Rating: 
Summary: Awesome history
Review: "Ghost Soldiers" is a well-written history of the perfect commando mission. The history is told with chapters from January 1945 alternating with the story of the prisoners' ordeal. By the time the Rangers reach the compound, you'll feel emotional - trust me! Many Japanese captors were terribly cruel to the Allied prisoners, and it seems like a miracle any of them survived. The author seems to be fair throughout - nobody is unduly sanctified or demonized, though people did saintly and demonic things. My only quibble is with the subtitle - "The Forgotten..." - it seems there are already several books and websites with certain details on the raid. Sides does a great job pulling it all together.
Rating:
Summary: IS THERE A BETTER WW11 BOOK THAN THIS?
Review: Looking for real story that reads like a spine tingling novel?
Looking for something to put your life in perspective?
Want to know what it means to sacrifice?
Want to know what separates the "men from the boys?"
Want to read about one man's inhumanity to man AND another's willingness to give his life for his fellow man?
Read Ghost Soldiers, a superb and very readable account of how a small army of men risked their lives to save 500 survivors from the Battan Death March.
Read it and pass it on to someone else.
Rating:
Summary: Unbelieveable story!
Review: Ghost Soldiers was written by Hampton Sides and is the story of the incredible rescue of the prisoners of war at Camp Cabanatuan in WWII. The author used interviews, official records and previously published material to weave the story together. The author takes you behind the scenes with every little detail about how the prisoners themsleves came to be at Camp Cabanatuan to the daring resuce mission by the US Army 6th Ranger Battalion. There have been other books written about the Bataan Death March and about Camp Cabanatuan. However, this book is able to give you a true taste of it all. You will not want to put this book down.
Rating:
Summary: NO MAMA, NO PAPA, NO UNCLE SAM
Review: With these words the "Battling ... of Bataan," the American POWs expressed their sentiment at the fall of the last Phillipine stronghold and their subsequent fate in the infamous Death March. In harrowing conditions which no living being must endure, the poor brave souls languished for three years, seemingly forgotten by the outside world. Facing hellish cruelty, all manner of exotic disease and nightmarish shortages, the several thousand men at the Bataan Death March became only 650 near the war's end.To make matters worse, there were reports from survivors of other camps that the Japanese were systematically murdering their prisoners, leaving no one behind for the ever-advancing American forces. Given the gravity of the situation, no other remedy remained than to try a daring rescue. This noble duty fell to Colonel Mucci and his novice Rangers, a handful of men who braved jungles infested with tropical disease and Japanese patrols. Hampton Sides retells the near forgotten story of one of the most daring rescues in WWII, revealing the horrendous evil of war, the courage in ordinary men, and the proud, stubborn will to live inherent in humanity. This page-turner is moving: this book allows the reader to descend into the nightmarish conditions faced by the survivors, as well as participate in the triumph of their rescue. Uncle Sam did not forget His boys. A TRIUMPH.
Rating:
Summary: An entertaining history lesson.
Review: Ghost Soldiers is educational, entertaining and emotionally stirring. As I read I kept looking forward to the rescue; the fast paced storyline bounces from life(and death) in the camp to the progression of the rescue mission and some related events occuring in the Phillipines. I am glad that this forgotten epic story has been artfully returned to the forefront of our national memory.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Story...Decent Storytelling
Review: Mr. Sides brings us a wonderful - and horrific - story from World War II. Whenever I have heard the word "Bataan", my mind always fills in "Death March". This book filled in some gaps and gives us a personal account of some of the survivors and their rescuers. That Mr. Sides does not have the storytelling ability of a Stephen Ambrose is not to disparage him in any way. This book is good, if not as emotionally engaging as it possibly could have been. I must admit that perhaps the author should be thanked for keeping us somewhat distant, the experiences of the prisoners are not for the faint of heart. I recommend this book to all World War II historical nuts, like myself, and would only add that absolutely anyone who reads this will discover nothing but courage from the men involved. Who was more brave, the POW's or the Rangers? It doesn't matter, they're all worthy of the title "Hero".
Rating:
Summary: I shall return
Review: When you meet a WWII veteran who still despises the Japanese, after reading this book, you'll know why. While most Americans know of McArthur's return to the Phillipines, few today know about the 80,000+ American soldiers abandoned at Bataan when he left. A third of the American POW's there perished at the hands of their Japanese captors. This book describes the dramatic rescue of the final 500 - those POWs too sick to be shipped to Japan as slaves - by a company of Army rangers. Many elements of the movie "Bridge on the River Kwai - such as the hot box - were evidently lifted from what happened in Japanese POW camps in the Phillipines. What you will read will shock you, it may even make you think about buying that new Toyota.
Rating:
Summary: What happened AFTER the Bataan Death March?
Review: I was well aware of the Bataan Death March, but had never learned the fate of the men who survived it. Sides tells the stories of those men, who endured unspeakable hardships as POW's of the Japanese for almost three years. He also tells the thrilling story of the heroes of the U.S. Army's 6th Ranger Battalion, who, in January, 1945, staged a daring raid behind enemy lines to rescue those who still remained in captivity. The book is exquisitely written by an evident master of English language narration.
Rating:
Summary: Better than Hollywood
Review: Read this book. Side's, an accomplished magazine writer, spins a gripping tale of hardship, horror and heroic triumph. His account reads like a movie script, starting with "hook" that will snag even the most jaded reader, and moving to a climax that had me slack-jawed in disbelief. The events leading up to the rescue and actions of the rescuers, which were evidently based on extensive research and interviews, are simply astonishing. Had it been a piece of fiction -- or for that matter a movie -- it would fail the "As if..." test. However, it's fact. A powerful book that will haunt you.
Rating:
Summary: Great Read!
Review: A very interesting and well written account of this small piece of WWII history. One of those books that you wish you didn't finish so soon.
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