Book Description
In this moving and compelling memoir about parent and child, father and daughter, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Lucinda Franks discovers that the remote, nearly impassive man she grew up with had in fact been a daring spy behind enemy lines in World War II. Sworn to secrecy, he began revealing details of his wartime activities only in the last years of his life as he became afflicted with Alzheimer's. His exploits revealed a man of remarkable bravado -- posing as a Nazi guard, slipping behind enemy lines to blow up ammunition dumps, and being flown to one of the first concentration camps liberated by the Allies to report on the atrocities found there.My Father's Secret War is an intimate account of Franks coming to know her own father after years of estrangement. Looking back at letters he had written her mother in the early days of WWII, Franks glimpses a loving man full of warmth. But after the grimmest assignments of the war his tone shifts, settling into an all-too-familiar distance. Franks learns about him -- beyond the alcoholism and adultery -- and comes to know the man he once was.Her story is haunting, and beautifully told, even as the tragedy becomes clear: Franks finally comes to know her father, but only as he is slipping further into his illness. Lucinda Franks understands her father as the disease claims him. My Father's Secret War is a triumph of love over secrets, and a tribute to the power of the connection of family.
Customer Reviews:
My Father's Secret War.......2007-10-18
The book was received very promptly, and was a very good depiction of her experiences in trying to understand WWII from her father's perspective. So many of us "baby boomers" have a difficult time getting our parents to open up and tell us of their experiences during that time. This is a very good book to read.
A Book You Just Can Put Down.......2007-10-04
After all the hype and with the authors oh-so-impressive cred, one expects a book that you just can't put down. She delivers a nice, warm story, but by all means, you CAN put it down.
Slow start.......2007-09-10
As I read the other reviews, I realized they are all true. In many ways this is a poignant and touching story. But Franks takes so long describing their disfunctional family and getting to the interesting part -- her father's war experiences and the process of finding the information -- that I almost put it down without finishing it. I'm glad I stayed with it, as Lucinda finally gets to the real story and redeems herself. (I didn't like her at all at the beginning of the story but I forgave her for her honesty at the end.)
Disappointment.......2007-06-16
You asked me for comments. Perhaps I was expecting more focus on the father. If one enjoys home videos of other families, this book might be of interest.
Buried secrets.......2007-06-13
I almost wish Lucinda Franks chose not to write this book.It was fairly obvious from the start that her father didn't want to remember his role in war..at one point she even asks him if he was a nazi sympathizer.definitely not.My goodness Ms. Frank,leave the poor old guy alone.The book tells a lot about her father and a lot about his daughter.When one of his old buddies phones her and said her dad needs living expenses, some extra cash, she responds that she and her husband have to maintain 3 houses, she can't send dad a few extra dollars..she visits , sees a pile of rancid leftovers in the refrigerator and proceeds to reheat the freshest one for her dad's meal..Golly Lucinda, buy and roast a chicken, peel a few potatoes, buy some canned vegetables.. how hard can that be? Poor dad wears K-mart clothes, so order something for him from Lands'End, you don't even have to go to a store. Again, this is a book that didn't need to be written.
Book Description
All But My Life is the unforgettable story of Gerda Weissmann Klein's six-year ordeal as a victim of Nazi cruelty. From her comfortable home in Bielitz (present-day Bielsko) in Poland to her miraculous survival and her liberation by American troops--including the man who was to become her husband--in Volary, Czechoslovakia, in 1945, Gerda takes the reader on a terrifying journey.
Gerda's serene and idyllic childhood is shattered when Nazis march into Poland on September 3, 1939. Although the Weissmanns were permitted to live for a while in the basement of their home, they were eventually separated and sent to German labor camps. Over the next few years Gerda experienced the slow, inexorable stripping away of "all but her life." By the end of the war she had lost her parents, brother, home, possessions, and community; even the dear friends she made in the labor camps, with whom she had shared so many hardships, were dead.
Despite her horrifying experiences, Klein conveys great strength of spirit and faith in humanity. In the darkness of the camps, Gerda and her young friends manage to create a community of friendship and love. Although stripped of the essence of life, they were able to survive the barbarity of their captors. Gerda's beautifully written story gives an invaluable message to everyone. It introduces them to last century's terrible history of devastation and prejudice, yet offers them hope that the effects of hatred can be overcome.
Customer Reviews:
Life's Value........2007-10-11
Every book that I've read on the holocaust contains descriptions of the horrors that man are capable of exerting on fellow man. Simultaneously, each one also differs in very interesting ways that make it unique. I appreciate Gerda Klein's simple writing, and how well she expresses her feelings and experiences.
Books like "All But My Life" help keep the past (however dark) alive. I think that human beings have a lot to learn from such memoirs - politics, society, and human nature - it's all there. Highly recommended.
A page-turner and a tear-jerker........2007-07-18
It's been several years since I last read 'All But My Life' but it's easily the best Holocaust survivor account I've ever read. This was on the curriculum of a class I took on the Holocaust but I was grateful they made me read it. You should be warned this becomes a very vivid, painful story, and I found it difficult in places to stop crying. It's a good illustration of why the Holocaust was so evil, and such a waste. Why did talented, loving people like this have to die? I have also read 'Night' by Elie Wiesel, which was excellent, but nothing I have read has affected me like 'All But My Life'.
Powerful, Painful, Difficult, Amazing.......2007-04-16
This is the amazing and heart-wrenching story of one brave and spirited young Jewish woman's survival of the Holocaust including her imprisonment in slave labor camps and a three month forced march from Germany to Czechoslovakia.
Many of the first hand details of her horrifying experience are unfathomable and difficult to read and absorb; the starvation, physical abuse, murder, death and suffering of so many.
But what is amazing is Gerda's interminable spirit and her dedication to her convictions. She could have done things that may have alleviated some of her suffering but she never compromised her values. There were times it seemed that her choices might bring her to her death.
Also amazing was the fact that she continued to have hope. There were moments when she felt she had lost all hope, but even then she continued to honor the promise she made to her father. At the end, during the death march, she hoped for liberation and continued to encourage her friends to survive. The death march started with 2,000 young women and ended with only 120 survivors. Every morning she would wake to see many who had died during the night.
I recently read The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Saved 1,200 Jews and Built a Village in the Forest and The Net of Dreams: A Family's Search for a Rightful Place both are interesting perspectives but this book has an intensity from the first hand experience that they do not.
I read The Hours After: Letters of Love and Longing in War's Aftermath prior to reading All But My Life and I'm glad that I did. Knowing the end of the story made reading her experience through the horror of the Holocaust a little bit easier but even so this was a difficult book to read.
It made me wonder how Gerda and those other 120 women survived the death march? How did they? Why did they? How were they able to be so strong?And how did Gerda's father have the forethought to make her wear her ski boots when she left home (in June)? They certainly played a huge part in her survival.
An amazing story of survival.
