Book Description
The "inspirational" and "extraordinary" memoir of one of the most courageous of the greatest generation, Louis Zamperini: Olympian, WWII Japanese POW and survivor.
A juvenile delinquent, a world class NCAA miler, a 1936 Olympian, a WWII bombardier: Louis Zamperini had a fuller than most, when it changed in an instant. On May 27, 1943, his B–24 crashed into the Pacific Ocean. Louis and two other survivors found a raft amid the flaming wreckage and waited for rescue. Instead, they drifted two thousand miles for forty–seven days. Their only food: two shark livers and three raw albatross. Their only water: sporadic rainfall. Their only companions: hope and faith–and the ever–present sharks. On the forty–seventh day, mere skeletons close to death, Zamperini and pilot Russell Phillips spotted land–and were captured by the Japanese. Thus began more than two years of torture and humiliation as a prisoner of war.
Zamperini was threatened with beheading, subject to medical experiments, routinely beaten, hidden in a secret interrogation facility, starved and forced into slave labour, and was the constant victim of a brutal prison guard nicknamed the Bird–a man so vicious that the other guards feared him and called him a psychopath. Meanwhile, the Army Air Corps declared Zamperini dead and President Roosevelt sends official condolences to his family, who never gave up hope that he was alive.
Somehow, Zamperini survived and he returned home a hero. The celebration was short–lived. He plunged into drinking and brawling and the depths of rage and despair. Nightly, the Bird's face leered at him in his dreams. It would take years, but with the love of his wife and the power of faith, he was able to stop the nightmares and the drinking.
A stirring memoir from one of the greatest of the "Greatest Generation," DEVIL AT MY HEELS is a living document about the brutality of war, the tenacity of the human spirit, and the power of forgiveness.
Customer Reviews:
Couldn't put this one down!.......2007-07-12
This tale reads like Candide or Forest Gump, but of course this isn't fiction. The life of Louis Zamperini is, in a word, incredible; it's no wonder that they know as the Greatest Generation. Anyone who is interested in WWII, military service, or survival tales will enjoy this story. This is a must read!
Worst Book I've Ever Read.......2007-03-16
This book has no plot and constantly repeats itself. He alo takes much of the time to promote the books of his other POW friends. The only touching pat of the book is one passge that lasts about a page. DON'T READ!!! I had to read it for a histroy class, but I had such a hard time staying focused on such a bad book!
Devil at My heels.......2006-01-23
Having received this book as a Christams gift from a buddy of mine , it is an absolutelly astonishing and wonderful read!
A great story of a one of what we now call "The Greatest Generation".
My buddy was a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association's crew that travels with a world war two bomber called FUDDY DUDDY, and while at Van Nuys California airport , he met Louis Zamperini personally and told me Mr Zamperini just kind of "hung out" with the FUDDY DUDDY crew in April 2005 for about three days and shared his stories with them.
So my buddy bought two copies from Louis Zamperini and asked him to autograph them, so I received mine for Christmas 2005.
What a great story and hope someday I can meet Louis Zamperini!
He is truly an American Hero!
This review written by
Edward DeBolt
Grabill, Indiana
Testimony to the Apex of Human Forgiveness.......2006-01-20
What More can be said or added to the astonishing account of survival by Louis Zamperini. After enduring forty-seven days in a life raft, being shot down in the middle of the Pacific, he prevailed for two more years as a POW in a Japanese prison camp.
Following his release and being welcomed home as a war hero, Zamperini sank into despair and heavy drinking,only to be rescued from the depths of hopelessness through the ministry of the great evangelist Billy Graham.
His story is at once extraordinary and inspiring-a powerful testimony to the stalwartness of the human spirit, particularly in light of the fact that upon revisiting the site of his tortuous existence he found it in his heart to forgive his brutal captors.
Even if one is only remotely inclined to revisit events that occurred surrounding US POW's in the Pacific during WWII,the reader will find this narrative the best of the best. This reader salutes you, Louis, and others like you for reminding us that the "greatest generation" continues to illuminate and enkindle.
a great story, a mediocre book.......2005-06-06
As you can see from the other reviews, Zamperini's story is absolutely amazing. The book is worth reading to hear it. Still, I couldn't rate the book very highly because it never really felt like Zamperini was the one doing the talking. I guess you'll get that feeling in almost any ghosted autobiography (except maybe Lance's "It's Not About the Bike"), but when Zamperini talks about some of his less-credible emotions, such as his absolute graciousness in defeat when he lost a race to Norman Bright, or his complete forgiveness for the guard, "The Bird", who sadistically tortured him in POW camps, I would find those much easier to believe if I knew I was getting it straight from Zamperini, rather than channeled through a professional writer who makes sure everything is pretty and organized.
There's a lot of great things about this book. As far as I can tell, it pulls no punches and tells the truth. Zamperini is not afraid to speak his mind. He admits his faults. He shares his innermost thoughts. The book paints a very real picture of a man. Even if the book had an ulterior motive, Zamperini goes about spreading his message in a very non-threatening way. I'm an atheist and I don't forsee that changing in the near future, but unlike most proselytizing, this book managed not to tick me off.
With the straightforward manner of storytelling and the "don't mess up your life like I almost did... you can get back on the right track" message, the best audience for the book is probably 14-year olds.
Book Description
When Green Beret Lieutenant James N. Rowe was captured in 1963 in Vietnam, his life became more than a matter of staying alive.
In a Vietcong POW camp, Rowe endured beri-beri, dysentery, and tropical fungus diseases. He suffered grueling psychological and physical torment. He experienced the loneliness and frustration of watching his friends die. And he struggled every day to maintain faith in himself as a soldier and in his country as it appeared to be turning against him.
His survival is testimony to the disciplined human spirit.
His story is gripping.
