Rating: 
Summary: A riviting true story.
Review: Whats starts out as a credible world war story, It seems to take on a credible journey through a nightmarish trek in the Pacific. The sailors come to terms with Sharks.
Rating:
Summary: Thank you.
Review: I want to thank Doug Stanton for this book. We have a distant relative who was lost on the Indianapolis, John Orr, and this brings to our children a vivid reconstruction as to what actually happened. They were not aware of what happened and what these men gave to them. Again, we thank him.
Rating:
Summary: Profiles in courage
Review: Whether you have a love of history or page-turners that keep you up all night, this book is for you. This compelling account of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis goes a long way to convince any reader that this may be the worst catastrophe in the history of the US Navy. Shortly after delivering key parts of the A-bomb to an island in the South Pacific, the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. The ship sank within minutes, leaving approximately 900 crewmen stranded at sea. Unbelievably, the ship's brief distress call went unnoticed. Most of the surviving crewmen were badly injured. The Navy did not realize that the ship was missing for over 4 days. Crewmen battled the sun, sea, sharks and each other. Eventually, 321 men were pulled from the sea.Stanton's masterful chronicle of this tale is a worthy tribute to these courageous survivors. Most impressively he combines the historical record with powerful and poignant personal stories of key survivors. The end result is a dramatic book that you will long remember.
Rating:
Summary: A very good book
Review: This book contains an excellent account of the tragedy and describes all the horrors that the Indy's crew went through ... incredible... The book also explains how the ship's Captain has been court-martialled in a trial which apparently was very unfair to him, given all the evidence explained by the author (the fact that Mc Vay had not received notifications about the presence of Japanese submarines in the area, the incredibly long delay before rescue operations started etc.); unfortunately it seems to be still unclear why all the responsibility was unfairly put on Mc Vay. He seems to have been used as a scapegoat. I simply regret that the book does not go further in investigating the truth and in finding what the real motivation was and whose interest it was to blame Mc Vay in such a way. These disturbing questions still remain open after so many years, and both the survivors and the enemy commander confirmed that Mc Vay was not to blame... So probably an other book will bring answers by continunig the investigation ???
Rating:
Summary: Great Historical Story
Review: The first couple of times I heard this tale told by Robert Shaw on the movie Jaws, I wasn't even sure it was true. It was true and Doug Stanton has created a very gripping and detailed story describing this unforgetable sea tragedy. Doug's story-telling is great.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Telling of the Story
Review: As many reviewers here have stated this book covers the sinking of the heavy cruiser Indianapolis during the end of World War Two and the fate of the crew that survived the explosion and sinking and went into the water. I am always interested in life's little twists of fate, the Indianapolis was carrying the uranium that would be used for the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. What if the ship would have been sunk a few days earlier? The book goes on to cover two main stories, the men that were in the water until their rescue and the court martial of the Captain of the ship. To be honest I was more interested in the sinking of the ship, the time the crew spent in the water, and the rescue of the crew then I was about the story of the Captain. The incompetence of the Navy to let a ship of that size be lost and no one caring to find out why blew me away. The story of the injustice of the Captain was interesting; I was just more interested in the crew. I never thought that the bacteria in the sea or the salt water would eat away at the skin. The shark stories were also gripping. I can not imagine the fear that must have engulfed all of the men to have these huge eating machines swimming under you. And then there is the mental anguish of being surrounded by water in the sun and not having anything to drink for 5 days. This was just a good all around book, it grabs you in the first chapter and keeps your interest all the way through. I am also glad that I now know the full story that the Captain was telling in Jaws.
Rating:
Summary: Wow !
Review: My fascination with WW2 and with the wonderful generation, on all sides of the fighting fronts, took again wings with this incredible account of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis in the closing weeks of the war. It sadly remains an event of WW2 that has not received its due coverage (like the explusion, immediately after the war, of between 13-14 million ethnic Germans from their ancient homelands in Easter Europe, resulting in more than 2 million deaths, and what is still the largest single refugee movement in European history; a fact that remains scarely known outside Germany - refer further hereto :Anthony Beevor's new book : Berlin:The Downfall 1945) Full marks to Doug Stanton for bringing to us the horrifying story of this battleship disaster and the struggle for survival by the sailors, many of them mere boys, that took to the shark-infested seas that was going to become, in terms of pain, terror, fatigue and thirst, for four long long days, their unimaginable hell. The quotation "if you can't be grateful for what you receive...be thankful for what you escape" is given particular clarity when you read how these heroes, each and everyone, died or miraculously survived this catastrophe.
Rating: 
Summary: Adequate Story - Poorly Written
Review: I found this book to be a disappointment, and it does not have a place in my collection of serious history. In my opinion the story of the USS Indianapolis is too important to have been written in such an amateurish manner. Mr. Stanton's skills as a story teller are adequate, but he lacks the basic tools to handle a complex military tragedy. The errors in fact concerning command relationships, shipboard elements, and even time zones (he attempts to reconcile the differences in "military" time zones - all of which are given in "zulu" or GMT time), are a constant distraction to a story which remains important to this day.
Rating:
Summary: The dark side of conflict
Review: I finished this book with a feeling of great sadness. I had heard the story over the years especially in the context of efforts to absolve Captain McVay of responsibility but never had read the complete story. It is a multilayered tragedy but the element that stays with me is the anguish that must have been McVay's life until he decided to end it. The callousness and cowardice of those responsible for not tracking the ship or following up on its missing status is appalling as is the willingness of the military leadership to pick a convenient scapegoat. Stanton has done a great service to Captian McVay and all the men on that fine ship.
Rating:
Summary: A Labor of Love
Review: A thoroughly researched and personal narrative, "In Harm's Way" details the triumph and tragedy of the USS Indianapolis and her men. By focusing in one a few main characters, Stanton moves the tale along and allows the reader to become more emotionally attached to the participants. The style of writing is simple, and effective. The story speaks for itself. While I would have appreciated more detail about the captain's courtmartial and about the more recent efforts to clear his name, one of the books strengths is not getting bogged down in unnecessary detail. An accessible work of history about an important event that shows the author's passion for his subject.
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