Book Description
For the men of the Army Air Corps in early World War II, the chance of surviving the obligatory twenty-five missions without death, injury, or imprisonment was one in three. In this groundbreaking book, Rob Morris has sought out remarkable but little-known stories of the air war from the men who lived and fought it.
Based on hundreds of interviews with American veterans and their families, Untold Valor illuminates the courage of airmen whose exploits have until now remained untold. Read about Jewish aviators’ experiences as POWs in German camps. Learn about American airmen who were imprisoned, even killed, by the neutral Swiss and about two Air Corps enlisted men who changed U.S. policy toward liberated concentration camp survivors. Also discover the unusual story of Luftwaffe commander Herman Goering’s nephew, who flew B-17 missions against Germany. While some of the stories cover major events, most are about incidents and individuals misrepresented or overlooked by history books. Yet their efforts were vital, their lives forever changed.
Detailed and moving, Untold Valor is certain to interest the serious air historian and the casual reader alike. With a foreword by the editor of B–17s Over Berlin.
Customer Reviews:
WHAT DID YOU DO IN THE WAR GRANDAD?.......2007-07-17
Rob Morris has brought together accounts of service men during World War II which would probably never be known had he not talked to the very ones who went through this costly war. With these vets dying at a rate of 1000 to 2000 per day, the title to this review will not be able to be asked in the near future. This book tells about the everyday living and dying these heroes did to give us the freedom we too often take for granted. I have been a WWII history buff for as long as I can remember, but this book brings out accounts of World War II I have never heard of.
Thanks Ron for bringing these truths out.
A fantastic read, which I will be glad to add to my library.
Garry Grier
A Valuable Addition to WWII Literature.......2007-07-03
Untold Valor is the very aptly-chosen title of the marvelous book by author Rob Morris. After years of research, Morris has told some of the most hidden stories of WWII. The stories, unfamiliar to many who seek WWII reading material, reflect the sacrifice, suffering, triumph and yes, valor of the subjects. Morris's painstaking and thorough research ensures that the stories are accurate as they reveal previously-unknown facets of the WWII experience.
Far beyond the traditional wartime stories, Morris focuses on the untold experience of the Jewish POW, for instance, carrying the added burden of fear of reprisals from an anti-Semitic dictator. He tells of brave crews who survived the chilling and notorious Schweinfurt raid losing so many of their Blood 100th comrades. And Morris sought out and discovered a most unlikely and unexpected B-17 pilot following his movements throughout the war.
The author has brought to light the issue of the Swiss internees who found that neutral Switzerland was not the safe haven and refugee they had expected it to be. The reader is taken into the heart of Switzerland with ex-internee, Dan Culler, as he endures one of the most harrowing confinements in a non-enemy country, only to lose the support of his own country at the war's end. In some instances, Morris ventures to take a hard look and give in-depth analysis of the strategic bombing policy during the war succinctly pointing out its flaws and the circumstances that caused the curtailment of bombing raids on oil refineries.
Few ever asked what happened to the displaced persons rescued from Hitler's death camps. Many, turning a blind eye to them, failed to recognize their pitiful plight. Morris hits hard on the subject and through the medium of story telling gives an informative account and narrative on this seldom-researched area.
Follow the story of the lesser-known "Hell's Angels, the B-17 that for so long was relegated to the shadows of the more famous Memphis Belle, and vicariously share the trek of an American POW on an Austrian road who by chance witnessed the horror that befell an Hungarian Jew forced laborer. Decades later that chance meeting would result in one of the most famous WWII images--a picture drawn by the American, which would grace Holocaust Museums and synagogues around the world.
Only through meticulous research and the strong desire to ferret out the lesser-known stories and heroes of WWII can one achieve what Morris has achieved with this book. One moment the reader is commiserating with the interned crews in Sweden and Switzerland, and the next moment that reader is flying through the flak-riddled skies on a bombing run aside a dedicated ball turret gunner.