Customer Reviews:
stayed with me.......2007-10-09
Out of the over 100 books I read in college - this is one of the two I have never forgotten.
Escape from Laos.......2007-09-19
This book is one of the best true Military escape books that I have read. It's as good as Colditz.
M. Rutter
A Hero's Hero.......2007-05-27
An extraordinary account of the triumph of the human spirit, Five Years to Freedom relates the story of Captain Nick Rowe's incredible experience as a prisoner of the Vietcong in South Viet Nam from 1963 to 1968. Adapted from Captain Rowe's own diaries, the book recounts in often graphic detail the author's five years in captivity deep in the steamy, unforgiving jungles of South Viet Nam.
Rowe's dogged resistance in the face of extreme hardship and unrelenting physical and psychological torture endures as an example to U.S. military members serving today. Much of the modern day Code of Conduct guiding the actions of U.S. POWs reflects Rowe's experience and that of other Viet Nam POWs. Rowe remains one of the most prominent of the many U.S. Army Special Forces professionals to serve in Viet Nam.
Captain Rowe details his captivity in a clear, determined style that allows the reader to experience on a visceral level all that the author endured. The savagery with which Captain Rowe is treated by his Viet Cong captors is almost beyond comprehension. Often confined to a bamboo cage, placed in irons, and fed a steady diet of undercooked rice and barely edible fermented fish sauce (nuoc mam), Rowe suffers alternating bouts of dysentery, beri beri, and outbreaks of severe fungal disease. Though repeatedly incapacitated by chronic diarrhea and other debilitating conditions, he resists every effort by his captors to break his will.
Refusing to accede to the demands of his captors for intelligence on U.S. forces operating in South Viet Nam, Rowe continually stonewalls or provides misleading information. Even when offered many "privileges" culminating with his freedom, he refuses to give in. His perseverance in the face of such brutality is a testament to the indomitable spirit of one remarkable soldier and warrior.
Most "heart-wrenching" is Rowe's gradual awareness - resulting in part from his Vietcong tormentors' clumsy attempts at disinformation - that the American public is beginning to withhold support for the war. His deep devotion to his country, however, prevents Rowe from accepting this as reality, and he continues to resist. We are witness to a man struggling mightily with his emotions as he attempts to process this seeming dichotomy.
Rowe's Vietcong guards reward his defiance by withholding food, medicine, and other basic necessities of survival. Perhaps most poignant, the Vietcong ruthlessly chip away at his resolve through a sinister, carefully calculated combination of reward and punishment. His fellow POWs released, Rowe eventually seeks companionship through a pair of forest eagles. His painstaking devotion to these two birds, the only witnesses to the miserable conditions of his captivity and constant abuse, is an inspiration to animal lovers everywhere.
The most astonishing element of Captain Rowe's story is how he repeatedly risks certain death by attempting to escape. Remarkably, he succeeds on his fifth try and is eventually rescued by an American helicopter crew. Finally, he is free of the physical bonds of his imprisonment and, perhaps even more of a relief, the constant emotional highs and lows to which he was so cruelly submitted.
Interestingly, Rowe was only one of 34 Americans who escaped captivity during the Vietnam War.
Through Five Years to Freedom, we are witness to the barbarity that characterized treatment of many U.S. POWs by the North Vietnamese and Vietcong during America's sustained involvement in Viet Nam. More than a mere POW story, Rowe's book reminds us of freedom's great cost. Were it not for the sacrifices of men like Nick Rowe, our country and all that we value as a society would be perpetually at risk.
As a footnote to the story and perhaps the final irony in his extraordinary life, (Colonel) Nick Rowe was murdered in 1989 in the Philippines by communist insurgents.
To read Five Years to Freedom is to know the heart of a man deeply committed to the ideals of duty, honor, country. This book remains one of the greatest stories of one man's heroism ever told and a tribute to the many great men and women who serve our nation in uniform.
The Ironic Life of Nick Rowe.......2006-07-10
This is the second time I have read this book and I teach a university class on the Vietnam War and highly recommend it to my students. It was one of the earlier books on life as a POW and it verified what I had heard from a friend who also had been a POW in South Vietnam. Life was much harder for the POWs in South Vietnam than for those held in North Vietnam. The ones in the South were not tortured like those in the North, but the living conditions were better in the North. I especially found it interesting at hearing Nick Rowe's dismay and how much it affected his morale to hear all the anti-war propoganda provided by the VC but most of it was just reports of the ongoing anti-war protests in the U.S.-many by senators and congressmen as well as celebraties-a direct parallel to the ongoing war in Iraq. The irony was that Nick Rowe, after being a prisoner for five years in Vietnam, escaped in 1968 and was later killed in 1989 in the Phillipines by communist insurgents.
A tough book to read........2006-07-08
It's hard to imagine a person going through what COL Rowe went through and surviving, let alone maintaining the patriotism and will to live that he did. Some parts of this book will be lost on readers who've never served in the military. The story moves slowly at times, but by the time it's complete, the pace serves to give the reader some idea of Rowe's perception of the passage of time in his five years of captivity. It's too bad the US Army can't make this book required reading, since it can't send everyone to SERE School. It would give those serving a whole new perspective on being captured, living in captivity, being indoctrinated and exploited, and having to live in primitive condtions. Personally, after reading this book, I'll have a hard time complaining about military living conditions during training and deployments.
Book Description
In our postmodern world, every view has a place at the table but none has the final say. How should the church confess Christ in today's cultural context?
Above All Earthly Pow'rs, the fourth and final volume of the series that began in 1993 with No Place for Truth, portrays the West in all its complexity, brilliance, and emptiness. As David F. Wells masterfully depicts it, the postmodern ethos of the West is relativistic, individualistic, therapeutic, and yet remarkably spiritual. Wells shows how this postmodern ethos has incorporated into itself the new religious and cultural relativism, the fear and confusion, that began with the last century's waves of immigration and have continued apace in recent decades.
