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Summary: All young people should read this book
Review: This is a truly moving book. All young Americans should read this book so they can fully appreciate the effort that was put forth to maintain our freedom as well as get an inside view into the horrors of war. This book may also help people who have difficulty with our decision to use the atom bomb on Japan come to grips with why we did it. I recommend this book above any others I have read in the past five years.
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Summary: Ghost Soldiers Will Haunt Me
Review: This is not an easy book to read, and I actually mean that as a compliment to the author. Hampton Sides is so adept at putting us into that time and place that we feel the heat, the suffering and the hate. It is the hate that is hardest to deal with. To many of us this is ancient history but to the survivors, whose voices are so effectively used to advance the narrative, it still seems like yesterday. Reading this book I felt the same anger at their own country abandoning them (even though they had little choice as most of the Pacific fleet was lying smashed in the shallows of Pearl Harbor) and the impotent rage they felt watching their friends and comrades suffer and die at the hands of their captors. The Imperial Japanese forces that blighted the western Pacific in the 30s and 40s were a hellish creation; advanced weaponry matched with positively mediaeval sensibilities, all designed to advance a racist dream of hegemony in Asia. The Japanese treatment of prisoners throughout the entire Pacific Theater was callously neglectful at best, sadistic and murderous at its worst. Yet it is the bravery and selflessness of men whose spirit triumphed over evil that sticks with you, and when I came to the description of the raid to liberate the prison camp at Cabantuan I could not put the book down, sitting up to 2am to finish it. I've read that the book has already been optioned as a movie, I just hope it's treated with the dignity of "Saving Private Ryan" and not the music video sensibility of "Pearl Harbor". Ghost Soldiers is one of the most powerful books I have read in years. If you don't want your kids to see you cry, shut the door.
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Summary: Breathtaking Account of Survival and Bravery
Review: This is one of the most extraordinary books I have ever read. There is no disputing that true life is filled with infinitely more drama and heart wrenching tragedy than fiction, and this book is the true embodiment of those human elements.The first chapter may be the most gripping you will ever encounter, even in the biographical realm. I can't even begin to imagine the horror of the Palawan massacre, and to think that some of the soldiers survived that gauntlet of terror is a testament that our soldiers were the essence of bravery and survival. I am nauseated by the perpetuation of the notion that the WWII soldiers are a bunch of eccentric old fellows who like to get together to trade old war stories. If you had a story like this to tell, it would be hard to ever regroup and continue on with your life, as they did. Many good books have been written about the Bataan Death March, but this book succeeds in a way many of those couldn't by taking multiple accounts of the incidents to provide a succinct timeline and event summary without taking any of the emotion out of the real story. I feel so strongly that this book must be read that I have read and lent the book to two friends already, and have only owned it for 2 wks. Do yourself a favor, even if you have an aversion to historical biographies - read this book. You will never forget it.
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Summary: Excellent Book on a forgotten part of WWII
Review: This is an exceptional perspective on the rescue of POWs in the Philippines. My father-in-law was a POW for several years. He was a Filipino civilian worker who got imprisoned. Also, I had several of my other family members (uncles, etc.) who died in the Death March. I even visited one the old POW prisons (Capaz) with my family. I was not aware of this incredible prison rescue at Cabanatuan. Freedom is truly not free. God Bless those involved in this endeavor to reveal these Ghost Soldiers.