Good, inspiring, another book on the Holocaust!.......2007-01-28
I won't dismay Gerda's experience which was like thousands of others who survived the death camps in Europe. Not knowing her brother's fate which was likely death whether on the fields or in the camps is harrowing. I think it's wise that Gerda writes about the Holocaust as another voice in the camps much like Anne Frank and Simone Liebster and many others who have contributed to the history of the evil final solution. We will never really know the horrors firsthand and even secondhand. Survivors like Gerda are dying every day so it's important to know the history. It's also tragic to realize that Poland before the war had it's share of prejudice on both sides. By the end of the war that still haunts the countryside and the cities of Cracow and Warsaw, life was never the same in Poland again. After the war, communism was an improvement over the fascism that they lived with for six years. Imprisonment instead of murder was communism's answer for discord and disagreement. Gerda makes a point to give back to the world with her organization as well. She and her husband have a romance and marriage that some of us can only dream about. The scars of the Holocaust remains with Gerda but she does not let it define her. She has become a strong, Jewish American woman, a survivor who seeks to help others whether they are Jewish or not. The worst part about surviving is the guilt that one feels for being the survivor. A survivor must feel it's their duty to thrive and succeed in order to justify their fate. Gerda's story will be told for decades to come as well as the others. We can't forget the Holocaust or write it off as a Jewish experience because it's not just one group. The Holocaust proved that evil can destroy innocent men, women, and children and even haunt those who were behind the massacres in the fields, the forests, and the death camps. We must ask ourselves where and when is it happening? Not when will it happen again because that would mean that mankind has learned it's lesson. We don't have to wait because it's happening in Africa. It's happened in Kosovo and in other parts of the world.
Truly Inspirational.......2007-01-05
I find the strength of Gerda Weissmann to be truly inspirational. This is a wonderful book that tells the real life story of a young Jewish girl who survives the Holocaust. I am a 7th grade social studies teacher and I use this book with my students. After reading this book I feel that Gerda is an absolute hero. I have since learned that she has devoted her life to helping others through speaking about her experiences, helping to feed the hungry, and speaking with others who have survived tradegy. In a society where we put people on pillars and give them popularity and monetary success for much, much, much less, Gerda is a true hero who deserves all peoples attention and gratutity.
Average customer rating:
- Maus: Explores the ineffable with creativity and ease
- A Compelling Graphic Novel
- Approbation for Maus
- Excellent seller!!
- DEMEANIG, INSENSITIVE, CRUDE STEREOTYPING, HURTFUL TO "OTHER" HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS
|
Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
Art Spiegelman
Manufacturer: Pantheon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Holocaust
| Historical
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Jewish
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Memoirs
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Comic Strips
| Comics & Graphic Novels
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Comics & Graphic Novels
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Graphic Novels
| Comics & Graphic Novels
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Jewish
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Holocaust
| Jewish
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| World War II
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Classics
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Literature
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Children's Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside History Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Fiction Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began (Maus)
-
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
-
Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
-
Survival In Auschwitz
-
Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth
ASIN: 0394747232
Release Date: 1986-08-12 |
Amazon.com
Some historical events simply beggar any attempt at description--the Holocaust is one of these. Therefore, as it recedes and the people able to bear witness die, it becomes more and more essential that novel, vigorous methods are used to describe the indescribable. Examined in these terms, Art Spiegelman's Maus is a tremendous achievement, from a historical perspective as well as an artistic one.
Spiegelman, a stalwart of the underground comics scene of the 1960s and '70s, interviewed his father, Vladek, a Holocaust survivor living outside New York City, about his experiences. The artist then deftly translated that story into a graphic novel. By portraying a true story of the Holocaust in comic form--the Jews are mice, the Germans cats, the Poles pigs, the French frogs, and the Americans dogs--Spiegelman compels the reader to imagine the action, to fill in the blanks that are so often shied away from. Reading Maus, you are forced to examine the Holocaust anew.
This is neither easy nor pleasant. However, Vladek Spiegelman and his wife Anna are resourceful heroes, and enough acts of kindness and decency appear in the tale to spur the reader onward (we also know that the protagonists survive, else reading would be too painful). This first volume introduces Vladek as a happy young man on the make in pre-war Poland. With outside events growing ever more ominous, we watch his marriage to Anna, his enlistment in the Polish army after the outbreak of hostilities, his and Anna's life in the ghetto, and then their flight into hiding as the Final Solution is put into effect. The ending is stark and terrible, but the worst is yet to come--in the second volume of this Pulitzer Prize-winning set. --Michael Gerber
Book Description
A story of a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe and his son, a cartoonist who tries to come to terms with his father's story and history itself.
Customer Reviews:
Maus: Explores the ineffable with creativity and ease.......2007-09-18
The book is adumbrated in the form of a graphic novel, giving a seemingly new perspective on the holocaust. The issue itself is nothing spectactularly new, although it approaches the holocaust in such a way that the most acerbic of events are bearable.
Most simply stated, the visual aid that accompanies the text allows for the reader to fully understand the author's stance, or viewpoint on the touchy issues of the holocaust. One does not need to have any sort of historical acumen, to grasp the concepts and ideas of the story.
The facade, of animals, instead of humans, used by the author also makes the events seem a little less human. However, throughout the novel, the thought doesn't escape your mind, that this was actually happening, to real people.
The reader is also easily captivated by the father-son presentation of the story, as Art (the author), interviews his father. With nothing but acrimony polluting the stories told by his father, a bond is formed between the reader, Art, and his father, as you must approbate anyone who braves these hardships, more specifically, the characters.
Overall, this story makes something new, that has been done so many times. It entertains, as well as informs. However, it isn't something I'd recommend for casual reading, as time must be set aside to truly appreciate the events in this book.
A Compelling Graphic Novel.......2007-09-18
When hearing the words "Graphic Novel" most people do not think of a moving and inspirational story, yet Maus by Art Spiegelman is just that. Firstly I would recommend this novel for its crafty and meaningful graphics. Various groups, such as the Jewish and German, are depicted as numerous animals. In doing so, the author expresses underlying themes, as one judges another's character by how they look, or their origin. Each picture also conveys the deep feeling in each moment. Frighten and sometimes acerbic faces, give the reader acumen on how the characters feel and are reacting. Also, several depictions of maps and drawings, heightening one's understanding of each setting. The second reason I would recommend the novel is because of the compelling story lines it contains. The first is Vladek's poignant account on how he and his wife survived as the Nazis abrogated their rights. From witnessing friends being hanged, to hiding in attics, the reader gains and insight on personal experiences of the Holocaust. The second is of a strained father and son relationship. As the father ages, the interest and reminiscence of a troubled past becomes their last connection. These assiduous characters are connectable for the reader, and acquire my last approbation. Anyone with a stained relationship or even an experience with isolation, can relate to the feelings and manners of the characters. With evocative graphics, gripping story lines, and relatable characters, Maus is a compelling novel which I highly propose.
