Rating: 
Summary: A Disappointment
Review: I received the book as a gift. Had I had a chance to browse through it beforehand as a potential buyer, I would not have purchased it. The book jacket claims this is a story of the Navy fliers who were executed and eaten at Chichi Jima in WWII, as well as subsequent legal proceedings. It doesn't mention the truly awful revisionist history and moral equivalency vis a vis Japan and The U.S. espoused by the author, and which makes up the bulk of the book. For example, p. 67 "The four presidents depicted on Mount Rushmore had all supported the ethnic cleansing of the Indian."
Rating:
Summary: Rrevisionist history
Review: This book is typical of the revisionist history we are now getting about WWII by liberal/leftwing writers. At least as far as Americas war with Japan is concerned. The Japanese were not so bad and America deserved alot of what happened goes their absurd argument. Gee, where have we heard that lately? Bradley reveals his biased by bringing up the old leftwing canard of "racism" (as practiced by white Americans). He brings up Japanese internment while conveniently overlooking the fact this country also interned Germans and Italians. Liberal/leftists always fail to mention that since it takes away the sting of their "America is racist" argument they like to throw around so much. But, it's Bradley who is the racist. He's willing to overlook the atrocities of the Japanese nazi's simply because they are Asian. Soemthing he would never do concerning white German nazi's. This book is the kind of revisionist nonsense that should go over well in Japan since they have been in a complete state of denial since the end of the war about their wartime behavior. It's easier to blame America for all the ills of the world instead of doing your own soul seaching. Bradley (and others) has helped legitimize this corrupt mindset.
Rating:
Summary: Revisionist History at its Worst
Review: Such a disappointment after the intelligent, measured, and compelling work in FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS (which I assign to my students each semester)! Here Bradley completely surrenders to revisionist history which contorts the past to place blame for every nation's sins on the United States, or the West in general. The breaking point for me occured when Bradley claimed that the unprecedented atrocities committted by the Japanese on innocent Chinese and Korean civilians, as well as POWs, was a result of what they had learned from Western expansionism! What nonsense! Japan had started down its own path of racial isolationism, intolerance, and barbaric treatment of the "outsider" centuries before the United States and colonialist Europe existed! The truth is that the Japanese in World War II committed human rights violations unparalleled by any state or regime in history (Unit 731, Palawan, Cabanatuan, starvation and torture all of the prison camps, Mitsubishi work camps, Rape of Nanking, comfort women,... and on and on and on), and the nation as a whole continues to deny its past atrocities. Bradley's book merely makes it easier for the Japanese to continue to rationalize and deny its war crimes, and this is an insult to all those who suffered--and died horrible deaths--at their hands.
Rating: 
Summary: Real Eye Opener
Review: For me this book answered quite a few questions. My father was a B-29 pilot during 1945, but did not talk a great deal about his experiences. Now I feel that I better understand part of what he must have gone through. The atrocities (on both sides) and the insight into the minds of both the Japanese and the Americans at the time. When I was younger I found, in a box of my father's, a Japanese wallet with pictures, Yen notes & momentos. My father told me that they belonged to a Japanese soldier that he shot when the soldier tried to surrender on Guam. Until I read this book I never could understand how my father could have shot an unarmed man. Now I not only understand but, more than likely, would have done the same thing myself. On one hand FLYBOYS is a disturbing look at history and, on the other hand, an excellent reminder of the psychology of war. Well worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Waste of time
Review: Could of been a good book. Should of been a good book. Maybe someday someone will write a good book about the murdered American pilots. What an insult to the memory of these brave young Americans and all the American solders of WW2.
Rating: 
Summary: Don's review
Review: This is an excellent book with some surprises for me. Very interesting information about the incendiary bombing of Japan in comparison to the A-bombs dropped. Also, much interesting information from the soldiers on both sides which I especially liked.
Rating:
Summary: Good insight on untold story.
Review: Flyboys tells the incredible and previously untold story of what happened to American pilots shot down and captured over the Japanese islands in the Pacific, most notably Chichi Jima. Although not as well written as his first book, Flags Of Our Fathers, this is worth reading if only to gain entry to the world of the American Pilots of WWII and what happened to them if they were shot down. The book also tells about the little known intensive firebombing of Japan prior to dropping the A-bombs that led to their surrender. The stories contained in this book give a great explanation of why pilots and the airwar were so instrumental to the Allied victory in WWII.
