Rating: 
Summary: A very good read
Review: This is not a perfect book -- but it is a perfect story. I didn't want to put this book down. The manner in which the author weaves the story lines can be a little distracting, but overall the story wins.
Rating:
Summary: Could Not Put It Down!
Review: I have only recently become interested in the history of World War II in an effort to come to understand my late father a bit better. He served in the Phillipines during the war and was often reluctant to discuss his exploits there. Much of what he told us, however, is revealed in this book and helps me appreciate and miss him all the more. It is well written and reads like a good adventure novel although when you realize that it is fact rather than fiction, it becomes more of a horror story. Don't read it just prior to bed time. It is not an easy read.
Rating:
Summary: Hold On to Your Seat, It's In-Your-Face History
Review: WOW!! From the first pages of this book, it's hard, direct, and no-holds-barred story telling at it's very, very best. To the point.Mr. Sides starts this book as if the story has been running for 150 pages already. BANG! First page, and you're there and involved, no standing by watching from afar. Right on top of the events and cruelties that are beyond words. And this is how it starts. I anxiously await your next work Mr. Sides. You most likely know something about the Bataan Death March, even if it's the John Wayne movie, but you're going to really learn about it reading this book. I cannot imagine what these men are made of to survive all this. Hero has a new meaning after this read. There is not much critical to say about this book. It is stunning in it's eye opening frankness and candor. Direct in it's story, and doesn't play around with words. It could be a 6 hour newscast. When you start this book, you won't want to stop, and that's not just hollow cliche. That's the fact!!! Get this book, read it, and think about what you read. Look at the men's pictures in the book. Now you'll think about what they did for you, me and the rest of us. Are we even close to this strength, this character. Sadly, I don't think so. Read this book NOW. No excuses, no reasons, READ IT! Then see how you've changed..... . Thank you Mr. Sides for opening my eyes to what the soldiers in the Pacific gave of themselves, and the veterans in the 21st Century have to live with. The flag is brighter and bigger now, and the heroes too!
Rating:
Summary: AMAZING AND POWERFUL
Review: This book is easily a must read. It is quite an interesting book with so many amazing facts. This book is extremely powerful. Thia is easily in my top ten list. If you like anything to do aobut military ops or anything about war you will love this grasping war story.
Rating:
Summary: Courage & "The Hike"
Review: This magnificient book is an absolutely astounding account of the horrors of the Bataan Death March and the mission to rescue the POW survivors. Through the cruel calculus of fighting a two-theatre war, FDR left thousands of Americans trapped on Luzon to suffer a monstrous fate. The book itself is emotionally draining. A riveting account told in a brilliant narrative; exactly as this kind of story should be told. A chapter on the March will end, and then we fast-forward to a chapter on the rescue. Until you read it, you can't understand what a brilliant writing technique this is. First of all, it allows the reader to calm down, after reading of the monstrosities of the Japanese Army. It also keeps the reader from becoming inured to the cruel fates of the POWs. Reading a chapter on the rescue mission gives temporary satisfaction for the feelings of vengeance. Then we return to the horror of the camps. This gives the book a momentum that is inescapable.
Rating:
Summary: Great book about some great heroes
Review: This was one of the best World War II books I have read. The pace is good, the reader is taken into the hell of that war and the suffering of the prisoners. The tension that the Rangers feel before the rescue can be felt, I could not put this book down! I read that there are talks about making this into a movie soon. If they make it as close to the book as possible it will be one hell of a good movie.
Rating:
Summary: Not To Be Forgotten
Review: The true incredible story of the resuce of American POW's that had endured one of the most barbaric treatments during World War Two. The handful of soldiers who survived the horrific Battan Death March thought they had been forgotten, but they were not. An important book that is hard to put down once the story begins. The heros? They were all heros. Or as my father who served in the South Pacific simply told me: "We were just doing our jobs."
Rating:
Summary: America's heroes
Review: Kudos to Hampton Sides for reaching across to those, like myself, who normally restrict their reading selections to fiction. I think the key is that Mr. Sides has presented the human aspect of war, rather than the military. How can you read this book and not feel full of emotion for the POWs, the Rangers, and the Filipinos who gave their blessings, as well as their oxen? In a day when we are hard put to identify a hero, the Ghost Soldiers and their rescuers are an elite assembly. Hampton Sides has given our history books a good tweak -- this story of how our own fathers and grandfathers held their ground through the most precarious of situations reveals the world around us in startling perspective. I am not a fan of war, but after reading this book I salute the amazing and inexhaustible spirit of our soldiers.
Rating:
Summary: great wwii book
Review: Absolutely rivetting. Details the rescue attempt at a Japanesse
prisoner of war camp, while the American campaign to retake the
Phillippines was still going on. Captures the horror that POWs
had to go through and the spirit that the captives had to have
to have to sustain them. I've read a substantial amount of World War II books,and this rates up there with the best of them.
Can't recommend it more highly.
Rating:
Summary: A must....
Review: An incrediable story of incrediable men. A must read. Should be manditory for all teens.
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