Wells's book culminates in a critique of contemporary evangelicalism aimed at both unsettling and reinvigorating readers. Churches that market themselves as relevant and palatable to consumption-oriented postmoderns are indeed swelling in size. But they are doing so, Wells contends, at the expense of the truth of the gospel. By placing a premium on marketing rather than truth, the evangelical church is in danger of trading authentic engagement with culture for worldly success.
Welding extensive cultural analysis with serious theology, Above All Earthly Pow'rs issues a prophetic call that the evangelical church cannot afford to ignore.
Customer Reviews:
A Tour de Force .......2007-06-03
Above All Earthly Pow'rs takes the reader on a panoramic tour of contemporary Evangelicalism. Along the way, David F. Wells touches on numerous subjects of considerable importance. Wells' comments are insightful and he leaves the reader little doubt as to where he stands on various issues, and references some of the very best works available for further study.
This work is a rather remarkable investigation that traverses a number of disciplines including: Biblical & Systematic Theology, Philosophy, History, Sociology, Missiology and Practical Theology. New Testament Theology, Systematics, and Philosophy are utilized with great skill, and history and sociology provide the context for much of what is written. These disciplines in turn, are brought to bear upon topics such as Postmodernism, the Seeker-Sensitive Movement, and the Emergent Church. Theological issues include the Atonement, Open Theism, the New Perspective, and Eschatology.
Wells points out many of the errors prevalent in contemporary Evangelicalism, but ends the book with hope and helpful suggestions for the road ahead. The final chapter is entitled The Day of New Beginnings, and closes with these words:
It is only ours to see the victory of Christ on the Cross being realized afresh in the actual circumstances of our time. That will happen when the church humbles itself afresh, seeks the power and cleansing of God, and asks to have its vision renewed of the victory of Christ and to see, once again, his greatness. So may it be!
One other benefit of this book is the modeling of an engaging writing style filled with substance and humor.
This book should be compulsory reading for everyone who aspires to Christian leadership. The Evangelical world owes Dr. Wells a word of thanks for his labors on behalf of Christ and His church.
A Timely And Important Warning.......2007-05-09
Other reviewers have indicated how important & difficult this book is to read. It is dense and requires sustained thought. But the insights in this book are absolutely essential to understanding how dramatically, comprehensively and severly Evangelical Christianity has been compromised or is being compromised in the post-modern cultural context.
I will focus on what I consider to be the hinge-point of the book (pg. 123). Wells states... "..the current evangelical disposition to shuck off its cognitive structures and minimize the practical place of revealed truth in the life of the Church means that it has brought itself to the edge of a precipice. It is a precipice precisely because as evangelical faith has chosen to minimize itself in these way ....it is losing what makes it distinctive from all of the other postmodern spiritualities."
There you have the complexity of thought, density of writing and insights which characterize the entire work. You also have the major premise. The post-modern world is a reversion to pagan spiritualities at the same time it is distancing itself from religion (you have to think about that). These spiritualities manifest themselves in an accumulating, individual, syncretic attitude toward life that is distant from any external authority. The Evangelical Church, in seeking to engage this culture, is too often joining it in a fundamental manner and by doing so, is in almost certain danger of losing the actual gospel that Jesus was so adamant to proclaim (the precipice).
This book needs to be widely read and digested by Christians throughout the world. It is only by recognizing the threat that it can be resisted and yet, all too often, Evangelical zeal has blindly charged on, perhaps, already, into the chasm. Give yourself time to read it and work on following the thought. It is worth the effort. In fact, it is perhaps absolutely necessary that it be done.
A vital book written by a careful, thoughtful theologian and scholar.......2007-05-08
Above All Earthly Pow'rs is the fourth and final volume in a series that includes No Place for Truth, God in the Wasteland and Losing Our Virtue. Each of these books deals with a theological issue in light of the times. Above All Earthly Pow'rs follows the same format, this time addressing Christology and how it "is to be preached, in a postmodern, multiethnic, multireligious society" (pp. 7-8).
As in the earlier works, Wells ably sounds the alarm, warning of the inward seeds of destruction now present in evangelicalism. He deals with relevant issues as diverse as the Enlightenment, psychotherapy, immigration, the new spirituality, nihilism, postmodernity, the resurrection of Christ, self-help programs, debates over substitionary atonement, justification, open theism, the seeker-sensitive church growth movement, and more.
All of these issues are examined in light of what Christology has become in a postmodern world and what must be done to re-establish Christology's biblical understanding and role.
This is a vital book written by a careful, thoughtful theologian and scholar. I believe that, along with the first three books in the series, Above all Earthly Pow'rs is a must read for pastors, theologians and church leaders who want to render biblical guidance to the people of God in the twenty-first century. There are, however, a few minor drawbacks/disappointments with the book:
1. It is not an easy read and will require perseverance, time and careful attention.
2. Wells quotes from some dubious sources; e.g. Lesslie Newbigin, N. T. Wright, Bultman, Bonhoeffer, etc. While he is careful to note that he does not endorse all that these men teach, one has to wonder why he gives credence to these men at all.
3. He does not address in any detail the emergent church movement. He does give copious analysis of the seeker-sensitive movement, but the true postmodern expression of the church is the emerging "conversation." It would have been most enlightening to read Well's analysis of that movement.
Good critque, but without a move forward.......2007-04-02
Wells, did a good job critquing the culture from an Christian wroldview, but although he laid out what the church should not be doing to preach Christ to the culture he did not offer many specifics of what the church should do.
