese military and "Bushido" system. At first, I was disappointed with the way the book was set up, and I felt that a lot of the information in the first few chapters was irrelevant to the subject being covered. But as I read further, I discovered that this was the perfect introduction for the material covered later in the book. The foundation that was laid in the beginning, such as the birth of the bushido code and the resentment that many Japanese felt toward the Americans after the visit of Commodore Perry helped to describe the transformation of the Japanese soldier from a normal human being into an unhuman killing machine. Although the book describes the story of the airmen shot down over Chichi Jima in great detail, Bradley also talks about the entire Pacific war and the role that air power played. From the attack on Pearl Harbor to the surrender of Japan, Bradley describes the heroic Flyboys and their contributions to victory. The atrocities comitted by the Japanese against the American aviators are described in chilling detail. The Japanese regarded anyone who surrendered as sub-human, because surrender was unfamiliar to them. Japanese soldiers were taught never to surrender. Instead, they should kill themselves before surrendering. Aviators were treated even more harshly than other POWs, because the Japanese held them directly responsible for the effects of bombings and so forth. But the events on Chichi Jima were so grotesque that its hard to imagine that anyone was capable of them. The Japanese would have a burial detail dig a hole, then the POW was blindfolded and forced to kneel while a Japanese soldier would behead him with a samurai sword. But the part that was so inhumane was the dissection and eating of the flesh by the Japanese. The boys shot down over Chichi Jima became food for the Japanese. Many people wonder why the Americans dropped the atom bombs on Japan, and many called the acts "inhuman". If the atomic bombings were inhuman, then what would one call the slicing and eating of another human's flesh? I highly recommend this fine book. The narrative is impecable, and the story is almost too bizarre to comprehend, but Bradley writes about this little-known aspect of the war with a true flair and amazing storytelling ability. A masterful work of history, this book will change our understanding of the Pacific war
Rating:
Summary: Not Just an Adventure Tale- What makes USA great
Review: This is ostensibly the story of eight American naval aviators shot down in World War II , the barbarous treatment they received from their captors and the ensuing cover up (i.e. the Department of Defense told the airmen's families nothing of the torture, only of swift deaths in combat).
While that is the pitch that sold the book, Bradley goes further; he beckons the reader to explore the milieu, the world view that has fostered modern warfare. He begins with an 'impartial' essay on Imperialism, and its prime corollary: 'You can't be a world class nation without a kick-ass army.'
The Europeans and the Americans may have started Imperialism, but Japan, styling itself as the first land to greet the sun and the center of the Earth, of course also wants a piece of Imperialial power, despite starting hundreds of years later.
From that position, the book opens up the philosophical differences between the Anglo-American approach and the Japanese approach to raising that kick-ass Army.
Both dehumanized the enemy. The author acknowleges that much. After all, napalming school children, grocery store clerks and oldsters in their homes could be construed as bad as lopping off prisoners heads after hanging them for a few days with their hands behind their backs. Still, I sensed Bradley saw a crucial distinction: Anglo-America, even in military hierarchy has something of a bottom-up philosophy versus the Imperial Japanese philosophy of all power exudes from the son of heaven (figurehead) emperor.
Here are a few of those distinctions: The common soldier in the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) is expected to die before being taken prisoner and even if wounded, kill himself rather than 'consume valuable resources' on his own selfish will to survive.
OK, now turn 180 degrees around. These two anecdotes characterizes the American way: First; General Billy Mitchell- who in 1925 even stood court martial in defense of his position that the airplane held the key to victory in mechanized modern warfare. Heretofore, that was not official defense policy. Sure, he was court-martialed and that is far from a kudo for a job well done. Yet he was able to take his case to the American people and when time came to arm America for World War II, his unified Air-Land-Sea total war strategy was the approach taken.
No way would that fly in the IJA! Such diversity of opinion, such respect for the individual found not even a toehold in Imperial Japan. Instead of diversity, the Asian island nation relied on faith in the emperor and his handlers. Somehow even fate itself was expected to come to their aid.