Rating:
Summary: A Gripping Story About American Aviators in the Pacific
Review: This book describes the attacks against the Japanese-held island of Chichi Jima. Located approximately 150 miles north of its more familiar neighbor Iwo Jima, Chichi Jima served as an early warning radar and radio station for the Japanese. Nine American aviators were shot down over the island. One, George Bush, would later become President of the United States. The others disappeared.In the course of this excellent book by the author of "Flags of Our Fathers", the reader is taken back to the 1850s and the birth of the Japanese military and "Bushido" system. At first, I was disappointed with the way the book was set up, and I felt that a lot of the information in the first few chapters was irrelevant to the subject being covered. But as I read further, I discovered that this was the perfect introduction for the material covered later in the book. The foundation that was laid in the beginning, such as the birth of the bushido code and the resentment that many Japanese felt toward the Americans after the visit of Commodore Perry helped to describe the transformation of the Japanese soldier from a normal human being into an unhuman killing machine. Although the book describes the story of the airmen shot down over Chichi Jima in great detail, Bradley also talks about the entire Pacific war and the role that air power played. From the attack on Pearl Harbor to the surrender of Japan, Bradley describes the heroic Flyboys and their contributions to victory. The atrocities comitted by the Japanese against the American aviators are described in chilling detail. The Japanese regarded anyone who surrendered as sub-human, because surrender was unfamiliar to them. Japanese soldiers were taught never to surrender. Instead, they should kill themselves before surrendering. Aviators were treated even more harshly than other POWs, because the Japanese held them directly responsible for the effects of bombings and so forth. But the events on Chichi Jima were so grotesque that its hard to imagine that anyone was capable of them. The Japanese would have a burial detail dig a hole, then the POW was blindfolded and forced to kneel while a Japanese soldier would behead him with a samurai sword. But the part that was so inhumane was the dissection and eating of the flesh by the Japanese. The boys shot down over Chichi Jima became food for the Japanese. Many people wonder why the Americans dropped the atom bombs on Japan, and many called the acts "inhuman". If the atomic bombings were inhuman, then what would one call the slicing and eating of another human's flesh? I highly recommend this fine book. The narrative is impecable, and the story is almost too bizarre to comprehend, but Bradley writes about this little-known aspect of the war with a true flair and amazing storytelling ability. A masterful work of history, this book will change our understanding of the Pacific war
Rating:
Summary: Not Just an Adventure Tale- What makes USA great
Review: This is ostensibly the story of eight American naval aviators shot down in World War II , the barbarous treatment they received from their captors and the ensuing cover up (i.e. the Department of Defense told the airmen's families nothing of the torture, only of swift deaths in combat).
While that is the pitch that sold the book, Bradley goes further; he beckons the reader to explore the milieu, the world view that has fostered modern warfare. He begins with an 'impartial' essay on Imperialism, and its prime corollary: 'You can't be a world class nation without a kick-ass army.'
The Europeans and the Americans may have started Imperialism, but Japan, styling itself as the first land to greet the sun and the center of the Earth, of course also wants a piece of Imperialial power, despite starting hundreds of years later.
From that position, the book opens up the philosophical differences between the Anglo-American approach and the Japanese approach to raising that kick-ass Army.
Both dehumanized the enemy. The author acknowleges that much. After all, napalming school children, grocery store clerks and oldsters in their homes could be construed as bad as lopping off prisoners heads after hanging them for a few days with their hands behind their backs. Still, I sensed Bradley saw a crucial distinction: Anglo-America, even in military hierarchy has something of a bottom-up philosophy versus the Imperial Japanese philosophy of all power exudes from the son of heaven (figurehead) emperor.
Here are a few of those distinctions: The common soldier in the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) is expected to die before being taken prisoner and even if wounded, kill himself rather than 'consume valuable resources' on his own selfish will to survive.
OK, now turn 180 degrees around. These two anecdotes characterizes the American way: First; General Billy Mitchell- who in 1925 even stood court martial in defense of his position that the airplane held the key to victory in mechanized modern warfare. Heretofore, that was not official defense policy. Sure, he was court-martialed and that is far from a kudo for a job well done. Yet he was able to take his case to the American people and when time came to arm America for World War II, his unified Air-Land-Sea total war strategy was the approach taken.
No way would that fly in the IJA! Such diversity of opinion, such respect for the individual found not even a toehold in Imperial Japan. Instead of diversity, the Asian island nation relied on faith in the emperor and his handlers. Somehow even fate itself was expected to come to their aid.
The second incident showing the strength of the American approach was the rescue of a young airman by submarine when his dive bomber went down in the waters around Chichi Jima, the geographical focus of the book. (That airman was George Bush) A Japanese observer noted that if a Japanese pilot had been so downed, he would commit harikari to conserve his homeland's resources.
So, up until recently, the US Defense Department may have concealed the cruelties of war to the families of the eight airmen killed over Chichi Jima. Now the story is out- in Flyboys. It is also told nowadays even in Hollywood movies. Grisly blood and guts everywhere.
This book has a vision: There are tyrants who prod conscripts forward at gun point, who dehumanize even their own in an effort to unleash a savage hate-filled horde on the world.
Now, post 9/11, it becomes essential that citizens and governments both watch out for one another, that the bottom-up American system will not die, that it has a new birth.
As an American, it is easy to see the story of the fallen aviators (Flyboys) as an American tale. Yes, their sacrifice should be remembered, honored and respected. At the same time, the challenge is to also bring the vision of human rights to the former enemy, so that he is cleansed of his former dehumanized war-lust mentality and enters life with a new heart and a new vision, that of the society of that honors the human rights of its citizens.
Rating:
Summary: A book we can all learn from
Review: Despite what might be called flaws (and what book is not without flaws), here is what I consider to be the reasons for giving it five stars:(1) The historical introduction helps us to understand better why Japanese soldiers acted in the way they did. Cruel and brutal acts, like all other kinds of human acts, can only be understood by understanding the environment in which the individuals who perform such acts have lived and the situation in which they find themselves. (2) Bradley makes us or should make us more aware of an very important fact: No nation is ever innocent when it comes to war. Atrocities for whatever reason, intentional or unintentional, will occur. He makes this point even more poignant by providing personal details about the individuals who were involved in such acts. (3) The book relates in a keenly sensitive way that despite the physical and spiritual traumas that are inflicted on men and women during war, there is always the possibility of reconciliation of the peoples of nations that were once enemies.
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