Rating: 
Summary: A story not to be forgotten (that somehow had been)
Review: Not only does Mr. Sides's work present credentials of meticulous research and convey a vivid picture of both the POW's ordeal and the liberator's quest. For me, passages of his work had an almost magically evocative ability to call up recollections from my own few years in the Philippines long after the war.(Short autobigraphical aside: As a teenager and American native I lived on the outskirts of Manila in the years from 1970 through 1974. I have toured Corregidor and Fort Santiago, seen the Death March Memorial, and paid a somber visit to the American Cemetery. I've walked along rice-paddie paths paved with landing mat; heard a few first-hand tales of life during the war; handled spent Japanese ammunition; and ridden in a number a WWII-surplus land and sea craft; met a survivor of the Death March, and been inside Japanese tunnel hideouts outside Manila and Baguio. There were many pages of _Ghost Soldiers_ that brought back things I'd learned or flashbacks to places or things I'd seen.) I would love to meet the author; even more would I give to meet one of the surviving Rangers or POWs. Yet merely to read their story has for me been a great honor. I withhold a last fifth star merely because of the book's at-times somewhat pop history tone.
Rating: 
Summary: superbly researched, presented in almost first person
Review: This was a one-sit read. The details were just mesmerizing and resulted in my feeling huge amounts of empathy for all sides. I do not recall a better historical account of a war episode. If you have any interest whatsoever in history and the history of war - how it shapes people and how people reveal themselves - this is the book to read. Superb. regards,
patrick
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book!
Review: This book turned out to be a good historical coverage of an event that took place during World War II. The Japanese prison
camp named Palawan was the site of a huge slaughter of American
P.O.W.'s.After recieving this intelligence a plan was formulated
to save the P.O.W.'s of the Cabanatuan prison camp before there was another mass killing.A select group of 121 Army Rangers were given the assigment to rescue the Americans who were being held prisoner by the Japanese. Many of these prisoners were survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March.The author gives a good description of this march.Through this book you are given the
details of this rescue operation.You are able to meet some of the
individuals who were involved in this daring rescue.You are shown how Phillipine guerillas were utilized to pull off this rescue.The author also describes the inhumane cruelty that was
used by the Japanese jailers on the American prisoners.This is
one of the better books about the subject that you will ever read. Buy this book. It is outstanding.
Rating:
Summary: A book of bravery and courage
Review: I found this very easy to read yet very interesting book on the rescue of American POWs in the Philippines to be worth while and I would certainly recommend this book. If you would like to learn about the hardships the POWS endured in the Philippines and about the men who put everything on the line to save them from the vicious Japanese prison guards then this is the book. Buy it! Read it!
Rating:
Summary: A realistic and gripping account
Review: This book is not only well written, it appears to be well-researched. The author switches between the Rangers on their mission of mercy and the prisoner's plight throughout the book. One of the best books I've read in quite a while.
Rating:
Summary: Completely enthralling historic rescue
Review: The story of the rescue from the Cabuanatan prison camp would be gripping even if told by a writer of modest abilities, but Hampton Sides has studied his subject thoroughly and does a superb job of communicating both the details of the complex and difficult mission and the immense powerful emotion and drama of the story. "Ghost Soldiers" is so powerfully written that I found myself visualizing every detail of the story in my head (and casting the movie that is sure to follow). One stellar example: when the US Rangers finally liberated the camp, the POWs were so surprised they did not at first believe they were free, and some almost refused to leave the camp. Even the story of the long walk back to freedom is tremendous...the rescuers loaning most of their clothing to the near-naked prisoners, carrying their buddies on their backs for miles, and the local natives turning out by the score with oxcarts to carry back prisoners to ill to walk. Fair warning though--the story of the Bataan Death March and prison camp life that proceeded the rescue are bloody and a terrible indictment of what evil people may be capable of. It is not for the faint of heart or stomach. Remarkably, some of the key protagonists of the story are still alive. This made me feel as though everyone should read this book soon, to emphasize that people still have the power to make history.
Rating:
Summary: Today's Genereration of Leaders, TAKE NOTE.....
Review: What an inspirational tale; you will want to devour it in 1 sitting. This book imparts many lessons of unbelievable hardship, sacrifice, endurance, brotherhood,leadership and survival. The trials that these soldiers had to endure to survive 3 years in a Japanese run p.o.w. camp in the Philippines during WW2 make me more greatful than ever for our older generation of veterans. Their depth of sacrifice helped pay for the depth of freedom that we all enjoy now as citizens of the greatest country of the world; despite our faults. I don't think that we could endure now, what they had to endure then...
Rating:
Summary: Ghost Soldiers
Review: Easily the best book I 've read this year. Unlike many historic books about war, this one captures you instantly and keeps you mezmerized to the end. The author's descriptions are so vivid I felt I was in the scenes and knew the participants. One doesn't have to be a history buff to find this treatment of an important event fascinating.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best told stories of all times.....
Review: Ghost Soldiers is filled with accounts of soldiers who spent the duration of world war two in a Japanese prison camp called Cabantuan. Most of them had been in the Baatan death march and in the bombings of corregidor. Although this is a great book, and I would definalty reccomend it it does jump around to much, and without much warning. It is however, a great story of the men who survived the camp, and the men who helped them out. A great book to read with this is Manilla Espionage by Claire Phillips who is mentioned breifly as "High Pockets" in Ghost Soldiers.If you get this book, and love history it will definatly not be a dissapointment.
Rating:
Summary: A Part Of History
Review: I bought this book after a friend recommended it to me. She knew that my father survived the Bataan Death March & was a POW for almost 3 years, had been held at the Cabantuan prison camp & was there when this rescue took place. Funny to see the postcard shown in the book and I have the same one my father sent all those years ago. My father is gone now, I only wish he could have read this book. It took years but at the urging of his family he finally wrote down in journal form the suffering and cruelty he received and saw handed out. As the years went by his one great saddness was the fact that so many people, adults among them, had never even heard of the Bataan Death March. This is some small part of history that should be taught to our school children in a history class, but for some reason has been neglected. Thank-you Hampton Sides for bringing this true life story to generations of people. Renee Salewsky
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