Approbation for Maus.......2007-09-18
Maus should be greatly encouraged with approbation. The book displays the crude reality of the Holocaust and World War II in a creative, artistic way that makes the book classic and unique. Having Jews displayed as mice and Nazis as cats, Spiegelman uses much acumen in how the book is laid out and the story told. Even without reading, the graphic art adumbrates the story enough to understand.
Artie is a comic book writer who decides to write meaningful stories instead of useless funny ones, and wishes to interview his father about his experiences during the Holocaust. Vladek willingly tells his story to Artie, who seems unchanged by the troubling information his father is offering him. Throughout the story, Vladek becomes almost an anathema to Artie, and Artie finally finds the hate for his father that was always brewing. Although Artie dislikes his father, his father dislikes himself as well. After the war, life was never the same for Vladek. Having never gotten over his wife's death, and feeling antipathy for his new wife, he seemed to abjure all opportunities to enhance his life and adopted a new, somewhat acerbic personality.
Overall, the story told in Maus is an unforgettable one. It brings about several ineffable issues such as the harshness of World War II and how the Nazis arrogated lives with no right to do so. In addition, how these times were difficult even for the high class. The graphic art in the book ties all of the information together and allows a visual interpretation what the book is saying. Although the story is based on World War II and the Holocaust, it is as much about family issues and hidden hate as it is about history. Throughout the whole experience, Artie and Vladek discover where they truly stand with each other and decide that this deleterious relationship is not worth the trouble any longer.
Excellent seller!!.......2007-09-15
Good seller! Highly recommended for all buyers. My item was timely sent and the condition of the item was as described.
DEMEANIG, INSENSITIVE, CRUDE STEREOTYPING, HURTFUL TO "OTHER" HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS.......2007-09-14
This is as bad, as the 1st Maus: Horribly GRAPHIC, EXREMELY CRUDE and INSENSITIVE to the "OTHER" victims of the holocaust. Spiegleman shows absolutely "no" sympathy or sensitivity to the 3 million Polish-Catholics that were killed by the Germans. Adding insult to injury, he portrays the Poles in a very negative and hurtful manner, when in fact the Poles themselves lost everything. Poles, as well as Jews, lost their homes. Poles, as well as Jews, came home to homes that were piles of rubble. There are so many better vechicles out there to teach about this. This is the last one to use, as it seriously offends many innocent students whose parents and grandparents also suffered, died and lost everything in the Forgotten Holocaust. Better books are: Sybille Steinbacher's "Auschwitz. Steinbachers book gets the job done without all the grusome graphics and vulgar demeaning that is in Maus. Richard Lukas' "The Forgoten Holocaust; Poles Under Nazi-Occupation," and "Did The Children Cry: The suffering of Polish & Jewish children in the holocaust." After reading the latter one by Lukas, you'll never go anywhere near a Maus book again! "Did The Children Cry," will be a wake-up call - unless you are inhumane. Lukas, in both book, talks, OBJECTIVLY about "all" who suffered, without the sick graphics and personal attacks that maus has. Michael Marrus' "The Holocaust in History." Marrus, like Steinbacher and Lukas is controlled, scholarly and informative - Spiegleman is not. These 3 books will explain and teach you something, unlike Maus, that only teaches hateful generalizations through stereotyping and is grusomly graphic. Don't be fooled by the hype. Maus gets an F- for humanity. TEACHERS, PLEASE, BE TEACHERS!
Book Description
"Do you know why I write so much? Because as long as you read, we are together."
-- Raizel Garncarz (Sala's sister),
April 24, 1941
Few family secrets have the power both to transform lives and to fill in crucial gaps in world history. But then, few families have a mother and a daughter quite like Sala and Ann Kirschner. For nearly fifty years, Sala kept a secret: She had survived five years as a slave in seven different Nazi work camps. Living in America after the war, she kept from her children any hint of her epic, inhuman odyssey. She held on to more than 350 letters, photographs, and a diary without ever mentioning them. Only in 1991, on the eve of heart surgery, did she suddenly present them to Ann and offer to answer any questions her daughter wished to ask. It was a life-changing moment for her scholar, writer, and entrepreneur daughter.
We know surprisingly little about the vast network of Nazi labor camps, where imprisoned Jews built railroads and highways, churned out munitions and materiel, and otherwise supported the limitless needs of the Nazi war machine. This book gives us an insider's account: Conditions were brutal. Death rates were high. As the war dragged on and the Nazis retreated, inmates were force-marched across hundreds of miles, or packed into cattle cars for grim journeys from one camp to another. When Sala first reported to a camp in Geppersdorf, Poland, at the age of sixteen, she thought it would be for six weeks. Five years later, she was still at a labor camp and only she and two of her sisters remained alive of an extended family of fifty. In the first years of the conflict, Sala was aided by her close friend Ala Gertner, who would later lead an uprising at Auschwitz and be executed just weeks before the liberation of that camp. Sala was also helped by other key friends. Yet above all, she survived thanks to the slender threads of support expressed in the letters of her friends and family. She kept them at great personal risk, and it is astonishing that she was able to receive as many as she did. With their heartwrenching expressions of longing, love, and hope, they offer a testament to the human spirit, an indomitable impulse even in the face of monstrosity.
Sala's Gift is a rare book, a gift from Ann to her mother, and a great gift from both women to the world.
Customer Reviews:
A gift to mankind.... individually few would be worthy.......2007-10-10
I was so moved by this book I will include share my heartfelt comments to the author.
Just want to THANK YOU for such an amazing book! Your decision to share your mothers personal life with readers who benefit so from your investment of labor and emotion is generous and to be admired! When you were complete it must have looked like E=Mc squared did to Einstein! Simple on the surface with the complexity of the universes author within. My highest regards to you and Sala Kirschner.
Glenn from Tampa Fl and sometimes Lake Tahoe Nv
EXCELLENT........2007-08-16
I picked this book, figuring it would be an interesting read. It is, hands down, one of the best books I have read regarding the Holocaust. What a wonderful book! Where other books have let me down, this book did not. It is a must read.
Unforgettable Story!.......2007-08-03
I read an article in the Ladies Home Journal and wanted to read more about this amazing woman. I bought the book and my mother and I have both just finished reading it. What an unforgettable story - and what a strong and courageous woman is Sala! Thank you, Ann, for bringing this to the rest of the world and for all the incredible extra research you have done to fill in the spaces. It is the story of a life that is much too important to be kept in a box. My husband will read this beautifully and lovingly written book next and I have recommended it to my book club. Thank you! Thank you!
Beautifully Moving and Reflective.......2007-07-17
The author's mother is a woman of courage at many levels. In the Nazi work camps it was forbidden to keep letters. Her defiance and courageous evasion of this rule has given us a rich history of life for the ordinary Polish Jew as arrests, deportations and deprivation grinds down the survivors. We are drawn into her family in an intimate and caring way.
