Rating: 
Summary: A must read for all!
Review: Wow! A gripping tale of the men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima. This book captured the essence of the battle of Iwo Jima tugging at the emotions of all who read. Experience the horror, sadness and anticipation that all who fought in this war went through. Found myself moved after this book and had to call my retired Marine father to thank him for his service to this country. I highly recommend this book!
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Summary: tribute to our soldiers
Review: An exceptional tribute to our soldiers and the sacrifices they made during one of the most horrific battles of our military history. Inspiring, sad, educational and a fitting tribute to ordinary people who accomplished extraordinary objectives. A must read for anyone who thinks war is glamorous or an option that should be used quickly. It sheds that aura of "hollywood" from the very beginning to the end. A book's equivalent of "Saving Private Ryan". A fitting tribute by the writer to his father.
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Summary: Does Honor to the Marines and their Pacific Battles
Review: Given that over 250 people have reviewed this book, there is not much more I could add to what has been said. It would be impossible to sum up the experience of reading this book in just a few sentences. Perhaps it will suffice to say that each of my six children, all very young now, will be required to read this book before they reach the age of military service. It is a better education on Iwo Jima and the Pacific Theater of WWII than any other text or source I know. Given that it was authored by James Bradley, a son of one of the flagraisers, I am impressed at how objective he was able to be. Naturally, there is a focus on his father. We should expect this. But the focus is natural, it is not laudatory or overdone. His father was just one of 29,000 men "doing their duty," and he presses that truth hard at the reader. I laughed regularly at the intimate portrayals of the men and their lives and families. I cried more often, for the men and the war. This book brings you eyeball-to-eyeball, nose-to-nose with the personal, individual brutality experienced by each one of those 29,000 men and those who loved them. The flagraisers were right. They were not heroes. They were more than that, they were Marines. If you never learned why you should stand alert and give honor to a veteran, this book will teach you exactly why.
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Summary: Good Story, Worth listening despite Faults (AUDIO CD REVIEW)
Review: I listened to this book because I was interested in learning more about the flag-raising, was unfamiliar with the specifics of the battle of Iwo Jima, had heard many 'myths' about the photo (ie it was staged), and was intrigued by the concept of following the lives of these six men from cradle to grave while focusing on their heroic efforts on foreign sands. The book responded to all of these issues in a clear and concise manner. The reader (the mayor from Spin City) was very good, and I have no complaints about his work.The author is the son of one of the flag raisers, the only one to have a 'normal' life and one of only 3 to make it back to the US alive. Many parts of the book are very interesting, the description of Japanese fortifications on Iwo, the training of the Marines prior to the invasion, the strategic importance of Iwo the US, the symbolic importance to the Japanese, and also some of the methods and techniques used in battle by both sides. Those areas of the book were absolutely fascinating, and could not have been better written. I was a bit disappointed with some of the descriptions of the lives of the soldiers involved, at times they were too overdone, and it seemed in doing so some respect was lost for the services they rendered to their country. By making them at times a bit too overly patriotic, American, modest and tragic, it seemed as if there was a need to "spruce up" their lives, when a more honest rendition would have been equally touching. That being said, the author gets his point across through these soldiers lives. They were the everyman, a portrait of the men that fought in WW2 and are symbols of the American spirit. The trials that they endured, the lives that they lived are examples of America at its finest. They deserve our respect. I was fascinated by the story of Ira Hayes (the lone Native American flag raiser, of Johnny Cash song fame). There were many stories that were difficult to listen to without bringing a tear to the eye, the stories of mothers losing sons, families wrought apart and courageous acts of valor, are simply overwhelming. The story of Ralph Ignatowski (friend of the authors father) was so difficult to listen to that I had to stop the CD player several times. In the end the author roles the stories of these young men into a well-told tale that overcomes some of its own weaknesses to produce a fine, well-recorded and abridged Audio CD.
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Summary: A Good Read Spoiled
Review: This book -- about the flagraisers on Iwo Jima -- is a good read spoiled. A shame, because it's an important story that needs telling to the generations that follow our country's last declared war. But this book is the realization of my worst fears, for it doesn't "tell it like it was." It is contaminated by error and by its authors' yuppie sanitized political correctness; maddengly so, since many of us WW2 veterans are parents of yuppies. Thank God I wasn't a veteran of the bloody Iwo battle. I nearly was: twelve of my ship's sisters were. I was a young officer on USS LCS(L) 37, and we were damaged beyond repair by a suicide boat at Okinawa, having been among the lead ships in that invasion and having dodged and downed Kamikaze planes for 28 days on picket stations south of Japan. I wanted to know the details of Iwo and of those flag raisers. Years ago, I read that the whole scene was posed, using Marines who never saw battle, a damnable lie put to rest by this wonderful book, warts and all. It is, as I said, a good read. It details the lives, from birth to blood on the sands of Iwo Jima, of the six flag raisers in the Marine Memorial, an image that burns in the brains of everyone who has seen it -- and few have not. We learn of the boyhoods of those six heros-to-be. It's hard to imagine six boys more representative of their America. Innocent, eager, earnest, with burning desires to be Marines. We learn about their hopes, dreams, and families; then about their boot camp and advanced training; and we learn about prior battle experiences of some of them. Finally, we learn the fate of those six on Iwo and about the subsequent lives of the survivors. Interesting and compelling. I recommend it, but with reservations, especially for readers my age (now 76). Why was it a good read spoiled? Well, it was like hearing a piano concerto with frequent false notes. A good concerto spoiled. I now reveal just a few of the false notes for me as I tried to keep turning pages. The main author is a son of a flagraiser, a proud son who wants to tell the story of his heroic but overly modest and silent father. The other author is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who was born in the same town as I; same High School, same Principal, some of the same teachers. But he was born sixteen