Important Reading, Not Easy Reading.......2007-02-25
David Wells is to the late 20th Century and the early 21st Century what Francis Schaeffer was to the second half of the 20th Century. Both men were astute students of history and culture and both men were brilliant biblical thinkers. Like Schaeffer, Wells provacatively integrates sociology, psychology, philosophy, anthropology, history, and theology, always with theology as the controlling grid.
That said, "Above All Earthly Powers" is not an "easy" read. It's not the type of book that one picks up and thumbs through while multi-tasking. Nor is it a book to read all in one sitting. Because Wells integrates so many important topics and themes and weaves them together, readers need to dedicate the time to wade through the deep meaning.
As the subtitle suggets, Wells focuses on Christ in our postmodern world. To do so, he provides a splendid chapter on modernity. This is important since some critics of post-modernity are criticized because they appear to be lovers of modernity. Instead, Wells shows how the hubris of modernity naturally led to the arrogance and pride of post-modernity.
But Wells' most important contribution in "Above All Earthly Powers" is not his sociology, but his ecclesiology: his theology of church life. Since Christ is above all powers, since humanity is fallen, how Christian engage those who are not Christians must flow from these fundamental truths. As Wells sees it, the "seeker" model and the "emergent" model both have fatal Pelagian flaws. They both adhere to too optimistic a view of the nature of human nature apart from the power and grace of Christ.
What Wells suggests then, is a model for ministry and outreach based upon the simple but profound Gospel truth that we can do nothing apart from God and His grace. That's the "Readers' Digest" version. Pick up a copy for yourself and read the rest of the story.
Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of Spiritual Friends: A Methodology of Soul Care And Spiritual Direction, Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction, Soul Physicians, "Biblical Psychology," and "Martin Luther's Pastoral Counseling."
Amazon.com
At the end of Code-Name Bright Light, former Army captain George J. Veith reports the surprising results of a straw poll he took of former military personnel involved in the effort to liberate American POWs. More than half think that when the United States evacuated Vietnam in 1973, Yanks were left behind enemy lines. Veith is no conspiracy freak. He believes strongly that the military made a sincere effort to rescue captured troops, and argues his case well, yet he also reveals a troubled operation that did not liberate a single soldier due to a combination of its own incompetence and clever Viet Cong tactics. This important chapter of the Vietnam War has been largely ignored until the late 1990s, partly because so many relevant documents took that long to be declassified. Veith makes a genuine contribution to the historical understanding of the conflict, one that ought to engage those still wondering about men whose fates remain unknown.
Book Description
Code-Name Bright Light tells one of the great unknown stories of the Vietnam War: the American military's extensive secret operations to locate and rescue POW/MIAs during the conflict. It is a tale of tragedy and heroism revealed in full for the first time in this volume.
The history of the U.S. POW/MIA intelligence and wartime rescue operations has long remained concealed under the shroud of national security, unknown both to the public and to the families of the missing. George J. Veith has assembled an extensive range of previously unseen material, including recently declassified NSA intercepts, State Department cables, and wartime interrogation reports which reveal how the U.S. military conducted a centralized effort to identify, locate, and rescue its POW/MIAs.
Code-Name Bright Light also traces the development of the various national wartime POW intelligence operations and provides an in-depth look at the activities of the Joint Personnel Recovery Center, a secretive and highly classified POW/MIA unit in South Vietnam responsible for rescuing captives. Further, it uncovers one of the most tightly held POW/MIA secrets, the primary reason why the government did not think any Americans were left behind: a clandestine communication program between the POWs and the U.S. military. This still-sensitive program provided the identities and locations of American prisoners, defeating North Vietnamese efforts to keep their names and locations a secret.
The raids and efforts that make up the narrative of Code-Name Bright Light succeeded in freeing hundreds of captive South Vietnamese soldiers but resulted in the rescue of few Americans. The vast network of efforts, however, is a testament to the U.S. military's unknown commitment to freeing its captive soldiers. Veith concludes that the United States secretly went as far as any army could go in freeing its captives in this type of wartime situation. Our understanding of the war remains incomplete without this powerful history.
Customer Reviews:
One of the two best on POW/MIAs.......2005-04-26
I'd rate this book and "The Bamboo Chest" by Graham as two of the best books on Vietnam POWs, rescue attempts, and the MIA question available!
Why were no Americans ever recovered?.......2004-10-25
Captain Veith delivers a very concise description of the military bureaucracy that seemed to dominate POW recovery efforts. It was and still is a travesty.
The possibility he does not consider is that Bright Light was penetrated by the Trinh Sat, or North Vietnamese intelligence organization.
John Plaster makes a credible case that SOG was penetrated from the very beginning. It would follow that Bright Light was also penetrated. Some sources place the penetration agent very high in the South Vietnamese government, but there is credible evidence that the real source was an American (or perhaps Americans) with access to sensitive information.
We may never know, and Captain Veith does the reader a disservice by not considering the possibility.
Rock
A must Read.......2004-03-02
This book is going t be great because my Grandpa's in it, not oonly is he mentoined in this book he's a POW saver.
A tremendous work on U.S. POW rescue and recovery..............2003-05-12
Code Name Bright Light is a fascinating and highly revealing look into rescue operations in Vietnam performed under the auspices of the Joint Personnel Recovery Center (JPRC) during the longest war ever fought by the United States.
In a six year period, more than 125 rescue operations would be launched to recover U.S. prisoners of war. Attempts to retrieve U.S. servicemen would also be tried by ransoms and prisoner exchanges. The latter methods were minimally successful at best due to the dismal cooperation from the North Vietnamese government and their unwillingness to recognize humanitarian overtures. The actual rescue attempts themselves were outstanding examples of bravery, courage, and audacity in the most harrowing of situation but were also mired in endless problems.