The book is beautifully written. It flows through a story that could be disjointed or monotonous in the hands of a lesser writer. There is so much to learn about love and friendship. How a life is saved when a moment of luck and courage intersect. How new "family" is formed from the fractured remnants of old ones. When hope and succor come from surprising places. The ominous shadows that draw over friendships as the precious lifeline of correspondence with cherished ones grows silent one by one. The network of support and care as new friends build each other up. The courage and hope and the path to a new life after the horror.
I am grateful for Mrs. Kirschner's courage now to open such a tightly sealed vault of pain to us. On a return visit in the 90's she leaves the threshold of her old home in Poland and says "I am so much more now than when I left. " So are we, dear readers. Thank you, Mrs. Kirschner, for your gift to us.
Excellent, informative, moving.......2007-07-09
I am grateful that this loving daughter took the time and energy to compile this very moving and informative story. i felt tremendous compassion for both the mother and the daughter. A wonderful read!
Book Description
With the nation at war in the 1940s, twenty-two-year-old Jack Valenti flew fifty-one combat missions as the pilot of a B-25 attack bomber with the 12th Air Force based in Italy. In the 1960s, with the nation reeling from the assassination of a beloved president and becoming embroiled in a far different kind of war in Vietnam, he was in that fateful Dallas motorcade in 1963, flew back to Washington with the new president, and for three years worked in the inner circle of the White House as special assistant to President Lyndon Johnson. Then, for the next thirty-eight years, with American society and popular culture undergoing a revolutionary transformation, Valenti was the public face of Hollywood in his capacity as head of the Motion Picture Association of America.
Been there, done that, indeed. Texas-born and Harvard-educated, Valenti has led several lives, any one of which could have provided ample material for an unforgettable memoir. As it is, This Time, This Place is the gripping story of a man who saw the terrible face of war while fighting with skill and bravery for his country; who was in the room, listening, participating, and remembering, as political decisions were made that would benefit or devastate countless lives in this country and on the other side of the world; and who championed the interest of the vast and globally influential movie industry with tenacity and vision. The list of boldface names whom Valenti knew and with whom he worked is as varied as it is astonishing in number. Aside
from LBJ, there were Jack and Bobby Kennedy, Kirk Douglas, Frank Sinatra, Robert McNamara, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Julia Roberts, Cary Grant, Lew Wasserman, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jack Nicholson, Michael Douglas, Warren Beatty, and Bill Clinton, to begin a very long list.
The life of a man who earned both the Distinguished Flying Cross and his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is inherently intriguing, but Valenti’s warm, sometimes rueful, always engaging account gives this memoir a depth of humanity and a taste of life’s unpredictability that will linger long after you turn the final page. From growing up poor but largely oblivious to that fact in a hardscrabble neighborhood of Greek and Italian immigrants in Houston to rising to the highest summits both of national government and Hollywood, This Time, This Place is a candid and clear-eyed reflection of the joys and sorrows, ambitions and disappointments, of a life fully recognizable in its extraordinary variety. It is also a sweeping and important historical record, written by a brilliantly successful man who helped to shape politics and entertainment in the second half of the twentieth century, and who always found himself in the center of the current storm.
Customer Reviews:
I respect, don't necessarily agree with, his defense of LBJ .......2007-10-19
Yes, his descriptions of his childhood and family life as an Italian-American in Houston were interesting, especially after Valenti flashed back from Nov. 22, 1963 and shortly thereafter. Certainly, his remembrances of pilot service in Europe also were compelling. That said, and don't anyone take this wrong, neither of the above were particularly unique reading experiences. As much as I acknowlege our appreciation of our WWII veterans was long delayed and overdue, and I eat up those sort of memoirs, I had read similar recollections before. But as a backdrop and a context to his service with LBJ, it all was appropriate. That's the part I found fascinating, because as near as I can tell, Mr. Valenti's political leanings are the same as mine, and I tend to go along with the conensus -- that LBJ's unfortunate decisions to deepen our involvement in Vietnam outweighed all the good he did with the Great Society, because much of that involved ideas whose times were coming...sooner or later. LBJ deserves marks for courage and skill in pushing them through when he did, and we all should salute him. But it was going to happen at some point. I am open-eyed enough to take Mr. Valenti's defenses of LBJ's overall record with grains of salt, but I admire them. In describing the meetings in 1965, Valenti makes it clear, as others have, that Mike Mansfield and George Ball were the lone wolves in saying we should get out instead of get in deeper. Valenti runs down the roster of the LBJ advisers whose views turned out to be woefully off-target. Darn it, great leaders sense and see through misguided and bad advice, so I'm not letting LBJ off the hook, and Valenti did that a little too easily. I would have been interested, too, to know more about what he was thinking as he heard all these exchanges he describes. And he describes them in such depth -- virtual transcripts -- he either had a tape recorder, took great notes, or is taking some license in the reconstruction. But all that said, I did find that portion of the book fascinating. And if an obviously good man, such as Valenti, could be so passionately loyal to LBJ, who often has been treated unfairly (e.g., Caro), it gives me a bit of pause for thought. The rest of the book is interesting and as an overall work, I recommend it. It's funny, though, I got the sense he pulled the most punches in the movie portion.
And why do people quote from the book jacket here? I would rather read what people think of the book, and why.
Saint Jack.......2007-09-21
One must be a very dedicated movie or Jack Valenti watcher to plough all the way through this tome. Apart from the timing which cannot be faulted - he died shortly after the book was published: the book is more a diary than a literary work. Except for the opening chapter on the assassination of JFK, which is good and compelling writing, the remainder stretched incredulity a little too far.
If we are to believe what Mr Valenti tells us about himself, we should not be surprised that at the books completion, the Almighty whisked him off to heaven to be at his right hand. A more Saintly man never lived beyond the Vatican.
We learn that he started life very poor - not even any shoes. We also learn that his close relatives were very rich. That confused me. I thought these old Sicilian families stuck together. Or is that only in the Mafia? One of these relatives who did not feel able to buy little Jack any shoes, did give him a job however. The salary was not sufficient for the future $1.3 million a year boss of MPAA, so he lied to take the time off to solicit work at Humble Oil which was successful. Little Jack clearly had a talent for ingratiating himself into the affections of those who could help him. First it was the HR lady who gave him his first job at Humble. Then it was the head of the advertising department who put him to work there. Work: I use the word loosely as he seems to have spent his time travelling around the country keeping his boss from being lonely. He must have been a very seductive little chap.
Then the war intervened. Now I thought, this is where it gets interesting. He reminds us frequently that he was a war hero, so I was very keen to learn more. Unfortunately modesty prevented him from sharing with us any daring-do that he was involved in. Other than telling us that the Luftwaffe fighters held no terrors for him - indeed, he actually says that they were no problem to him. Well that's a first. I must have more than 30 books on WWII aerial combat, and I never read that before. Could it be that all the others were spoofing? We do learn at great length his mile by mile journey back to America from Italy. The war was over by this time, but low cloud and rain was more formidable than the Luftwaffe it seems.
