Rating: 
Summary: A great read and incredible author.
Review: I picked up this book the first day it was out and started reading it that evening. Many hours later I finished as I just couldn't put it down. The way I was drawn into this frightening and tragic event was unlike anything I've experienced since reading "The Perfect Storm" and "Into Thin Air." Stanton's way of writing totally drew me into the story and the characters. His description of the breaking up of the ship was breathtaking and so real...it was as if I was seeing a movie unfolding during the telling. And once the men were in the water, I found myself holding my breath and even vocalizing their agony out loud. What a great read! What an incredible writer!
Rating:
Summary: In harms way
Review: Having recently had the opportunity to read Mr. Stanton's recently published book "IN HARMS WAY", I'd like to tell him Great-Book!! It real,and very interesting, The human storyline is the most surprising part, I was actually thinking it wasn't the kind of book I wanted to pick-up and start at this point, but it got me... and I am really, really enjoying it. Thanks for the great read, and a total education on a part of history that was so herendous, yet how many people know the story? keep on writing Doug...I'll make sure to keep reading..............
Rating: 
Summary: The quality of INDIANAPOLIS coverage deteriorates again
Review: This book has only one strength - interviews. Other than that the research quality leaves a lot to be desired. I leafed through it and discovered only very minimal coverage of Captain McVay's court-martial, with no analysis of the validity, such as is offered in _All the Drowned Sailors_ or _Fatal Voyage_; and I slammed the book down in disgust when I read that the Japanese submarine which sank the INDIANAPOLIS had a seaplane (although built with one, the seaplane, catapult and hangar were removed early in 1945 when the submarine was given the capacity to carry two more "kaiten" weapons) and even worse, a statement that the submarine was armed with a machine guns "to rake survivors on the surface". How about for anti-air defense and for use against weak surface targets - the same reasons US subs carried them? Go buy _Abandon Ship_, recently re-issued, Richard Newcomb's book on the sinking of the INDIANAPOLIS - it is the one the survivors I have talked to, think is still best - and don't waste your money on this sub-par volume. And quit advertising this as "coverage of a nearly forgotten event" - with a made-for-TV movie a few years ago, and the recent efforts to clear McVay's record, and mention in _Jaws_, this is one of the few WWII events most people might remember when asked!
Rating:
Summary: A story of fantastic accidents and extraordinary courage.
Review: The Indianapolis left San Francisco in July 1945, its mission to carry components of the atomic bomb to the South Pacific. After dropping off the bomb, the Indianapolis virtually dropped out of the Navy's sights due to mishandled and lost dispatches concerning her travel and arrival plans. No one noticed when she went down, SOS's were ignored, and the crew was left to flounder in the sea, fighting off sharks, delirium, and hopelessness. The most amazing aspect of the story, however, is that those who did survive didn't lose hope, ever. Not in their chances for survival or in the dignity of the military that misplaced them and then blamed their captain for putting the ship in harms' way. In fact, there's quite a lot in this story that is worth considering in the case of Commander Waddle and the Greeneville sub. When something goes terribly wrong, who, or what, should take the blame.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting Reading
Review: A friend of mine received an advance copy of this book, which I read the first 100 pages of while visiting him. From what I read it was a very engrossing account of something that has never really received any publicity or reporting. While the author is very detailed, he also takes some creative license with events that had no witnesses. Still it's a book I'm looking forward to finishing when it comes out in April.
Rating:
Summary: A fitting tribute to the valor of our naval forces in WWII.
Review: Of all the scenes I have seen in all of the movies I have watched, few stand out in my mind as much as Quint's haunting monologue in "Jaws". In the course of that scene, Quint details the tragic story of the U.S.S. Indianapolis. I saw that scene for the first time as a child. Even today at age 32 the scene sends shivers up my spine. On first viewing, I thought the story of the Indianapolis was made up for dramatic effect. It wasn't until years later that I discovered that this disaster actually happened. Upon learning the truth, I knew this was a book that I had to read. As eerie and horrible as the scene Quint painted in "Jaws" was, the book shows the excrutiating horror of the actual ordeal. Many horror stories have their scariest moments take place at night. What makes this story so harrowing is that the nightmare never ends and it is a true story to boot. The sharks are there night and day, there is no drinking water, no food, oil slicks and dwindling hope of rescue. There is no respite from the death that surrounds these men and threatens to take them at any moment. This book will likely arouse several emotions in the reader: hope and hopelessness, sadness, anger at the U.S. naval command and admiration for the sailors who bore the awful burden of the this mission. Doug Stanton has done a service to the crew of the U.S.S. Indianapolis in making sure that their story is not relegated to being a mere footnote to history. He deserves to be saluted for his fine work as do the men who shared with him what must have been the most difficult, darkest chapter of their lives.