years later than I, into a family I didn't know, and I had moved and joined the Navy a year after his birth, so I have no axe to grind here. A history is supposed to reveal correct information and to impart the flavor of the times, and this book falls short on both counts. Two of the six heros return to the States from the battle of Tarawa in "separate boats." BOATS??? No sailor or Marine would say he took a BOAT across the Pacific! LSTs are small and can swerve sharply, when in fact they are quite large (328 feet and 3640 tons full, compared with Fletcher-class destroyers at 376 feet and 2900 tons full) and too cumbersome to swerve sharply. The USS Franklin is the most damaged of any ship in history, when in fact she made it back to the States on her own power (an example of the vain superlatives that abound in this book). Doesn't sinking count? A brother of a flagraiser was "in the Air Force," which didn't exist until 1947. Such inchoate descriptions occur elsewhere in other guises and contexts. They could have escaped inclusion had the authors but asked any Navy or Marine WW2 veteran. The location of the explosion of the first atomic bomb in New Mexico is flawed. In other distractions, which made me angry in their terribly frequent occurrences, has Marines in battle referring to the enemy as "Japanese." I can guarantee that during the war, no Marine (or sailor or soldier) would use any but the first syllable of the word Japanese! Even then, it would be uttered in a voice of disdain and with the usual WW2 f-word adjective. Even President Roosevelt and newspaper headlines used "Japs." Nobody worried about what the enemy wanted to be called. (It is later in the book revealed that the main author is enamored of Japan, its people, and its culture, a telling explanation.) I would not like these authors to write about Admiral Farragut; they might have him saying, "Gosh Darn those torpedos! Full speed ahead!" I hope the authors will make fundamental corrections in a revision of this book. To see how a real historian handles a famous WW2 story, read "Beyond Courage: One Regiment Against Japan, 1941-1945," by Dorothy Cave, available from Amazon.com.
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Summary: Fanastic Book
Review: My grandfather served in the Navy on the USS Benton and met many Marines that died and faught on the beaches of Iwo Jima. I began to read this book just for the sake of my research project but I later would pick it up because I loved it. The book is excellent and if you are interested in showing a little pride in the country you live in and love, then you too should read this book!
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Summary: Deeply reaching....
Review: Picked up the book for a long flight. Made it difficult to put down! This story reaches inside of you and makes you wonder why we inflict such pain upon other individuals. The men who survived Iwo deserve all of the accolades that can be heaped upon them. Without their courage and fortitude, we would cerainly be a different country. Great reading, to the point of causing your eyes to mist, thinking about all these six (and the other 25,000 on Iwo) went through. Read it, read it, read it.
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Summary: i love WW II books and this one is a keeper
Review: i have read several books and watched many television shows about world war two but i was never interested in the pacific theatre of the war. for the first time, i understand that this was some of the most difficult fighting under some of the most difficult conditions due to the fortifications built and fighting tactics employed by the japanese. through it all, the soldiers never lost their perspective. if you truly want to understand how your fathers and grandfathers were raised and lived the first 1/3 or so of their lives, you should buy this book.
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Summary: A Fitting Tribute from A Proud Son
Review: When a son writes about a father who happens to be one of the men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima, you expect a book to get a little sentimental and sappy. (And who could blame him?) James Bradley largely avoids that pitfall, however, in "Flags of Our Fathers", a wonderfully researched and well told account of the lives of the six Marines pictured in one of the most famous photographs - probably THE most famous - in American history. Mr. Bradley chronicles the lives of all six men from their childhood through the flag raising, and (for the three who survived Iwo) then the aftermath of the famous photo. Little did they know that a battlefield errand would result in an image that Michaelangelo would be hard put to duplicate. The stories of Ira Hayes, Franklin Sousely, John Bradley, Harlon Block, Mike Strank and Rene Gagnon are fascinating but perhaps no more compelling than those of six other Marines selected at random on Iwo that day. And maybe that's the point. These men were made famous by a fluke of timing, but the diversity of their stories, their personalities, their individual acts of bravery meld together to honor all the brave men on or below Mt. Suribachi that day. In spirit, thousands of hands raised the Flag. Some lived, some died, but they are all well and honorably represented by the men who will forever live in that famous photograph.
Rating:
Summary: Second only to Ambrose
Review: Most books about battles discourage the average reader with an overabundance of important but confusing technical terminology about movement, tactics, strategy and unit designations. Other books I've read about Iwo Jima all have this problem. Bradley & Powers, most likely due to a lack of military background, focussed instead on the individual's experience of combat and the result is one of the best books written about human adaptation to the emotionally and physically overwhelming experience of battle. The men I know who have won significant decorations for bravery never set out to be "heroes". Most of the time they had very little time to think about what they were doing: they acted quickly and simply to protect, help or avenge friends they loved, and to make the best of a very bad situation. Nearly all of them are reluctant to discuss the details of these heroic actions because, taken out of context, it is almost impossible for the uninitiated to comprehend what happened. Sometimes they can't explain it even if they try. Bradley's father was real hero as a medic (Navy Cross), but people from around the world didn't track him down to talk about his truly heroic deeds. They wanted to talk about the flag raising. Bradley never saw helping some other guys put a pole in the ground as a particularly heroic deed and he was right. He was idolized and lionized by the entire country because of the confluence of the right picture taken at the right time in the right place in the right political climate. Bradley & Powers did a great job of making this clear to the reader, most of whom probably never heard of Iwo Jima before the publication of their book but had undoubtedly seen "The Photograph" at some time in their lives. There were some minor flaws with respect to military references (e.g.,Patuxent River Naval Air Station is in Maryland), but the only real problem I had with the book was the way the fate of Iggy was handled: it was about as piecemeal as poor Iggy himself...2
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