Once back to civilian life, he takes advantage of the GI Bill and goes to Harvard. If he goes on about his time at Harvard to his everyday listeners as he does in his book, there can be few American who don't know that Jack Valenti went to Harvard. Upon completion of his course he goes back to Humble Oil. This is the second time they have him back. He learns as much as he can from them, sets up a company with a partner and promptly leaves Humble Oil. Using what he learnt from Humble he solicits business from Humble competitors. This is a life long habit of Jack's. He ingratiates himself with people until they are of no more value; then he drops them. He did that with President Johnson after he learnt that Johnson was not going to seek re-election. He would have done it to MPAA and gone to Columbia Pictures, but his devoted wife of God knows how many years wouldn't go to Los Angeles with him. Washington was more important than Jack it seems. She did offer to let him commute once a week from DC to LA.
It is at this point in the book that one loses the will to live. It becomes a page after page catalogue of the rich and famous who Jack loved deeply, and they him. Pick at random any Name from the A List, and they - and of course their gorgeous spouses, were close personal friends of the Valenti's. There is not an enemy in sight - he even had a good word for the Luftwaffe! But then this is a work more interesting for what it doesn't say than for what it does. He never mentions that he lead a crusade to prevent VCRs being introduced into America. He takes full credit for the `original' introduction of a film rating system. He expects the readers not to notice that the British Board of Film Censors has been rating movies since 1912. It is also interesting that Jack never ever mentions the British film industry. He mentions, and praises British actors and directors, but never identifies them as such. He does every other country that has a film industry. Perhaps under the overcast skies of grey old London lurk a few skeletons that Jack would prefer to keep in the cupboard.
After one has waded through pages and pages of Hollywood's `Who's Who', the book is completed with the unsurprising information that all of his three children are `...movie star beautiful, and they are all outstandingly successful.' No kidding. He even tells us that his grandchildren are perfect.
Jack Valent's life story could have been an enthralling read had it been an `unauthorised version' by Kitty Kelly or similar. Instead, it is a very boring exercise in self aggrandisement. It is said that before one writes a book, one should identify your audience. The only audience for this book is the Hollywood Hoorays who will enjoy what is written about themselves, and think kindly about Jack - and of course his children.
Well done Jack. Not so much a book, more an advertising brochure for the Valenti dynasty.
Good Read but Lacks Bite .......2007-07-15
In a sense this is two books in one. Valenti (apart from his war years) had two very different careers - as a valued aide to President Lyndon Johnson and latterly as President Motion Picture Association of America. He did sterling work in both roles.
Almost anything written about Johnson is fascinating and Valenti keeps that legend going. The author never fails to see good in people and like other Johnson aides such as Joe Califano, seemed to have a genuine love for the towering Texan.
Valenti's opening chapter on the dreadful events of November 22nd 1963 is compelling reading. The author also writes well on the meetings and decision processes that encouraged LBJ to enlarge the war in Vietnam. For those with rose tinted glasses who believe JFK would have taken the US out of Vietnam before it became a quagmire, Valenti makes it quite clear that the bulk of LBJ's Vietnam advisors were Kennedy people. Overall the section on Johnson and the White House years is enjoyable reading. The same can not be said for his MPAA memoir.
Part of the problem is that Valenti is so gushing in his praise of everyone. The number of "radiantly beautiful" or "dazzling" wives he met with adorable offspring is mind-blowing. This man would have something good to say about the devil! He alludes very gingerly to the excesses of and infatuation with Hollywood, but never provides any depth.
Valenti - who wrote a book on communication - is a wonderful writer with a flowing style that is a joy to read. It is a pity that he did not bring greater depth and I think honesty to his MPAA career.
A Truly American Story.......2007-07-05
Jack Valenti's memoir "This Time, This Place: My Life in War, The White House, and Hollywood" tells an authentically American story. Valenti, the grandson of a Sicilian immigrant, rises from his working class roots to:
* win the Distinguished Flying Cross (WWII)
* attend Harvard Business School (Veterans Bill)
* start his own successful business
* become the aide de camp to a US President (Lyndon Johnson)
* and, become the chief lobbyist and defender of the motion picture industry for four decades.
Valenti's book opens with a flashback to Dallas, Texas on November 23, 1963 as he rode in the fateful Presidential motorcade that passed the Texas Book Depository with Lee Oswald's rifle pointed at President John Kennedy. Before the day was over, he was THE confident and consigliore to a new US President, Lyndon Johnson, overseeing the president's speeches, decided whom he would see and where he would go to speak. His chronicle of his White House years reads like a fast-paced novel and has plenty of detail to satisfy historians.
"This Time, This Place" provides important events in Valenti's early formation which were the underpinnings of a remarkable life. As a working class kid from Houston, he watched his grocer grandfather practice local politics and made his own first speech at the age of 10, advocating the reelection of the Sheriff. He worked as movie usher during high school, and got himself elected class president as a night student at the University of Houston.
In 1943, he joined the Army Air Corps, taking his first solo flight only after nine hours of instruction. He piloted 51 bombing missions over Europe in a B25 winning the Distinguished Flying Cross. His descriptions of these years are among the most vivid in this book. His prose throbs with memories of an experience that was simultaneously exhilarating, terrifying and "brutal."
The section on the Hollywood years is looser. Valenti's good-old-boy Texas story-telling comes out. He is more willing to tell tales, poking fun at some of the pompous behavior and trappings of the Motion Picture Industry's celebrities.
"This Time,This Place" is told straightforwardly, acknowledging debts, sketching people he knew and giving a not entirely flattering view of himself. His self-portrait is one of restlessness, and a strong commitment to advancement.
This is a man that senators, congressman and presidents readily took calls from. His formula was simple, "It is rooted in the ability to engage in courtship, to cosset talent, to understand the human condition and to make decisions fast." He exuded charm and was able to establish relationships by being everyone's pal but he never left empty-handed.
Jack Valenti died two years after his retirement from the Motion Picture Association of America in April, 2007.
Outstanding.......2007-07-04
Jack Valenti was both a witness to, and an instrument of, history and his autobiography presents the fascinating elements of his life and all those that he came across. Written in a very easy to read, yet eloquent, style (you can hear Valenti speaking these words)the book should be read by anyone interested in the Washington, the Great Society, and movie industry scenes.
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
Originally published in 1955, As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me has seen international success ever since. It has been translated into fifteen languages, sold more than 12 million copies, and is the basis for an award-winning German entry at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. Recounting an incredible real-life adventure, it tracks the destiny of German soldier Clemens Forrell who, in the aftermath of WWII, was sentenced to twenty-five years of forced labor in a lead mine in the barren eastern reaches of Siberia. Subjected to the brutality of the camp and the climate, Forrell dreamed continuously of escape—and then daringly effected it. From East Cape across the vast trackless wastes of Siberia, for thousands of miles and three years, with fear as his most intimate companion, Forrell fled treachery and endured some of the most inhospitable conditions on earth. In a long series of taped interviews with esteemed German author Josef M. Bauer, Forrell unfolded his remarkable story of survival. Bauer not only reconstructs Forrell’s arduous journey to the Iranian frontier and freedom; he also poignantly evokes the emotional content of Forrell’s brave quest—emerging as an affecting portrait of a man who strove and triumphed against all odds.