The second incident showing the strength of the American approach was the rescue of a young airman by submarine when his dive bomber went down in the waters around Chichi Jima, the geographical focus of the book. (That airman was George Bush) A Japanese observer noted that if a Japanese pilot had been so downed, he would commit harikari to conserve his homeland's resources.
So, up until recently, the US Defense Department may have concealed the cruelties of war to the families of the eight airmen killed over Chichi Jima. Now the story is out- in Flyboys. It is also told nowadays even in Hollywood movies. Grisly blood and guts everywhere.
This book has a vision: There are tyrants who prod conscripts forward at gun point, who dehumanize even their own in an effort to unleash a savage hate-filled horde on the world.
Now, post 9/11, it becomes essential that citizens and governments both watch out for one another, that the bottom-up American system will not die, that it has a new birth.
As an American, it is easy to see the story of the fallen aviators (Flyboys) as an American tale. Yes, their sacrifice should be remembered, honored and respected. At the same time, the challenge is to also bring the vision of human rights to the former enemy, so that he is cleansed of his former dehumanized war-lust mentality and enters life with a new heart and a new vision, that of the society of that honors the human rights of its citizens.
Rating:
Summary: A book we can all learn from
Review: Despite what might be called flaws (and what book is not without flaws), here is what I consider to be the reasons for giving it five stars:(1) The historical introduction helps us to understand better why Japanese soldiers acted in the way they did. Cruel and brutal acts, like all other kinds of human acts, can only be understood by understanding the environment in which the individuals who perform such acts have lived and the situation in which they find themselves. (2) Bradley makes us or should make us more aware of an very important fact: No nation is ever innocent when it comes to war. Atrocities for whatever reason, intentional or unintentional, will occur. He makes this point even more poignant by providing personal details about the individuals who were involved in such acts. (3) The book relates in a keenly sensitive way that despite the physical and spiritual traumas that are inflicted on men and women during war, there is always the possibility of reconciliation of the peoples of nations that were once enemies.
Rating: 
Summary: A worth while book in the end
Review: I bought this book before reading the reviews in Amazon. It's a good thing because other wise I probably wouldn't have bought it, because I don't believe a lot of the current revisionist, relativist history.
At first I disliked the book because it tries to bend over backwards to prove the moral equivalence of the United States and Japanese. How dare we moralize about
Japanese taking over China, South East Asia and Indonesia, says the author, when America indulged in "ethnic cleansing" against American Indians and Mexicans in the 1800's. So what if Japanese soldiers practiced bayonet training on live Chinese civilians and raped Chinese women as a prelude to murdering them, a group of settlers did the similar things to some Indians one time. The Americans killed a lot of Filipinos in 1899 and Jimmy Doolittle's pilots dropped bombs on children in a school yard. Why should the Japanese withdraw from China, when the United States, according to the author had "Whites Only" signs and black bodies swinging from lynching trees visible for any visitor to see.
If the author wanted to bring in some more irrelevant facts why didn't he mention how the Indians practiced "ethnic cleansing " on each other or how the Filipinos massacred the resident Chinese at one time . So, the Americans were unjust to the Indians and Mexicans. How about telling the way the Mexicans persecuted their indigenous Indian population and still do today. Why wasn't it brought out that Jimmy Doolittle's raiders were instructed not to bomb the Emperor's palace and in fact flew right by it without firing a shot?
Others have criticized the author's penchant for identifying people by their first names and for inventing names such as Flyboys or Sprit Warriors, but I soon got used to this and it is not a serious flaw.
About half way through the book the story begins to gel and the author gets down to the real purpose of the book, which is to tell the story of the unfortunate fate of several flyers, who fell into Japanese hands and to put their fate into perspective as it related to the conduct of the war especially the air war against Japan. I thought this was well done and made the book well worth reading. I was pleasantly surprised, given the tenor of the book in the early chapters, that the United States was not demonizes for the use of the atomic bomb, and given the attitude of the Japanese and American government and Japanese plans for suicidal last stand, that it was almost inevitable. After reading the book I wanted to know more about this terrible war that we had to fight.
The first part of the book gets two stars and the last half four stars, for an average of three.
Rating:
Summary: Some eye-opening historical references didn't hurt
Review: When I first started this book, I thought "Where is the story indicated by the title?" The first 70 or so pages takes the reader well back in time, but as I got through that I saw how it set the stage. It opened my eyes as to how the Japanese, by the time of WWII, had obtained their mind sets regarding the outside world and on themselves as citizens of Japan. If you have ever asked yourself why were the Japanese so fanatical and ruthless, it answers the question in spades. The author I'm sure riles some feathers when he delves into some of our own (US's)dirty laundry. With a grain of salt or two, it fits in with where he takes the reader showing very vividly the horror of all out war, no matter what the time frame or side chosen. I agree with some of the other reviews about the various use of "names" for certain historical figures, but I would be nit-picking to say that took away from the story being told. I found the book interesting, a quick read and that I came away with a greater knowlege and respect for the magnitude of the Pacific theater of the war and for those involved in it. Anyone who enjoys true WWII stories should find this a book well worth reading. I have not read his first book, Flags Of Our Fathers, but plan to having read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Recommended (with a few quibbles)
Review: Many reviewers say that this book compares very poorly with Bradley's earlier book. Maybe it's because I have not read Flags of Our Fathers, but I thoroughly enjoyed Flyboys. Unlike some reviewers, I found the background information on Commodore Perry, Billy Mitchell, and Japanese tradition extremely informative and valuable. Given the fact that there just isn't all that much information about what happened to the captured airmen, if Bradley had not provided this context, there probably wouldn't have been enough material there for a book. As it is, some reviewers complain about his wallowing in the atrocities committed against the Americans. Bradley is on solid ground in pointing out that both sides committed barbaric acts against civilians, and that different standards were applied to the Japanese. Curtis Lemay himself admitted that had we lost he would have been tried as a war criminal. Speaking of which, I completely agree with the many reviewers who complained about Bradley's calling Curtis Lemay "Curtis" and Roosevelt "the Dutchman". I found it bizarre and inconsistent. He refers to General MacArthur by his last name. Why was LeMay singled out? Unprofessional and distracting. Despite these flaws, I think the book is well worth reading. It put a human face on a small part of WW2, and again reinforces (lest we forget) what those young guys went through, and also what their loved ones endured. It is a very quick read, and I think that is always a good indicator of a well written book. I look forward to Flags of Our Fathers.
Rating:
Summary: Has its faults, but important nevertheless...
Review: I read about 20 of the earlier reviews of "Flyboys" as I struggled through the book this past week. Some of the negative comments are deserved, such as referring to the late Gen. Curtis LeMay as "Curtis" in half or more of the references to him. This is bizarre and distracting. Whether a result of careless editing or author-torial stubborness, it does not work. Also, I agree that the term "Flyboys" as a collective description of pilots, gunners and radiomen is over-used. I also agree that the book perhaps tries to cover too much history and abandons its cover story for too many pages at a time. Some condensing and reorganization would have enhanced its power. That said, many of the other negative comments seem to be unfair. Yes, Mr. Bradley dwells on America's mistreatment of Indians and Filipinos at length, including prisoners of war. Yes, he gives disgusting details of how our napalm drops on Japanese cities destroyed civilians indiscriminately. But he is not making up those facts. And to emphasize how easily combat and its stresses can make soldiers willing to do horrible deeds is not exactly the same thing as excusing the acts. I have read my share of WW II books, as I near 60 years of age, and "Flyboys" is the first one which sensibly explains how the Japanese fighter rationalized not only his willingness to die in already-lost battles, but his contempt for those from other cultures who chose to be prisoners of war instead. To explain the Japanese viewpoint, again, is not to excuse the acts. Nor is it unpatriotic. "Flyboys" describes