Rating: 
Summary: Hell of a good story
Review: Incredible is all I can say about the story itself and the author is very good at getting it across, one of the best naval books that I've read in awhile. Theres no way I would have been in a surface ship during WWII, not with submarines lurking about. The men that indured situations like these during the war can never be honored enough for it.
Rating: 
Summary: Harrowing and engrossing
Review: This review commends the audio version of this book. Doug Stanton has written in simple and direct language a harrowing account of the sinking of the Indianapolis. And reader Boyd Gaines delivers the story as simply and directly. Book and audio presentation are a tribute to the boys of the Indianapolis and their rescuers. Highly recommended, but be warned: it is at times very overwhelming, especially when the boys are in the water.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: This is a great book. One of the best I have read. Doug Stanton did a very good job portraying these men's struggle for their lives. I highly recommend this great book.
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Summary: Biggest Snafu in Naval History
Review: "In Harm's Way" is a compelling, edge-of-your-seat read. In the waning days of WWII, the USS Indianapolis was hurriedly put under orders to carry the first atom bomb, "Little Boy" subsequently dropped on Hiroshima, to Guam for assembly. This was so ultra top secret, none of the crew, including the captain was told what a deadly cargo they were carrying.The miscommunications starting at Guam were lethal. Before Guam, the hasty questionable orders could be chalked up to wartime emergencies and too much red tape. Captain Charles McVay, not only was kept in the dark about his cargo, 250 of his crew were green as grass. The training they were to have received in San Francisco in the next three months never took place due to their emergency orders. Between Guam and Leyete, the Indianapolis was torpedoed and sunk in less than 20 minutes. Of the crew of 1,946 men, 900 went into the water of the shark-infested sea almost on the equator. Because of the speed of the sinking, very few lifeboats were launched, many of the men were not dressed and some did not have life vests. A distress signal did get sent, but the captain was not sure there was sufficient power for it to be received. But he was sure rescue operations would begin in 24 hours when they did not show up in Leyete. This was a good assumption except the Navy "lost" the Indianapolis. How you lose a battle cruiser that stands 133 ft. above the water line and is 661 feet long (two football fields) carrying 1,946 men is hard to fathom, but lose it they did. The distress signal was received but an indignant commander called back the towboats that were sent out because they did not go through him to implement the order and he decided it was a hoax anyway. It was five days before the survivors were accidentally spotted. Their suffering was indescribable. Over 200 were lost to shark attacks that were continual. The equatorial heat dehydrated them quickly and the lifeboats that were supposed to carry water didn't. Many hallucinated and attacked the other men. Some were in the water the whole time. Of the 900 that went into the water, only 317 survived. Captain McVay was made a scapegoat (failure to take evasive action!) and court martialed. His life and career were ruined. He committed suicide 20 years later. After unstinting efforts on the part of the survivors and Captain McVay's family, he was cleared in 1998, but the court martial remains on his record. This is a vividly told account, well researched with helpful endnotes, bibliography, maps and index. The author shifts the narrative among the survivors, which gives the account an immediacy that is almost unbearably painful. Highly recommended.
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: War is Hell
Review: Doug Stanton's "In Harm's Way" must be non-fiction because no human could possibly conceive such a nightmare scenario as was experienced by the sailors of the USS Indianapolis. If you do not know the story of the Indianapolis, I suggest you read this book. The sacrifice and courage of the sailors who did and did not survive that fatal ships voyage are almost as unfathomable as the seemingly endless obstacles they were forced to endure. Today, we can only find that type of heroism in a book. Doug Stanton balances the events and people involved with the politics and ramifications of the USS Indianapolis to give the reader a complete understanding of that ships disaster. Had the USS Indianapolis not been successful on its final mission, we would know the story all too well, but they were and it's our duty to remember their sacrifice.
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Summary: Tragedy and Coverup
Review: The sinking of the USS Indianapolis in the final days of World War II remains the greatest single tragedy at sea ever suffered by the United States Navy. The Indianapolis, pulled from repairs in San Francisco to deliver the Hiroshima bomb to the Army Air Corps in the Pacific, was sank by a Japanese submarine. Because of human error, her failure to arrive was not investigated leaving hundreds of survivors in shark-infested waters for four days until the chance sighting of crewmen in the water by an American aircraft. It is a horrifying tale, made all the worse by the inexplicable decision to court-martial the Indy's captain Charles McVay. The book also recounts the many efforts to clear Admiral McVay's name, some of these efforts continue. My complaint with this book is that it is poorly edited. The author declares Captain McVay's conviction made it impossible for him to ever become an admiral, yet publishes his obituary identifying him as Rear Admiral McVay. Addition research reveals that McVay was granted clemency and was subsequently promoted to flag rank. One of the Marine survivors Private Giles McCoy is reported to have become a chiropractor in Missouri, and that he earned a doctor of osteopathy degree in the next sentence. It is thus unclear whether McCoy was a chiropractor, osteopath, or both. Good editing should have resolved this inconsistency. These errors are hardly fatal to an outstanding account of this incredible ordeal.
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Summary: The True "JAWS" Story
Review: Doug Stanton's "In Harms Way" is an outstanding book on the tragic sinking of the USS Indianapolis. Through a comedy of intelligence errors, the USS Indianoplis was sunk and then left un-noticed for 4 days when only by chance a sub-hunter crew spotted an oil slick in the ocean and then flew down to investigate, only to find what was left of the crew. Through heroic efforts on the part of this air crew and others involved in the search and rescue operations did these men survive. Had it not been for the sub-hunter pilot, the ship and crew would have perished with out a trace. The survivors endured vicious unrelenting shark attacks, burns, broken bones, exposure, dehydration, starvation, hypothermia, the torpedoing and sinking of their ship, and worst of all the abdonment of them by the NAVY they fought for. The Navy then prosecuted the captain in order to cover their own negligence. I would recommend this book to anybody who would like to read what true men are really made of. A great book and well worth reading
Rating:
Summary: Excellent account of the U.S. Navy tragedy
Review: This book hooks the reader from the first chapter. I found the book to be very interesting and educational. It is obvious Doug Stanton throughly researched the events of the USS Indianaplois saga. This is not to say the book is bogged down with tons of analytical facts. On the contrary, the story reads like a fiction with the facts masterfully blended in to give a broad picture of the tragedy. My kudos to Doug Stanton and my thanks to my Mother for this wonderful Christmas gift.
Rating:
Summary: What they never taught you in high school history class
Review: Through obvious extensive research, stanton brings it all vividly alive. A difficult book to put down!
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