Customer Reviews:
Don't even think of buying this junk.......2007-09-22
I was very, very dissapointed with this book. After having read the amazing story of Theodor Kröger (a German who survived not only the Tsarist prisons but also the communist gulags) I wanted more of this and so I ordered this book. But what I got was a kind of telegram-style book with so much ommisions in the story, that you wonder why did somebody write it at all. If you can't get the story right, then don't tell it. Also, this is supposed to be a non-fiction story, but the dialogues between the lead character and his captors and/or fellow-prisoners are put on paper like they were held yesterday. If you're looking for a Papillon story, you better look somewhere else. I didn't even finish the book, it was a waste of my time.
a wild ride.......2007-07-26
I found this book to be inspiring and motivational. It is the amazing tale of a daring escape and a treacherous journey across the frozen Siberian north. They only thing that disappointed me was that the ending was anti-climactic in my opinion. Just a simply amazing book, there is a reason why it has been translated in to 15 languages and sold more then 12 millon copies.
Amazing .......2007-05-07
All the superlatives belong to this tale: remarkable, daring, unbelievable, amazing, incredible, beyond belief, extraordinary. That a person could 1. escape from a Soviet labor camp, 2. in the dead of winter, 3. from the farthest eastern point of Siberia, 4. after suffering from hunger and brutal treatment for three years, and still 5. make it home to Germany safely after another three years is a story for all lovers of survival dramas. The author expertly and faithfully chronicles Josef Bauer's account without glossing over the details of what it took to survive. I didn't come to like Mr. Bauer from this telling, however, I did feel a deep respect for his perseverance and stamina. Two other books of escape and survival that I recommend even more highly are: The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom by Slavomir Rawicz and We Die Alone: A WWII Epic of Escape and Endurance by David Howarth.
As Far as my Feet will Carry me.......2007-01-29
Incredible story of survival and the will to live.
This book was excellent, I couldn't put it down........2006-04-28
As for the other half negative reviews, like it being for a young reader, don't pay any attention to that. Obviously those reviews are written by people that can't look or think beyond their own egos nor actually try to imagine what it must have been like, what the permanent affects were after such an altering event, and obvious emotional scars that must have continued on and on... After I finished the book, I re-read the preface and understood why there seemed to be pieces "I" wanted answers to, but understood why they weren't there.
I recommend this book to anyone of all ages. It's absolutely an amazing account of someone accomplishing a journey home with EVERYTHING against him and the beckoning door of death at every turn. How he survived? It's beyond me....
Now, I will hunt for the DVD....if anyone knows where I can find the DVD, please find a way of letting me know. Thanks!
Average customer rating:
- Great story!
- Worth a read
- The limit of human endurance...
- comparison
- good book
|
The One that Got Away: My SAS Mission behind Enemy Lines
Chris Ryan
Manufacturer: Potomac Books Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Military & Spies
| Professionals & Academics
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Military
| Leaders & Notable People
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Asia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
| Afghanistan
| Armenia
| Bangladesh
| Belarus
| Bhutan
| Brunei
| Cambodia
| Central Asia
| China
| Far East
| General
| Georgia
| Hong Kong
| India
| Indonesia
| Japan
| Korea
| Laos
| Malaysia
| Maldives
| Mauritius
| Mongolia
| Myanmar
| Nepal
| Pakistan
| Philippines
| Russia
| Seychelles
| Singapore
| South Asia
| Southeast Asia
| Sri Lanka
| Taiwan
| Thailand
| Tibet
| Turkey
| Vietnam
General
| Middle East
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Operation Desert Storm
| United States
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| England
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside History Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Bravo Two-Zero
-
Bravo Two Zero
-
Immediate Action
-
Soldier Five: The Real Truth About the Bravo Two Zero Mission
-
Remote Control
ASIN: 1574881566 |
Book Description
The British Army's Special Air Service is one of the world's premier special operations units. During the Gulf War, deep behind Iraqi lines, an SAS team was compromised. A fierce firefight ensued, and the eight men were forced to run for their lives. Only one, Chris Ryan, escaped capture or death, and he did it by walking nearly 180 miles through the desert for seven days and eight nights. This story features extraordinary courage under fire, narrow escapes, a battle against the most adverse physical conditions, and, above all, of one man's courageous refusal to lie down and die.
Customer Reviews:
Great story!.......2007-07-10
This book is great mainly due to the dangerous background of the mission. Ryan survived for about ten days in a hostile environment while he had to deal with coldness, exhaustion, injuries and starvation. Therefore it is an account of an incredible surviving. Respect for Ryan. His book is a must-read !
Worth a read.......2007-03-27
Not the tale of an inhumanly capable and faultless warrior and all the more compelling for that. Very interesting and informative, a more realistic treatment of events that the McNabb book, or at least more believable.
The limit of human endurance..........2006-01-27
Imagine driving two hundred miles, a long boring journey no doubt. Seems like ages...
Imagine walking it with no food, little water, and freezing temperatures that had already cost the lives of two of the SAS patrol troopers. That's what Ryan did when he journeyed to the Syrian border when the infamous Bravo Two Zero mission fell apart due to bad luck, poor intelligence, and below zero temperatures.
The famous - or infamous - Bravo Two Zero mission was about eight SAS troops that where sent behind enemy lines during the first gulf war. They were compromised early on, and with a fire fight early on, and no communication from headquarters, the men had to evade and escape. Four of the men were captured and tortured in an Iraqi sess-pit of a gaol. Three of the men died, one shot in combat and two died from hypothermia. Only one escaped. "The One That Got Away" is his story...
Ryan had to endure a terrific journey on foot of 200 miles to get to the Syrian border. Along the way, he drills (kills) a few Iraqi soldiers, or guards. He even breaks one's neck, told in squirm-inducing detail:
"When the second man saw me, his eyes widened in terror and he instantly began to run. But somehow, with a surge of adrenalin, I flew after him, jumped on him and brought him down with my legs locked round his hips. I got one arm round his neck in a judo hold and stretched his chin up. There was a muffled crack, and he died instantaneously."
Ryan's spirit comes from a very deep well, and with his SAS training, he pushes on even when he is on the verge of complete exhaustion (towards the end, he starts hallucinating).
Andy NcNab's "Bravo Two Zero" book is about McNab's torture at the hands of his Iraqi captives. Ryan's story is also about brutal pain, but his is self-inflicted as he desperately seeks to escape capture (he loses all his toe nails due to the 200 mile hike, he is on the verge of getting frost bite, he drinks radioactive water, and to finish off bad luck, he nearly gets lynched when he finally gets to Syria).