Rescue teams would suffer the indignity of inter-service rivalries and competition, mediocre intelligence information, numerous bureaucratic breakdowns, compromised missions, and bad luck in many cases. Much of this would lead to slow response times to initiate raids on POW compounds which in turn produced many near misses when trying to extricate POW's. On countless occasions, rescue personnel would assault POW camps only to find that prisoners and camp cadre had relocated to new areas only hours before. Although some missions conducted were successful, they would also be bittersweet at the same time. The JPRC teams, during their tenure in Vietnam, were able to rescue hundreds of South Vietnamese POW's but were unsuccessful in ever freeing any living Americans held in confinement.
Leaving no stone unturned, geographically speaking, George J. Veith covers the entire spectrum of Vietnam regarding rescue efforts with serious emphasis placed on Laos which has always been, and continues to be today, highly controversial concerning Americans that are missing in action in that country. In addition, Code Name Bright Light uncovers further high profile operations and rescue missions such as the Son Tay POW camp raid, Operation Thunderhead, the Bat-21 incident, and the notorious Lima Site 85 in Laos.
George J. Veith has composed a meticulous and brilliant narrative in Code Name Bright Light which probably deserves recognition for being one of the finest books ever written about the Vietnam war. For those interested in this subject matter, this book is immensely satisfying and comes highly recommended.
Detailed research by an author dedicated to the issue........2001-08-06
Jay Veith, while working outside the bureaucratic infrastructure said to be "dedicated" to the PW-MIA issue, has made a major contribution to the families of those missing by compiling this study of wartime efforts to recover our men in captivity. His dedication in making the facts available to the public continues today, and serves as an excellent example to our civil servants, who could do more were they of a mind to do so.
Customer Reviews:
An Instruction Book on spiritual Healing Spells.......2007-05-12
I had previously read parts of this book at the local library and knew I had to add it to my collection. The book is amazing, it contains healing spells, and can also be used as an amulet. Some of the language is a little dated so you'll have to do some homework to find out the modern equivalent to the words and conditions named in the book. I highly recommend anyone interested in spiritual healing purchase this book.
Greatest book ever.......2006-10-25
I was given this book by my great grandmother. She said it was the reprint of the book my great-great-great grandmother had used. My 3*great grandmother had been a wonderful christian healer and swore by this book. I do not used it, but love everything I have read in it.
This is from the writing of Manly Wade Wellman.......2005-12-05
If you haven't read Manly Wade Wellman, then you have missed a wonderful opportunity. It's good writing, and the best of his writing is about Silver John, who wanders the Applachian mountains finding song, and dealing with supernatural evil, often with the help of this book. No, it's not a grimoire, but it does have some wonderful folk wisdom that will make the major drug companies hate you, since you won't be buying their drugs if you use these natural remedies. A wonderful book, and even today, well worth reading.
More than pleased.......2004-11-11
I bought this book with having any prior knowledge of its contents except whay i saw on an old 80's film. I can say how plweased i am. If you are looking for a time tested tride and true book on folk healing then this is certainly the one your looking for. I would deffintly reccomend this one to anyone. Peace,prayers, and good luck.
Uniquely American Magical Beliefs.......2004-01-13
Despite the title, this book has nothing to do with Native American beliefs and traditions. Its actually the folk beliefs of the Pensylvannia Dutch folk doctors, hex-crafters, magicians and healers. A unique blend of Christianity and German folklore, this book was a major influence on American folk magic (from Hoodoo to Appalachian study-witches) for many years, and was mentioned several times in the fictional works of Manly Wade Wellman. Its still practiced in some remote areas. It includes a number of charms, hexes and spells. Amongst these are numerous cures for bleeding, warts, colic, epilepsy, headaches, scurvy, tapeworms and many livestock ailments, as well as charms for a safe journey, catching lots of fish, legal success, protection against bullets, driving away vermin, bringing back lost animals and so forth. More esoteric/mystical things include spells against witchcraft, evil spirits and the like, as well as binding a theif or releasing someone from bindings. Theres also certain lore such as advice for pregnant women, unlucky days and hunting talismans.
This is quite an encyclopedic work, covering just about every element of rural folk magic in the United States. This is quite a wonderful book for anyone interested in magic, mysticism and the occult (especially in a historical, folk or Christian context), and a uniquely American book. Definately worth checking out.
Book Description
A significant and unique contribution to World War II literature, this book chronicles in meticulous detail the building and operation of the largest German prisoner-of-war (POW) camp in the United States in Aliceville, Alabama. This history discusses how the residents of Aliceville helped build, operate, and supply the camp, as well as become inextricably intertwined with camp life and the 6,000 German POWs held there. Focusing on the relations between the captured Germans and local Americans, this title investigates the nature of war, peace, and the principles of human dignity.
Customer Reviews:
relevant story told with great accuracy and skill.......2007-07-11
I grew up in Aliceville in the 1950's and 60's; I also spent a lot of time in Germany in the 1980's. I swam in the POW pool, I played baseball and football on the fields at "the camp", I went to VFW meetings with my father in the old officer's club and I know almost every local person mentioned. I did not find a detail incorrect. It is an astonishing job of research.
The books tells a great story and is expertly written. It manages to keep the reader's attention from start to finish. There were so many interesting and enlightening details that I was never aware of until I read the book. It's only shortcoming is that it does not have enough photographs of the actual camp and even the town at that time. I wanted to see more muddy "streets", pullman cars, tarpaper baracks, jeeps, jazz bands, and violins made from popcicle sticks!
But I guess I will just have to wait for the movie which will be made. It's just too good a story and too relevant for our times not to be communicated more widely!
Thank you, Ruth. You really did a great job.