Rating:
Summary: An excruciating ordeal, wonderfully told
Review: I first remember hearing about the USS Indianapolis when I was a boy from Dr. Lew Haynes, himself...(Dr. Haynes was married to Elizabeth Dodge, my mother's first cousin). Since then the story has remained fresh in my mind as one of the most tragic but in many ways heroic sagas from World War II. Doug Stanton has put together a moving and important account of the ship's sinking and aftermath. Almost sixty years after the ship went down it remains hard to fathom that so many errors could have occurred in not keeping track of the whereabouts of the Indianapolis. The fact that the ship played such a pivotal role just before its demise (the delivery of the atom bomb parts to Tinian) puts the story in an even more macabre light; hundreds of seamen did not live long enough to know the importance of their mission. The stories told by the survivors as they endured shark attacks, blistering sun, a lack of drinking water, fuel oil all around them, broken limbs, delirium, and for most of them, death, is of such shocking proportion that the term "hero" is almost not enough to bestow on each of them. Captain McVay's court-martial and eventual suicide has always been a sad epilogue to the whole chronicle. Stanton tells of the dozens of letters from families of the Indianapolis who for years after the tragedy blamed him for the loss of their loved ones and how McVay carried that with him to his own death. The silver lining to be found in "In Harm's Way" is that survival against incredible odds can and does happen and that we need to be reminded of what it takes to be faced with such adversity. This book is a tribute to the survivors of the Indianapolis and their brethren who perished.
Rating:
Summary: Truth is more suspenseful than fiction
Review: Last year I read "Abandon Ship" by Richard Newcomb after which I was engrossed in the story of the USS Indianapolis. I noticed that "In Harm's Way" was out and thought I would read that as well. Both books are very good and I would rate them both a 4.5 on a scale of 1-5. Both give the background of the ship, the mission and the circumstances that led to the largest naval disaster in US history. Both books give a point of view through the eyes of a number of survivors although there are different accounts in each book. While I rate the books equally, I give a slight nod to "In Harm's Way" as the better of the two. It gave me a greater sense of the personal suffering that was involved and a greater sense of the gradual deterioration of the survivors as they awaited rescue with dwindling hope. Like most people, I became acqainted with the Indianapolis through the movie "Jaws". While sharks were definitely the cause of many deaths, there were other causes as well that led to the loss of hundreds of lives in the ocean. It is truly difficult to comprehend one's own chances of survival in such a hell. The background of the story of the Indianapolis is crucial to the appreciation of the fate of these men and both books lay out the story well. Once the ship is torpedoed, the story becomes quite compelling. I found it very difficult to put down. In fact, I was confronyed with a choice while reading this book. I had gotten up one morning and immediately began reading from where I had left off the night before. I was at the point in the story where the survivors had been discovered and the rescue operation was underway. My daughter turned on the TV and there was a breaking news story about the rescue of nine minors who were trapped for several days in a mine in Pennsylvania. Water from an old mine had poured into their mineshaft when the wall between the two was broken. I had been aware of this disaster and, like many, had thought that the minors might be beyond rescue after so much time in a water-logged mineshaft. Indeed, there were some amazing similarities between the two disasters; failure to execute proper safty precautions, submersion in water, endless delays on eventual rescue, real danger of hypothermia, etc.. As I was reading the books and looking at the breaking news story, I had to make a choice of which to focus on. Even though I had read of the Indianapolis disaster before, I opted to stay with the book and catch up on the minor's rescue later on. I mention this as an example to how compelling this story is and how well the author is able to bring it to life. Read this book. You will be moved.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping, Shocking, Inspiring
Review: This story came to my attention when I was doing research on people left in open water, after the movie of the same name. Although sharks are a very small part of it, someone had mentioned this book and I picked it up.
You will not be able to put it down. And that it is a true story, and so senseless, will further astound you. The writing is superb, there is never a lull in the action, and you genuinely care about these sailors and their fate.
Rating:
Summary: page-turning history
Review: I first heard about the USS Indianapolis in the movie Jaws and later came across references to it in history books, usually those about the atomic bombs. It's a gripping tale in itself, and Stanton does it--and the young men who survived the sinking--great justice. He tries to give it historical weight with some footnotes and light discussion of the sources, but the book is almost pure narrative, which Stanton pens excitingly with a clear eye to the individuals who endured the ordeal of their ship going down and spent days afloat. It was harrowing: sharks, no food, no water, few lifeboats, dehydration-induced hallucinations. And Stanton captures the drama, the fear, the horror--and the joy of being rescued. Stripped of the (important) controversy about who was responsible for the ship's whereabouts being unknown, this is a story of human courage, plain and simple. I couldn't put it down.
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