Ryan comes across as a methodical man. He plays by the book (he doesn't journey during the day - an SAS no-no). His methodical thinking about getting things right sometimes makes the other members of the SAS patrol seem incompetent. That seems a tad unfair (though as the author, and with the slight fact that he was actually there, he may have a right to say what he wants). I think the real incompetence in the Bravo Two Zero mission was the lack of intelligence from the top brass and not the men on the ground (why should you have the cold terrain as the enemy as well as the Iraqis when it needn't be? Shouldn't Intelligence know that the temperatures in Iraqi can drop really low?)
Even if you not a fan of Special Forces you will find this book riveting. People who like endurance will also love this book - for example if you are one of them loons who think climbing Everest in a pair of flip-flops is a great day out, then this book is also for you.
Seriously, I would recommend reading this, especially now when the second Gulf war is still simmering. It gives you a realistic journey on combat that you rarely get with the media. I also recommend McNab's "Bravo Two Zero" as it gives an account of his capture and torture.
comparison.......2006-01-13
this is a fantastic book. the SAS are phenominal. this mission was flawed, and this book is a testiment to the hardcore training and personnel of the SAS. however, to address another reviewer's comments, i fully disagree with the assessement that the SAS are vastly superior to Delta Force. firstly, for a number of years ive had close affiliations with the special operations world, and personally know a great number of both Delta operators and SAS soldiers and have conversed with them greatly on training, tactics, and so forth. no arguement that both are superior to the SEALs, who have always been overrated and hollywood. but the fact is, it is a complete and utter fallacy to state that Delta dont have the training to survive the way this SAS team did. thats absurd. first, delta's founder, charlie beckwith, a green beret who spent time with the SAS, used the SAS unit structure and training criteria as a template for Delta. second, Delta and the SAS are two of the most closely aligned units in the world, with frequent exchanges, putting Delta operators through SAS training and vice versa, as well as executing missions together from time to time. bottom line, Delta is the US military's MOST elite, MOST well trained, and MOST combat experienced unit of the last 25 years. Delta operators and SAS soldiers dont bother with the comparison themselves, because they're of the same caliber and embrace each other. further, the reason Delta has never done what mcnab's team did is because they've never been in the situation, which by the way was caused by MISTAKES. now im not bashing the SAS, even the most elite units make mistakes, Delta has as well. ultimately, these men survived through a undominable will, and escape, evasion and survival tactics, and to assume that Delta does not have this training is ludicrous, not to mention wholly untrue.
good book.......2005-06-14
i think this book is very good.
i was in the SAS and i fought against the IRA.
Book Description
"The best damned book from the point of view of the infantrymen who fought there."—Army Times
Among the best books ever written about men in combat, The Killing Zone tells the story of the platoon of Delta One-six, capturing what it meant to face lethal danger, to follow orders, and to search for the conviction and then the hope that this war was worth the sacrifice. The book includes a new chapter on what happened to the platoon members when they came home.
Customer Reviews:
Written as Remembered. That's Important.......2007-08-26
Like most who have written books about their Vietnam experience, I believe Mr. Downs has told his story as he remembered it. There are several books out about the war where it's obvious that the authors are trying their best to paint a picture he or she thinks book buyers want to see and movie producers want to produce. Mr. Downs was very kind to the children when he described them giving the GIs the finger. Explaining that they were just greeting the soldiers as they had seen the GIs do to each other. That could be true in his case, but children are not dumb, they learn quickly. In aviation, we, too, had to learn quickly. Several air crews left this world after a child threw a grenade into the aircraft. This happened to me twice. I was lucky. Anyway, this is an interesting read and I'll describe it as "lucid and compelling". It's unlike my book, "Kill me If You Can, You SOB". It is by no means a rah-rah account of the war or the sociopaths who did their best to perpetuate it. Don't rush off to buy it. Most people hate it, especially Vietnam veterans. In my opinion, a Vietnam veteran who cursed Jane Fonda and then turned around and voted for George W. Bush is not fit to eat Jane Fonda's garbage. While these hypocrites were whining about this woman who was doing exactly what Jesus preached, two American heroes, Robert McNamara and Henry Kissinger were getting our troops killed by the thousands. I guess this little 110-pound woman made a much easier target for these damn hypocrites than McNamara and Kissinger. At least Kissinger didn't pretend he cared about these kids he was getting slaughtered. "Military Men are dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns for foreign policy." -Henry Kissinger
Really interesting book........2007-07-07
This book was really good, it started a little slow, and it climaxed really fast. It was like I started reading it and then all of a sudden it was over. It was definitly a good book though, all kinds of cool little stories.
Action.......2007-06-27
This is a great action book with ambushes, attacks, etc. The Killing Zone shows what it was like to live and fight in Vietnam. This was a very great read, it kept me reading it every night as much as I could.
vietnam.......2007-06-12
this book is such a waste of time, it tells you only the point of view of one's man ego and his denial of america's defeat by the north vietnamese. throughout the whole war,the u.s miltary only rely on body counts for there victory ,hoping the north vietnamese would fear the u.s army and surrender ,but in the end ,they were wrong ,the nva and viet cong were determine to fight to the death.
face it,even though the u.s military won many battles,the united states lost the war and retreated . the whole world is aware of this defeat but only some american citizen like this author denies this.
many of the vc casualty are infact innocent civilians ,that the u.s military has covered up by placing nva /vc uniforms and weapons on dead civilians ,then taking photographic pictures of it.
the united states gain nothing from the war ,with 60,000 + dead u.s soldiers ,thousands m.i.a (s) ,150,000 billion dollars down the drain ,over 100,000 seriously injured soldiers including amputees (missing legs,arms , body parts) ,and handicaps ,torn the country apart during the 60's and 70's ,fail to stop communism,fail to protect south vietnam,fail to stop an army that is 10 time smaller then u.s army,and fail to justified the war in rightious context,basically the united states gave up and retreated.
the north vietnamese suffered high casualty by fighting u.s army,australian army ,arvn army,south korean army,and new zealand all by them self ,but fighting to regain there country for a better vietnam in the future was a well justified reason to die just like anyother civil war (compared this to american civil war casualties).
so one's man ego and his obsession of denial will not change the world's view on why people should think who really won the war,everybody knows who won this war,and media wasnt wrong at all.
5 Stars........2007-03-12
This effort is one of the better accounts of the Vietnam War. It's interesting, well-written, and the accounts are plausible and intelligently reported.