More Than Factual Lessons..........2007-05-09
Thoroughly enjoyable and fascinating book! 'Guests Behind the Barbed Wire' is an important story not just for history's sake, but for it's ability to perfectly capture a unique snapshot in time when adversaries were able to co-exist with dignity during the violence and turmoil of WWII. Ruth Beaumont Cook meticulously details and reconstructs the story of Aliceville, taking the reader through the despair and confusion of the time, and ultimately arrives at a place of hope. A must-read for history buffs!
Book Description
James Hirsch recounts one of the great friendships of the twentieth century forged in one of the most horrific settings that century produced--a North Vietnamese POW camp its inmates called the Zoo. One prisoner, Fred Cherry, was a pioneering air force pilot and the first black officer captured by the North Vietnamese. The other, a young navy flier named Porter Halyburton, was a racist southerner who doubted that a black man could even be a pilot. Their captors threw them into the same fetid cell, believing that their antipathy toward each other would break them both. But Cherry and Halyburton overcame their initial suspicions and saved each other's lives. When Halyburton first saw him, Cherry was a wreck. One arm, damaged in his plane crash, hung uselessly at his side. He hadn't bathed in weeks, and he could barely walk. In his own mind, Cherry was steeling himself for death. Halyburton was also weakening, emotionally battered from the interrogations and isolation that his sheltered life had not prepared him for. He had to learn how to endure, or he would become one of the incoherent wraiths who haunted the Zoo. Halyburton and Cherry became legendary among fellow POWs for the singular friendship that enabled them to overcome prodigious suffering and unspeakable torture. Hirsch weaves through this account a surprising, sometimes shocking view of the toll these men's captivity took on their loved ones. While Cherry's family was sundered by his absence, Halyburton's bond with his wife, Marty, endured and deepened. We see her receive the news of her husband's death, and we share her mingled elation and fear when she later learns that he is in fact alive and imprisoned. We also witness her unlikely rise to a leading role in the battle to bring the POWs home. Often inspiring, sometimes heartbreaking, Two Souls Indivisible shows how trust and hope can cheat death, and how good people can achieve greatness in hellish circumstances.
Customer Reviews:
A "Thanks"giving Day Well Spent.......2006-11-26
I spent the Thanksgiving 2006 Holiday wrapped up in a book that clearly made me appreciate how fortunate we truly are!!! Two Souls Indivisible is one the best written novels I have ever read. James Hirsh is an outstanding writer and does a superb job not only with the development of the two main characters but also captures the torment and hell all of our POW's went thru -- notwithstanding the race relations aspect which is also described in much detail and serves as the underderlying theme. Whether you are a history buff and someone who is looking for a superb book -- this is it. Some of the details are graphic but it is truly necessary so that the reader appreciates the chaos and sheer brutality that these men were faced with. Five stars doesn't do justice -- make it 10 out of 10.
Compelling story of friendship and survival.......2005-04-26
Hirsch recounts the friendship that developed between two aviators who were shot down in North Vietnam and endured seven years of imprisonment and torture. Fred Cherry was the first black pilot captured by the Vietnamese, a hot fighter jock and a pioneer in integrating the Air Force. Porter Halyburton was a southern gentleman, steeped in the racial relationships of the old South. Cherry was a Major with combat tours in Korea; Halyburton a young Lieutenant j.g. Although they spent only seven months in the same cell, each credits the other with saving his life as their captors slowly bled the will to live from them. The author also recounts the travails of the two wives, of whom one became a leader in the POW movement and the other declared her husband dead and refused to accept his return. The author skillfully avoids both treacly sentimentalism and excessive gore and concentrates on the leadership and mutual support that kept the survivors alive through years of isolation, abuse, and starvation. Certainly worth reading.
From A Family Member.......2004-12-28
I read this book on the advise of a cousin in Montana. And when I finished, I remembered sitting with my mother and crying as we saw Uncle Fred's name on the list of released POW's. I was in my junior year in college at the time. I have kept an article from Jet Magazine of an interview that he gave just after he was released. Much of what he said in that article is in this book; just fleshed out to the full, long, seven years. I knew some of it then; I know a lot more now. I am very proud that this book was written about these two men, my Uncle and Mr. Halyburton. They are living history. And Mr. Hirsch does a wonderful job of presenting them as just that-real history-real people.
Absolutely Awesome.......2004-08-06
I read this book expecting a lot of "war" data. But what I received was far beyond what I expected. It was fantastic. It did just what it set out to do, which was capture the comradry and the "Two Souls Indivisible" and their plights together. I have the pleasure of knowing Fred Cherry and he is a wonderful man. After reading the book, I have another level of respect for him and what he has accomplished.
Torture and POWs.......2004-07-07
James Hirsch has written an inspirational account of two American POWs, Fred Cherry, an African-American fighter-bomber pilot, and Porter Halyburton, a southern white jet navigator. Both were shot down flying missions over North Vietnam and spent seven-plus years in prison camps. The author weaves considerable biographical material on the two servicemen into descriptions of their capture, interrogations, torture and harsh prison conditions. The book draws on extensive interviews with the two flyers, their families, fellow POWs, other military colleagues and close friends.
The narrative depicts how POWs struggled to maintain dignity, sense of honor to the U.S. military and mutual support in the face of cruel treatment by North Vietnamese captors. This reader has for years wondered what POWs endured while imprisoned. No longer, for this book presents graphic descriptions of horrible prison conditions and physical and psychological torture. Anyone with strong views on the Vietnam War, pro or con, would find this book engaging.
The discussions of Vietnamese torture and abuse of American servicemen make distressing reading in light of revelations about U.S. mistreatment of prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo and the legal justifications for it offered by some U.S. government officials. At times the Vietnamese denied POW status to captured Americans. When Major Cherry refused to answer questions in his first interrogation and showed his Geneva Convention card outlining his rights as a prisoner, his Vietnamese interrogator barked, "Forget about it. You're a criminal." (p.33)
People have tortured each other for thousands of years. Sometimes torturers sought military advantage; other times, enforcement of religious beliefs; or they simply needed to dominate. Gravensteen Castle's torture museum (Ghent, Belgium) contains an array of medieval Europe's crueler torture instruments, a sober reminder of how deeply ingrained human cruelty is.
This long history of torture might easily engender cynicism about the Geneva Conventions or any other rules attempting to restrain human cruelty. The drafters of the U.S. Constitution, however, displayed optimism, banning "cruel and unusual punishment."
According to Hirsch, U.S. POWs evinced similar optimism. Major Cherry recounts his relief that a uniformed Vietnamese was in charge of his capture, for "he assumed that a soldier, even a Communist, was more likely to respect a prisoner of war. According to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 - which North Vietnam had signed - POWs were to be treated humanely." (p.30) Halyburton's wife, a POW activist, optimistically declared: "All we ask is that North Vietnam adhere to the conditions of the Geneva Conventions, that they identify the prisoners they hold, and they protect them from abuse. That's all we ask." (p.210)
Hirsch cautiously avoids raising any "coulda shoulda wouldas" of the Vietnam War. That's not his story. Yet, the narrative makes clear that support for the Vietnam War was an important psychological need of the POWs and many other combatants. How else to make it through still another day of torture or fighting thousands of miles from home? That psychological need, however, can hardly become the justification for any war. The U.S. political system demands extreme prudence of its leadership when engaging troops and a thorough debate of the issues. Hirsch's book poignantly reminds readers how U.S. troops ultimately bear the consequences of war-making decisions.
The issue of race figures prominently in the book. Porter Halyburton, a southern white officer, must confront the views he absorbed from a racially segregated society when he cares for Major Fred Cherry, an African-American POW and his cellmate. Major Cherry, in turn, must bury years of racial insults and slights. The account of how both men ultimately bridge this racial divide is truly a message of hope.
This reader winced, however, at the description of Halyburton's overcoming his segregationist upbringing as being the moment when "Cherry had ceased being black." (p.133) It's not clear if this is Halyburton's or Hirsch's expression. Perhaps the words didn't come out right. Still, it would have been more satisfying in this reader's mind to hear Halyburton exclaim that he, Halyburton, had ceased being white.
Average customer rating:
- Review- Our chances were zero (also known as prisoners bluff
|
OUR CHANCES WERE ZERO: The Daring Escape by two German POW's from India in 1942
Rolf Magener
Manufacturer: Pen and Sword
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Military & Spies
| Professionals & Academics
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Military
| Leaders & Notable People
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
India
| Asia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
| Ancient
General
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Germany
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| World War II
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Personal Narratives
| World War II
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Prisoners of War
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
True Accounts
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
| Espionage
| Murder & Mayhem
| Organized Crime
| Serial Killers
| True Crime
ASIN: 0850528445 |
Book Description
During World War II the British imprisoned many German and Italian prisoners of war and civilian internees in India. The less co-operative prisoners were kept under harsh conditions in camps in the Himalayan foothills.
The author was a German civilian working in India at the outbreak of war and was promptly interned by the British. In 1942 Magener and another prisoner, Heins von Have, finally managed to escape. Getting out of the camp was only the prelude to the difficult task of making their way across the entire Indian sub-continent in an attempt to reach friendly territory.
Disguising themselves as British officers, the two Germans made an epic journey across India and through British forces on the Burma frontier in an attempt to link up with advancing Japanese forces. Ironically, the Japanese unit they finally located did not believe their story and they came close to being executed as spies.
His grippingly told personal narrative of a German's escape from Allied custody is unique in the annals of prisoner-of-war escape and evasion.
Customer Reviews:
Review- Our chances were zero (also known as prisoners bluff.......2004-03-29
interesting book, as many escape storys are by english escaping in europe. worth a read even if your not a "WWII escape" fan.
Although you don't get to feel you know the two guys as well as in sinilar books.
Average customer rating:
- Powerful story of torture, pain and mental anquish washed clean by forgiveness
- Deeply moving
- Exceptional true story of survival and ulitmate forgiveness
- Hard to read...hard NOT to read.
- Time for the hating to stop
|
The Railway Man: A Pow's Searing Account of War, Brutality and Forgiveness
Eric Lomax
Manufacturer: W W Norton & Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Japanese
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Military & Spies
| Professionals & Academics
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Military
| Leaders & Notable People
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Japan
| Asia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| World War II
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Personal Narratives
| World War II
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War
-
Baa Baa Black Sheep
-
Hiroshima
-
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
-
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
ASIN: 0393039102 |
Amazon.com
Eric Lomax, a British army soldier, was captured by the Japanese during the Singapore campaign of 1942. A railroad buff since a child, he took strange pleasure in his work as a POW on the Burma-Siam Railroad, which was later the subject of the film Bridge Over the River Kwai. When his captors discovered his detailed drawings of the railway, he was suspected as a spy and tortured for years. Fifty years later he discovered that the interpreter during his tortures was still alive. The two arranged a meeting and Lomax forgave him. Here is the exciting, moving and truthful account.
Customer Reviews:
Powerful story of torture, pain and mental anquish washed clean by forgiveness.......2007-07-09
What an incredible book I was not able to put down. I am a big military history buff and found the early pacific theater defeats very disturbing especially the battles in and around Malaya.
The treatment of Mr. Lomax was not surprising as the Japanese were ruthless. Putting this experience into such a personal and riveting ordeal makes this book a must read. Eric Lomax puts personal vivid perspective on the years after his ordeal that is often left out of most military history accounts of battle, defeat and capture.
This book is very cathartic and brought tears to my eyes. Forgiveness is a more powerful emotion and triumphs over anger and revenge.