Morris's book is a classic that will keep a reader spell bound as it pays tribute to the carefully-chosen heroes he introduces as he tells their unforgettable stories. In the re-telling, he salutes all our WWII heroes.
Marilyn Walton
Author of Rhapsody in Junk--A Daughter's Return to Germany to Finish Her Father's Story
Least we forget.......2006-12-24
Flying at 26,000', walking on flack, goggles fogging, the IP, the run, turn to rtb. The flack, the fighters, the hits, exploding planes. Bail out. Capture. Rob Morris tells it all from the interviews of survivors of the brutal days as POW's.
These stories are only a few that could be told but Rob to got to the heart of them. A Jewish crew member flying on a mission over Schweifurt, Gus Mencow was with the group that lost 228 B-17's. On and on as only Rob could pull it together.
A fantastic collection of stories of valor.
Thanks Rob for a memorable book.
Least we forget.
U. S. Bomber Crews Remembered!.......2006-08-11
It's sad to see the ranks of our WWII veterans steadily dwindling away. With them die so many unique memories of now-faraway battles and ordinary men accomplishing extraordinary feats.
That's why it's heartening to come across books like Rob Morris' UNTOLD VALOR. Fascinated by WWII air battles, Morris did just what was needed to save memories of those times, tracking down and interviewing countless veterans who flew in 8th and 15th AF bombers over Europe.
Morris covers a wide variety of American experiences in the air war over Europe, relating stories of Jewish airmen at war, the 'Memphis Belle' vs. 'Hell's Angels' B-17 controversy, 8th AF internees in Switzerland, the story of Hermann Goering's nephew who flew B-17s in the 8th AF, and so on.
It's an interesting collection of stories and a nice tribute to those vets who flew with the 8th and 15th Air Forces.
Book Description
An unforgettable true story, Two Souls Indivisible stirringly recounts the forging of a legendary, heroic bond between two soldiers. Fred Cherry and Porter Halyburton first met in their shared cell in a brutal POW camp in Vietnam. Cherry, an air force pilot, was badly injured after his plane crashed; he became the first black officer to be captured by the North Vietnamese. Halyburton, a young navy flier, was a naive white southerner thrown in as Cherry's cellmate. Their captors hoped close quarters would inflame American-bred racial tensions and break both men. Instead, American integrity and honor flourished, and as Cherry was nursed back to health, a friendship grew strong. The intense connection, powerfully reported by James S. Hirsch, would sustain both men through the war and throughout their lives. Inspiring, heartbreaking, remarkable, and never more timely, Two Souls Indivisible shows how good people can achieve greatness in the most hellish of circumstances.
Customer Reviews:
Two Souls, a fascinating and inspiring read.......2007-01-18
I found this to be a fascinating and inspirational account of how two men, and their compatriots used their determination and creative skills to help one another survive the ordeal of prisoners of war in North Vietnam for over 7 years. There is much to be learned from how these men responded to very adverse conditions.
It's worth a read.......2005-06-13
This is a poignant story about two pilots downed during the Vietnam war and ending up in the same POW camps. I read it because it was tauted as a book of over coming racism and prejudice. The idea of American racism was supposedly being used as a tool to demean the white pilot into submission by the Vietcong. Human nature never ceases to amaze me but it is hard to comprehend that two Americans in the dire straits of a POW camp would let something like the color of their skin hinder companionship, communication et. al., things in low supply at a POW camp apparently. The story is heartwarming and informative of a POW's plight. The actual racism issue is of no significance to me when it is put in perspective of what else was going on in the camps.
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
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OUR CHANCES WERE ZERO: The Daring Escape by two German POW's from India in 1942
Rolf Magener
Manufacturer: Pen and Sword
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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:
- Corregidor: From Paradise To Hell
- Corregidor From paradise to hell
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Corregidor: From Paradise to Hell!
Ben Waldron , and
Emily Burneson
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Corregidor: The American Alamo of World War II
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Prisoners of the Japanese : Pows of World War II in the Pacific
ASIN: 141202109X
Release Date: 2006-07-06 |
Product Description
Captured at Corregidor, Sergeant Waldron risked his life to keep a diary of Hell: a three-and-a-half year record of life as a Japanese POW during WWII.
Customer Reviews:
Corregidor: From Paradise To Hell.......2007-09-23
I am lucky enough to have met Ben Waldron through family members that know him. I am not related to him in any way, but after reading this book, I feel that I know him better than some of my own family. This is a gripping true story of Ben's life, narrated by Ben, of leaving his family at 18 years old during the depression and joining the Army. Ben kept a diary for the three and a half years that he was kept as Prisoner of War under the Japanese. This book will take you through all of your emotions, and you will be left awestruck, bewildered, angry, sickened, happy and well informed about life as a soldier and as a POW during WWII.
Corregidor From paradise to hell.......2007-04-02
Excellent book. I read it in one sitting because it was impossible for me to set it down. The author tells the story in real language with no extra words. It really shows the horrors of being a prisoner of war.
Book Description
“The Chains of Albion is a cracking book. Fast paced, exciting, and funny.”
---Conn Iggulden, author of the bestselling Emperor series
July 1806. Commanding a prison hulk filled with French captives in the Medway, Martin Jerrold thinks his war can’t get much better. He’s far away from storm, battle and the other disagreeable elements of naval life. He can keep his mistress, Isobel, close at hand. It seems too good to last, and so it proves.
When one of the passengers goes missing, Jerrold’s comfortable world is turned upside down. Summoned to London by the First Lord of the Admiralty, he is ordered to recapture the Frenchman at any cost. Jerrold does not know it, but his pursuit will take him clear across England: from the stinking marshes of Chatham to the slums of London; from the wilds of Dartmoor to the newly fashionable seaside resort of Brighton.
But why is the prisoner so important? At the post office, Jerrold’s old friend Mr. Nevell is curious; so, too, are politicians from the highest levels of the Whig government, and the Tory opposition led by the cunning Spencer Perceval. Even the seductive Princess Caroline takes an unexpected interest.
As Jerrold---with his usual mix of bad timing, bad luck, and bad behavior---closes on his quarry, he begins to uncover an extraordinary tangle of deceit and treachery that stretches back over twenty years to the most exalted levels of society on both sides of the Channel, and which some men will stop at nothing to protect.
”This is a great book, exciting and utterly unique. Edwin Thomas’s portrayal of the eighteenth century is spot on, from his depiction of the smugglers’ underworld to life aboard a small British navy man-of-war. Thomas has created in Lieutenant Martin Jerrold someone whom the reader of nautical fiction has never seen before---a character we love despite ourselves, and despite his many faults. For the lover of naval fiction, historical fiction, and mysteries, this book has it all.”
---James L. Nelson, author of Reign of Iron and the Revolution at Sea Saga series
”Well researched, charmingly outrageous debut. Enchanted readers loath to say bon voyage will impatiently await the sequel.”
---Publishers Weekly
”Jerrold swashes his buckles and splices his mainbraces to good effect, and this series will solve the gift problem for all armchair admirals.”---Scotland on Sunday (UK)
“At last, the nautical Flashman! Martin Jerrold loves to become one of the great British antiheroes, boozing and lusting his way through Regency England.”
---Andrew Roberts, author of Napoleon and Wellington
Customer Reviews:
An Interesting Bumble.......2006-02-17
Most first commands are relatively modest. A schooner, brig or perhaps a corvette for a real go-getter would be normal. Lt. Martin Jerrold gets a big first command. He gets a ship of the line, a prize normally going to senior captains. There is a catch. His command is a prison hulk and does nothing more than house prisoners and swing with the tide. That suits him just fine. It keeps him out of danger and conveniently close to his mistress. It's a nice little racket for a lazy bumbler.