Amazon.com
My War is a book that will challenge many of the most common assumptions about the Iraq War and the people fighting in it. Colby Buzzell, the book's author and a U.S. Army machine-gunner who did a year-long tour in Iraq, is not the stereotypical small-town soldier from a Red State. He grew up in San Francisco eating pot brownies at the Haight-Ashbury Street Fair, skateboarding, and listening to punk and heavy metal. He supported Ralph Nader for president, reads George Orwell, and his dad worked in Silicon Valley. But he was sick of his "life in oblivion," bouncing around from one dead-end job to another. As Buzzell writes in his typically gritty prose, "I didn't want to get all old and have my bratty grandkids ask me, 'Grandpa, where were you during the Iraq war?' and me going, 'Oh, I was busy doing temp work and data entry for 12 bucks an hour.'"
In search of adventure, Buzzell joined the army and got sent to Iraq. First stationed in the ultra-dangerous Sunni Triangle, he quickly mastered how to use the M240 Bravo machine gun: "Just get behind that muthafucka and just fire it." His fellow soldiers, mostly hip-hop fans or headbanging metal-heads like him, killed time watching porn on mini-portable DVD players or listening to Metallica on their iPods while on patrol. Long boring spells were interrupted by wild fits of confusing action. On one of Buzzell's first missions, two platoons fired thousands of rounds at near point-blank range at an unarmed Iraqi civilian. Amazingly, he survived. Out of boredom, Buzzell started a blog, one of the first by an ordinary "Joe" grunt in Iraq. It became a media sensation and got Buzzell in trouble with the REMFs ("Rear Echelon Mutha Fuckers") because of his less-than-glamorous portrayal of the war and his superiors, whom he accuses of constantly lying to the public and the soldiers under their command. My War may be disappointing to readers looking for deeper introspections on the moral questions behind the war, but it is a pretty convincing case against the claim that everything in Iraq is going fine. --Alex Roslin
Book Description
Skateboarding party animal Colby Buzzell traded a dead-end future for the army-and ended up a machine gunner in Iraq. To make sense of the bloody insanity surrounding him, he started a blog about the war and how it differed from the government's official version. As his blog's popularity grew, Buzzell became the embedded reporter the Army couldn't control-despite its often comical efforts to do so.
The result is an extraordinary narrative, rich with unforgettable scenes: the Iraqi woman crying uncontrollably during a raid on her home; the soldier too afraid to fight; the troops chain-smoking in a guard tower and counting tracer rounds. Drawing comparisons to everything from Charles Bukowski to Catch-22, My War depicts a generation caught in a complicated and dangerous world-and marks the debut of a raw, remarkable new voice.
Customer Reviews:
As if we all don't.......2007-09-23
It is ignorant enough reading it. This stuff should not be sold especially while the war is still going on. Granted if you saw something like you would just tell everyone about it as if they would understand. Unless if you were selling your soul for the money. I was there for 15 months and I don't care to tell the story to people who won't understand. Only those close by could ever know because I guard my integrity from being a sellout, obviously I'm not from San Francisco although I do live in California. And if the author does have PTSD; well I would like to know how he lied to the system because there should have been personal resistance in authoring an account. It is different when part of a covert group such and MACVSOG who never had any credit. You had your credit had your medals take 'em and shut up.
Best of the Genre.......2007-09-19
Some day this war's going to end. Maybe not so much end as just stop. Decades after that happens we'll probably still be trying to figure out why we went, what we accomplished, and whether or not it was worth it. Buzzell's book has nothing to do with that. It's a raw, sometimes jaded, often hilarious, but always honest account of daily military life in a war zone. We can all be thankful that men like Buzzell volunteered to serve, did so honorably, and passed along their stories.
"it'll be absolutely nothing like you expected it to be".......2007-08-09
Colby Buzzell wrote a blog during his deployment in Iraq by the same title as his book. _My War_ details his experiences as an infantryman there, as well as his run-ins with the Army over his blog. There is much to like here: Colby is brutally honest and writes exactly what is on his mind.
He "stream of conscious" writing (at least the first third of the book) was a bit difficult - long, rambling, run-on sentences, reminiscent of a high school student's journal. As the book progresses, his writing tightens up, becomes much clearer, and his "voice" much stronger. Whether this is intentional or not, it is telling of what is happening to Colby: he is maturing, growing up and finding his voice (and himself.)
As a Gulf War veteran, I have mixed feelings about _My War_. Writing about his life before he joined the Army, I honestly didn't like him. As Buzzell entered the Army and was sent to Iraq, a palpable change took place - as his writing changed, so did my opinion of him. By the end of the book, I became genuinely fond of him. Similarly, I found some of the things he complained about ridiculous: you're a grunt. Suck it up. On the other hand, I shared his frustration at the bureaucracy and underhanded methods the Army used in handling him and his blog. His commitment to his platoon members and fidelity to his battallion CO was inspiring.
I would recommend it along with John Crawford's _The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell_ and Nathaniel Fick's _One Bullet Away_ for other perspectives on the infantry in general and OIF specifically.
Solid Read, Great Perspective on the War in Iraq.......2007-07-22
This is a must read for everyone interested in a contemporary perspective on war and the politics of the current Iraq conflict. Buzzell gives us an honest appraisal of himself, the Army, war and his comrades with humor and humility.
Couldn't put it down.......2007-06-27
Im one of those people that read for leisure. I take my time and enjoy my book. However with My War it was the kind of book I couldnt take my time with. I just wanted more! Its a truly fantastic read. A true page turner. Colby Buzzel is funny and honest and writes things as he sees it. I thought the book would be a bit political (being American) but some how despite all thats going on with this war he keeps politics to a minium and writes it how it is. How the troops cope on the ground. A great book which I would recommend to anyone. Well Done Mr Buzzell.
Books:
- Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
- Nations At Dawn (Formerly Titled: Nations In Darkness)
- Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power
- Personal History
- Rabbit Ears Treasury of Tall Tales: Volume One: Davy Crockett, Rip Van Winkle, Johnny Appleseed, Paul Bunyan (Rabbit Ears)
- Retreat from Gettysburg: Lee, Logistics, and the Pennsylvania Campaign (Civil War America)
- Return To Promise (Heart of Texas, No 8)
- Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America
- Robert E. Lee on Leadership: Executive Lessons in Character, Courage, and Vision (On Leadership)
- Robert E. Lee: Virginian Soldier, American Citizen
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Culture Clash: A Revolutionary New Way to Understanding the Relationship Between Humans and Dome
- La Dolce Vita: Living in Italy
- America 2014: An Orwellian Tale
- Columbus's Outpost among the Taínos: Spain and America at La Isabela, 1493-1498
- Eyes Wide Open: A Memoir of Stanley Kubrick
- Introduction to Radiological Physics and Radiation Dosimetry
- Galapagos: A Natural History
- Victoria, Where Dreams Come True: 88 Year Autobiography of the Life and Times of Morris Kersey
- Best Companies to Work for in Australia
- National Trade and Professional Associations of the United States 2000
The Invisible Wall: A Love Story That Broke Barriers
Sala's Gift: My Mother's Holocaust Story
Family Romance: A Love Story
When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa
Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil