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Summary: Essential American History
Review: There are 76 glowing reviews below, and therefore little more I can write to make this wonderful account of American history more desirable. As subsequent generations of Americans receive less and less academic exposure to this amazing epoch of American history, I think this document all the more important to read. I wholeheartedly endorse the reviews below. That said, please let me make a few additional, related historical remarks about a truly remarkable American hero. First of all, as a veteran, I salute all the men of Bataan, Corregidor, and the 6th Ranger Battalion. But behind it all was arguably the greatest soldier of American history--General Douglas MacArthur. "Dugout Doug" is a myth. During the Japanese bombing of Corrigedor, General MacArthur and his wife lived in an ordinary house on the fortress island, and it was not until bombs were exploding dangerously close to his house did MacArthur's subordinates persuade him to move into "the Tunnel." As author Sides mentions in about two sentences, MacArthur would visit various US units in the midst of Jap air raids (without a helmet!). When President Roosevelt decided to abandon US troops serving in the Philippines, and ordered the General to leave Corregidor, MacArthur considered resigning his commission and re-enlisting as a private to stay and fight. But ultimately he left, and it's a good thing he did! Otherwise, he couldn't have returned. As the tide of war turned, and the US closed in on the Japanese homeland, it was only with intense persuasion that MacArthur was permitted to liberate his beloved home away from home. Roosevelt and Nimitz wanted to bypass the Philippines. Without MacArthur, it is very likely the remnant of Bataan and the "Ghost Soldiers" would have been destroyed. There is much to be read about MacArthur's brilliant strategy in the Pacific, his humble post-war rebuilding of Japan, and his victorious role in the Korean War. I urge everyone who enjoys this book to also read about this great American hero.
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Summary: The Price of Freedom
Review: This novel by Hampton Sides is truly a great one. "Flags of Our Fathers" was slightly better, but this one ranks with the best of the WWII books. The novel captures the readers attention in the opening chapter that tells the horrific story of one of the few survivors of the Palawan massacre. Sides did a wonderful job in telling the story. One chapter would tell the survivors story, and the next would tell the Rangers story. At the end of the book, and after a huge amount of suspense, the two stories finally merged into the rescue of the POW's. If you loved Flags of our Fathers, then you'll love this one too. All people should read these two great novels, they show how much those young men gave so that we could be free. The price of freedom was and is a great one. Hampton Sides shows this in his novel and with every page you read it will add to your respect of those that fought for our freedom.
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Summary: Unsung heroes
Review: As World War II slips farther and farther into the past, small events in it that were considered very important and fascinating at the time have disappeared from common knowledge. The action about which this book is concerned is one of those events. When it happened, it was considered something extremely heroic, and it was assumed that the story would become an essential element of our history. It didn't, of course, overshadowed by the battle of Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and the dropping of the A bomb. That neglect does not mean that what happened is any less heroic or amazing because we have forgotten about it. This story shows the courage of both the POWs from Bataan, and their Ranger rescuers (both American and Filipino) as the real, unsung heroes that they were in actuality. It's a fascinating book to read, and the true courage and fortitude of all the men detailed within it is astonishing. We have so much to thank these unselfish folks for, particularly the freedom which we enjoy today, and I often wonder if our generation would be "up" to the sacrifices that they made during the years of war. We cannot honor them enough, and this book is just another way of doing that honoring. Read it, and learn of the actions of brave people whom we can only admire, and emulate by that admiration.
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Summary: History Novice
Review: This amazing rescue mission is told from the prisoners' and the rescuers' perspectives. It is well-written and reader friendly. If you are even slightly interested in United States history and would like to add reasons to believe in our great country, read this book. I sing our anthem with deeper understanding and heartfelt appreciation.
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Summary: WOW!!
Review: I am not a really big fan of war movies, so I didn't know if I'd like reading this book. It was so incredibly riveting that I read it in three days- I just couldn't put it down (which is hard to do with a toddler climbing all over you!). I am loaning my book to a neighbor and have a list of others who want it too! I have a new understanding and respect for the men and women defenders of our freedom... Have you hugged a veteran today?
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Summary: Ghost Soldiers: The Forgotten Epic Story of WWII's Most ...
Review: I purchased this book for my Dad as he's a WWII and Civil War buff and I only knew a little about this book when I bought it. Yesterday, I received a 'thank you' from my Dad that it was one of the best books' he's read in a very, very long time and said that this is the type of story that should be made in to a movie. My Dad went on and on in his praise of this book and I'm so glad I bought it for him. He's now passed it on to my brother for him to read next. Thank you for making this book available via Amazon.com as I live on opposite coasts of my Dad and I like to send him things that I think he'd enjoy. Based on my Dad's high praise of this book it gets a SOLID 5-Star rating....
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