disgusting acts of brutality and cannibalism, and is ultimately a very sad tale. It is not a work that should be tackled by readers who are emotionally fragile. As most people reading this review will already know, Mr. Bradley's dad was one of the Iwo Jima flag-raisers, wounded physically by Japanese soldiers in that fight, and wounded in some ways psychologically by the whole of his wartime service. The fact that his son went off to study in Japan, and developed much respect for the residents there, must have been painful and puzzling for the father. But I don't think any intelligent reader of Bradley's earlier book, "Flags of Our Fathers" or of "Flyboys" can question the younger Bradley's respect for our troops or our country. One of our strengths as a representative democracy is that we can love our nation for having humane ideals even if we are imperfect in living up to them every minute. And we can learn from injustices committed in our names by our government or military agents, and change our ways. I stuck with "Flyboys" right to the end, flaws and all, and I'm glad I did. It gets more powerful as it goes on, and it does finish the story of the eight Chichi Jima American POW's as much as it could be completed, so long after their 1945 deaths. We live in a time when we may be facing 30 years or more of sporadic war with terrorists and the countries which fund and hide them. To read a book which makes war and its (initially) unintended horrors seem like a step to be accepted only with the greatest caution is not a bad thing right now. While Mr. Bradley is not the smoothest historian/writer on the block, he shows promise. In some ways this book is better than "Flags of Our Fathers" despite its problems of style, language and organization. For sure, it is more important than the previous book, because the Iwo Jima battle story had already been well-covered in earlier works. Former President George Bush came close to being a prisoner on Chichi Jima, and plays a small part in this book. If he cooperated, and if he thinks Jim Bradley has done a service to the country with his research into the horrors of war in the Pacific from both sides, I won't argue with him. He was there, I was not. I'm glad I read "Flyboys" but unlike "Flags of Our Fathers" which I've read three times since it was first published, I won't be reading it twice. Its medicine is too strong for a second dose.
Rating:
Summary: The Sophmore Jinx
Review: I won't write a long essay like a lot of the previous reviewers....suffice it to say I really enjoyed Flags of our Fathers (I would have rated that a 5 out of 5) and was looking forward to another wonderful book when I opened Flyboys. Very disappointing.... Both sides were guilty of some pretty horrible atrocities during this war - however, I got tired of the repetition of hearing the same stories in graphic detail over and over and over again.
Rating: 
Summary: Is the author an apologist?
Review: The author is the son of a flag-raiser on Iwo Jima who returns to the scene of his medic father's enshrinement in photographic immortality to seek "the truth".
What he discovers is that the Japanese were cannibals, eating the livers and other bodily parts of their captured POWs. However, he is able to forgive this as a part of the "fog of war", citing the U.S. firebombing of Japanese cities as equally barbaric. The author even makes friends with an Imperial Japanese Army veteran who beheaded a downed American flyer. This fellow, a Mr. Watanabe, was an American citizen (!) who returned to Japan just prior to the outbreak of the war and served as an interpreter and signal corps member of the IJA.
The author's (and Watanabe's) big break comes when former President G.W. Bush, peripherally featured in the book, learns of the author's effort
to discover the fate of the lost flyers and decides to visit him on Chichi Jima to see if he can put his own ghosts to rest finally (Mr. Bush it seems still suffers 'survivor's guilt' about his narrow escape off Chichi after his Avenger was shot down).
Anyway, the President meets Watanabe near the spot where the latter was standing when he watched Mr. Bush crash and then get rescued by a U.S. submarine standing by for just such a mission. Watanabe tells the President that the Japanese soldier standing next to him at that moment had commented that the "Americans must care a great deal about their pilots to use a submarine to rescue them". Darn right!
Mr. Bush may of course forgive his former enemies, but it would seem foolish for anyone to forget the lesson: The Japanese sowed the whirlwind; we were not responsible for the harvest they reaped.
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