Jerrold's world is upset when a prisoner escapes. This is not unusual except that everyone seems to be interested in this particular prisoner. Both political parties are adamant that his future depends on recapturing the escapee and the dangerous papers he carries but they will not tell him why this prisoner is important. When the crown prince's cronies and the intelligence service get involved, life gets positively dangerous, not to mention uncomfortable, as he chases after a prisoner he doesn't really care about.
This book is about on par with the first book of the series, THE BLIGHTED CLIFFS. It is reasonably well written and tells an interesting story. The character is not the cad some portray him to be. He is merely a bumbler and a strangely likeable one at that.
Book Description
Drawing on his own incarceration and exile, as well as on evidence from more than 200 fellow prisoners and Soviet archives, Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn reveals the entire apparatus of Soviet repression -- the state within the state that ruled all-powerfully.
Through truly Shakespearean portraits of its victims -- men, women, and children -- we encounter secret police operations, labor camps and prisons; the uprooting or extermination of whole populations, the "welcome" that awaited Russian soldiers who had been German prisoners of war. Yet we also witness the astounding moral courage of the incorruptible, who, defenseless, endured great brutality and degradation. The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956 -- a grisly indictment of a regime, fashioned here into a veritable literary miracle -- has now been updated with a new introduction that includes the fall of the Soviet Union and Solzhenitsyn's move back to Russia.
Customer Reviews:
When Hell Freezes.......2007-10-17
Solzhenitsyn gave the world a glimpse of man's darkness in the twentieth century far better than any fictional dystopia Orwell could dream up. Although this is an abridged version, it generally flows well and still hits with a punch. The book is a powerful testament to the best and worst qualities within the human race (mostly the worst). I must commend Solzhenitsyn on his brilliant combination of personal experience, history, dark humor, and at times optimism.
Solzhenitsyn isn't the first Christian author to portray the nightmare of totalitarism. Corrie Ten Boom's "The Hiding Place" and books by the Wurmbrands are quite powerful in their own right. I suppose one key difference is that Solzhenitsyn seems to be a more talented author (both an advantage and a disadvantage[sometimes personal experiences are better conveyed in more straight forward writing]).
Hopefully, readers (who weren't already aware) will realizes the tremendous harm and suffering political communism brought on the world. I get a little tired of the fact a certain dead communist revolutionary is considered "cool." Okay, so this book is about the U.S.S.R. and not about Latin America. Anyway, the sheer scope of the tragedy is difficult to even attempt to comprehend. Thankfully, the stories of at least some of those who suffered are available to enlighten future generations.
A human perspective.......2007-10-01
Often when one reads about an outrage of history the account is dry, numerical, and one sided. What is truly unique about Gulag is that it takes us inside the the minds of the victims and the perpetrators, revealing the central yet unspoken theme of the book. This is a story of human nature, revealed in the most extreme circumstances imaginable. As you read ask yourself, "What would I have done?" The answers may horrify you.
On the political side of things Gulag reveals that the Soviet system elucidated the evil in people. Gulag is a call for us to see politics in a different way. Beware of those advancing class envy/warfare. The Soviets adjusted their definition of "rich" down as the people became poorer. The freedom possessed does not seem near as valuable as freedom lost.
Gulag demonstrates that faith is the only useful possession that can not be taken. Gulag cites many examples of superhuman courage, toughness, and triumph by those of deep religious devotion. An unspoken theme is that the Soviet system could not exist amongst nation of the faithful.
Read this book.
I would recommend these books a well for the reader interested in Communism.
The Case For Democracy: The Power Of Freedon to Overcome Tyranny And Terror
The Road to Serfdom Fiftieth Anniversary Edition
A masterpiece in political, moral and philosophical thought.......2007-09-27
What can be said about Solzhenitsyn's work? It's so huge, so sprawling, so detailed that on a certain level it must be taken in generally, just as an impressionist painting must be viewed from a distance rather than each paint stroke. Here's my own impression, filtered, of course, through my own political and moral prism.