Deeply moving.......2006-10-12
I read this book when it was first published about ten years ago and the moving experience has remained with me since I finished the final sentence. It is an incredibly vivid book that you will not be able to put down.
What Eric Lomax went through as a POW, and his eventual reconciliation with one of his torturers 50 years later displays a depth of humanity that is deeply moving.
Exceptional true story of survival and ulitmate forgiveness.......2006-03-01
An unforgettable story of endurance, cruelty and forgiveness. This is a story that stays with the reader, even years later. This is a true story of Mr. Lomax's experience during WWII. He was captured and tortured and almost died. At one time the only thing that kept him alive was practically throwing himself down a flight of stairs so he was transferred to hospital from the dreaded prison. After the War, Mr. Lomax, like many other Veterans was unable to lead a normal life with emotions. Having experienced dreadful torture at the hands of the Japanese he learnt to cut himself off from his feelings, in order to survive. All his life he never forgot the interrupter that was present during his torture, he dreamed of revenge someday. In a miraculous turn of events he mets up with this man, whom it turns out was unable to forget being part of the torture of Mr. Lomax, and it had haunted him all his life. The two men agree to meet, and the most remarkable thing happens they become friends, forgiveness and understanding occurs. This is one of the best books I have read about the POW experience during WWII, it is tragic, and yet has rewarding and true ending.
Hard to read...hard NOT to read........2005-09-23
Powerful stuff here! Be ready to have wet eyes.
Time for the hating to stop.......2004-05-29
For me, what makes this story so special is that I bought it, not out of choice, but because I had to study it as part of an English course. Of all the other books I own, none have affected me in the way that Eric Lomax's has. None have been written with such painful honesty. None have made me so simultaneously ashamed and proud to be a human being, and none have made me cry like I did during the final pages of 'The Railway Man'. It is a testament not only to human endurance, but also to the spirit of men, many of whom died in unspeakable conditions, and to Eric Lomax, who was 'lucky' enough to survive the torture on the Burma- Siam railway, and the torture of its memories years later. Read this book and you will have nothing to complain about for the rest of your life.
Book Description
This book is a rare and important gift. One of the few memoirs of combat in World War II by a distinguished African-American flier, it is also perhaps the only account of the African-American experience in a German prison camp.Alexander Jefferson was one of 32 Tuskegee Airmen from the 332nd Fighter Group to be shot down defending a country that considered them to be second-class citizens. A Detroit native, Jefferson enlisted in 1942, trained at Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, became a second lieutenant in 1943, and joined one of the mostdecorated fighting units in the War, flying P51s with their legendary—and feared —“red tails.”Based in Italy, Jefferson flew bomber escort missions over southern Europe before being shot down in France in 1944. Captured, he spent the balance of the war in Luftwaffe prison camps in Sagan and Moosberg, Germany.In this vividly detailed, deeply personal book, Jefferson writes as a genuine American hero and patriot. It's an unvarnished look at life behind barbed wire— and what it meant to be an African-American pilot in enemy hands. It's also a look at race and democracy in America through the eyes of a patriot who fought toprotect the promise of freedom.The book features the sketches, drawings, and other illustrations Jefferson created during his nine months as a “kriegie” (POW) and Lewis Carlson's authoritative background to the man, his unit, and the fight Alexander Jefferson fought so well.
Customer Reviews:
Thank You Alexander Jefferson.......2005-10-29
Among the many groups to whom we owe more than we can ever repay there is the Tuskegee Airmen. Determined to become Army Air Crop pilots and to fight for America, these men enlisted in the army. In spite of the determination of some to make them fail, they didn't. In spite of a 'quota' as to how many would be allowed to graduate (not discovered until many years later) some 900 made it through the system. Most became fighter pilots, after all if they flew bombers they might have had white crewmen under them and in those days that just wouldn't do.
Lt. Jefferson made it through. And eventually he flew with the famous 332nd, the Red Tails. Most of the missions of the 332nd were to escort bombers. NO Bombers were ever lost to Enemy Aircraft while being escorted by the 332nd.
On his 19th mission Lt. Jefferson was shot down by anti-aircraft fire. He spent the next nine months in a German POW camp. When finally returned to the United States after being liberated he walked off the ship to be told, "Whites to the right, niggers to the left."
Thank you Alexander Jefferson for all that you did, including writing this book.
Books:
- Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software
- Edith Wharton
- Estimator's Piping Man-Hour Manual, Fifth Edition (Estimator's Man-Hour Library)
- Force: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators, Second Edition
- Forest Mage (The Soldier Son Trilogy, Book 2)
- Forever (Firstborn Series #5)
- Gene Cloning and DNA Analysis: An Introduction
- Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
- George Washington, Spymaster: How the Americans Outspied the British and Won the Revolutionary War
- Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Immanuel Kant: Knowledge Products
- What's So Amazing About Grace
- Selah's Bed: A Novel
- The Boer War
- The Kid-Friendly Food Allergy Cookbook: More Than 150 Recipes That Are Wheat-Free, Gluten-Free, Dair
- Useless Arithmetic: Why Environmental Scientists Can't Predict the Future
- Triggers: 30 Sales Tools you can use to Control the Mind of your Prospect to Motivate, Influence and
- Madam: Inside a Nevada Brothel
- Tax Cuts and the Budget Surplus: Hearing Before the Joint Economic Committee, Congress of the U.S
- Develop an Affirmative Action Program: Compliant With the November 2000 Revisions
Belly of the Beast: A POW's Inspiring True Story of Faith, Courage, and Survival Aboard the Infamous WWII Japanese Hellship, the Oryoku Maru
Conduct Under Fire: Four American Doctors and Their Fight for Life as Prisoners of the Japanese, 1941-1945
Prisoners of the Japanese : Pows of World War II in the Pacific
Torrance Airport (CA) (Images of Aviation)
Shiloh: A Novel
