Rating: 
Summary: Great Caesar's ghost soldier story worth reading
Review: After glowing references to "Black hawk down", "Flags of our fathers" and "We were soldiers once, and young", I was eager to receive and read "Ghost soldiers". And, to be candid, I read it straight through the day I received it.Sides weaves American Caesar Douglas MacArthur's departure, the 1942 fall of Bataan, and the prisoners' three-year aftermath into the effort by untested Rangers to rescue the POWs in late January 1945, when only 500 sickly men survived in an old camp north of Manila. In some respects, these POWs were the lucky ones, even as they lost hope in a rescue thirty-three months in the offing. Moving back and forth between prison life and the rescue effort, Sides builds the story well. The joy of rescue mingles with the possiblity of a last-minute massacre. The Japanese treatment of American POWs in WWII holds a special place of horror in the minds of Americans of "the greatest generation", and this book makes the terror real. At the same time, the Japanese are not all portrayed as monsters or torturers. In fact, it's the humanity amidst the stark terror and misery that surfaces in this book, the small acts of kindness, the apparently random administration of mercy, and the kindred spirit of POWs. The Ranger rescue demonstrates American soldiering at its best, at a time when wounds about actions in Vietnam not only remain, they have recently resurfaced. Sides makes it clear war is based on hate and horror but honor as well. More students of history need to read and know this story, somewhat forgotten or overlooked in the magnitude of events that followed: V-E Day, Hiroshima, V-J Day. The book falls a bit in its narrative. I felt like this was destined if not designed to be a magazine or a movie treatment more than an historic analysis. Despite meticulous attention to tracking down details, Sides' writing left me feeling a bit flat, unconnected to the key figures. Sure, I cried at the end. I was moved by the heroism and commitment of the Rangers. But I thirsted for more, even knowing that reconstructing events is difficult fifty-plus years out. The veterans of this rescue deserve the accolades. They deserve your reading this book.
Rating: 
Summary: HIGH IMPACT TENSION IN THE READING OF THIS TRUE STORY
Review: Few contemporary stories of heroism are as compelling and immediate as "Ghost Soldiers." It is a scenario fraught with danger and valor stunningly read by celebrated actor James Naughton. All the more thrilling because it is true. In addition to presenting a successful solo cabaret act, Mr. Naughton is a two time Tony winner - for "Chicago" and "City Of Angels." He brings added drama to an already taut narrative with his rendering of "Ghost Soldiers." In one of the most intrepid rescues occurring during World War II carefully chosen troops from the vaunted U.S. Army 6th Ranger Battalion risked all to go behind enemy lines in the Philippines. Their charge was the deliverance of 513 American and British POWs who been incarcerated for three years in a prison camp where they suffered all manner of inhumane treatment. This is a wrenching look at the nightmare of war, a pulse pounding close-up of valorous Americans.
Rating:
Summary: Required Reading for any fan of humanity
Review: This book does not waste space with details of WWII. You will not finish this book with any understanding of the Pacific Theatre, why it started, how it ended, who the generals were and what were the broad tactics and strategies of victory and defeat. It simply recounts one daring raid. You will be horrified by what man does to man. You will be uplifted by what man does for man. The violence and cruelty, the sacrifice and selflessness. There are heroes and villains and any of us can be either at any time. This book will make you cry and when the tears of pain and loss and hope and bravery block your vision, it will be the only time you are not reading. You will not put it down until you are finished. I finished it in one sitting both the first and the second time I read it. In several months, I am sure I will finish it again in one sitting.
Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable History
Review: It is always amazing how many true stories of heroism are never proclaimed; there are always stories that are overlooked by other 'major' events in our history. 'Ghost Soldiers' by Hampton Sides is exactly one of those stories. It tells of the fatal fall of Bataan during WWII and the rescue mission that took place to save American POWs from Japanese death camps. Yet these events, for all the fanfare they received at the time, have been sadly overlooked by other instances in the same war.
'Ghost Soldiers' is a harrowing story; really, two stories. After a gruesomely explicit prologue, Sides splits his time between the fall of Bataan, the death march and life at the POW camp with the story of the U.S. Rangers attempt to free the camp in 1945. We see both stories build at the same time and as the narrative builds towards the end, the two stories combine into an incredible climax. These POWs survived incredible torture and various sordid diseases and were eventually rescued under almost miraculous circumstances. It's staggering just to imagine all that they had gone through.
Sides has done a brilliant job at telling a too-little known story. He uses a narrative style to interweave the painful accounts of former POWs and Rangers into this timeline. The British were forced to surrender Bataan (especially due to the circumstances of Pacific warfare after the bombing of Pearl Harbor) and become prisoners of a culture who had no regard for prisoners; death was the only option. And for too many soldiers, that was their only option. It is a shame that their stories have been forgotten.
Rating:
Summary: Well Worth the Read
Review: Ghost Soldiers is about a rescue mission written by Hapton Sides set in the pacific theatre of operations. I will not give a book report and ruin this book for you, but it includes a little history of the Bataan Death March, a little history on Elite military forces being introduced for the first time during WWII, and a bit of history of the Japanese thinking at this time, along with a very faint bit of comedy at the end (you should read this book just for that). While reading this book you will form a heartfelt relationship with it's cast and some of them will not make it back some will become hero's in your eye's, even if all WWII vets are already hero's in your eye's.
This book is very well written, I believe titles such as this should be required reading in school instead of the 3 or 4 days my class spent on WWII
If you have any interest in the Pacific Theatre of Operations, WWII or a good old fashioned rescue mission this is the book for you...
Rating:
Summary: Required Reading for any fan of humanity
Review: This book does not waste space with details of WWII. You will not finish this book with any understanding of the Pacific Theatre, why it started, how it ended, who the generals were and what were the broad tactics and strategies of victory and defeat. It simply recounts one daring raid. You will be horrified by what man does to man. You will be uplifted by what man does for man. The violence and cruelty, the sacrifice and selflessness. There are heroes and villains and any of us can be either at any time. This book will make you cry and when the tears of pain and loss and hope and bravery block your vision, it will be the only time you are not reading. You will not put it down until you are finished. I finished it in one sitting both the first and the second time I read it. In several months, I am sure I will finish it again in one sitting.
Rating:
Summary: Riveting, wrenching stuff
Review: Hampton Sides writes of a harrowing escape mission in the book Ghost Soldiers. He tells of a group of brave Rangers in the American Army who risk their lives to save the last remaining soldiers of the Bataan Death March. Throughout the book, you read about the Rangers Mission from start to finish and from the prisoners view as well. It switches back and forth until finally the camp is liberated from the Japanese. Heroes can be found everywhere, whether it be Colonel Mucci, the man who lead the operation, Clara Fuentes, who risked her life to smuggle information, food, and items to the prisoners, Captain Prince, Dr. Hibbs and so many more. Each person has their own story to tell and each had a very important role that led to the liberation of the camp at Cabanatuan. Even though the ending was no secret, it was hard to put the book down because it detailed the mission so well that I had to know what exactly was planned next.
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