You read about the massive Gulag system and the first thing you think of is "Wow. Practically any crime can be gotten away with if it's done in the name of the people." But it's so much more than that. It's not just hoodwinking, propagandizing or frightening the populace into allowing a system of political prisoner camps 20 million strong to exist for decades. Stalin could never have done what he did without the tacit consent and approval of the Russian people. I don't believe they were too cowed or ignorant, just like I don't believe the Germans were too cowed or ignorant to know what Hitler was doing during WW II.
And the same mindset that produced the Gulag continues to the present day. Humanity hasn't changed. Stalin's murderous reign of terror is now purposely overlooked* or even celebrated throughout the world. This is a testament to the inner sickness extant in every human being, not just those who lead or carry out the evil themselves. People like Stalin would never have been able to get away with what they did if it weren't for that secret, sometimes unconscious desire for death and destruction of others and of oneself that exists in the human soul, the "death instinct" referred to by Freud and present in many people and groups, from Palestinian suicide bombers to American university professors.
* Have you ever seen an anti-Stalin Hollywood-produced movie?
Frightening Revelations.......2007-09-06
As I read "Gulag. . . " I kept thinking of the old cliche, "those who do not study history, are doomed to repeat it." It has been difficult to read of a society so evil, so base that it views human beings as mere things--disposable assets. It is an amazing story that any human being has experienced this and lived, and smiled. I find it incredible that Solzhenitsyn still loved his Russia despite his imprisonment. This is an excellent book, difficult to read at times, but well worth the effort. It should be on the required reading list for every high school-aged child. It should be required reading by every senator, congressman, etc. This book is too valuable to simply be placed on the back of a shelf.
communism, stalinist russia.......2007-07-26
What an eye opener! It describes the dispair and horror of stalin's russia. If you want an insight as to why the USA is so staunchly and fanatically anti-communist, read this book! Stalin and his communists tried to build their workers paradise through slavery. Millions were arrested and sent to labor camps because the commies needed slaves, so they arrested them and condemned them for at least 10 years ('a tenner').
A stunning, very well written, page turner that shows there are things worse than death! They crammed 40 people into cells designed for 2 people. Torture, arbitrary doubling of your sentence (from 10 to 20 years), sadistic guards, all for no crime whatsoever! Makes the West look like heaven on earth.
And Solzhenitsyn keeps it interesting, even humorous. Like when a crowd was applauding Stalin, and everyone was afraid to be the first one to stop applauding because they knew they would be arrested! So the applause went on for 1/2 hour, with nobody daring to stop! Finally, a brave soul stopped, and he was arrested and sent away the next day.
It's a great book. I highly recommend it, especially to lefties who need to see what marxism turns into.
Customer Reviews:
Pubisher's Synopsys of the 2006 reprint edition by Clearfield Publishing........2007-07-21
According to 18th-century immigration authority Clifford Neal Smith, the vast majority of German and English soldiers who, for one reason or another, became separated from their Revolutionary War units, ended up settling within a few miles of their discharge, desertion, or capture (POWs). Mr. Smith drew his conclusion from a careful examination of muster rolls from 1774 to 1783, as found in the Public Record Office in London. This consolidated work, which is based on those records, identifies several thousand soldiers who fall into this category. The records are arranged by regiment and thereunder alphabetically by surname. For each soldier, the author has transcribed his full name, status (deserter, dischargee, or prisoner of war), a date, and the source of the information. For the overwhelming majority of these individuals, these records may be the sole clue that links them from America to their European homeland.
Mr. Smith originally published the components of this work as British-American Genealogical Research Monograph 9, Parts 1 and 2, and Monograph 10. Each of the three original booklets was indexed separately, so users of this consolidated volume must consult each index in hopes of arriving at the name of their ancestor(s).
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