A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

Book Description

My new friends have begun to suspect I haven’t told them the full story of my life.
“Why did you leave Sierra Leone?”
“Because there is a war.”
“You mean, you saw people running around with guns and shooting each other?”
“Yes, all the time.”
“Cool.”
I smile a little.
“You should tell us about it sometime.”
“Yes, sometime.”

This is how wars are fought now: by children, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s. Children have become soldiers of choice. In the more than fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them.

What is war like through the eyes of a child soldier? How does one become a killer? How does one stop? Child soldiers have been profiled by journalists, and novelists have struggled to imagine their lives. But until now, there has not been a first-person account from someone who came through this hell and survived.

In A Long Way Gone, Beah, now twenty-five years old, tells a riveting story: how at the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he’d been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts.

This is a rare and mesmerizing account, told with real literary force and heartbreaking honesty.

Customer Reviews:

A powerful and eloquent voice..........2007-10-22

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah is a moving, tortured yet uplifting story of Beah's involvement in war.

Living in Sierra Leone, Beah was a typical 12-year old, playing soccer, dancing, singing rap music, reciting Shakespeare and hanging out with his friends. Beah and a bunch of his buddies ventured to another town when civil war came to their village. Not being able to make it back home, they were forced to flee--trying to find somewhere safe as well as a source of food. Their goal was to avoid being captured or killed by the rebels. Instead, they were discovered by the government army and turned into soldiers. Some of these boys were so slight that they couldn't even hold the AK-47s they were given as weapons. They were also given prodigious amounts of illegal drugs. For three years, Beah served with the army until UNICEF removed him from military service. During those three years, he was shot a number of times and escaped death repeatedly.

While Beah's physical injuries healed, the psychological scars from the war tortured him for years. He especially suffered from nightmares and migraines. With the help of the staff of UNICEF and NGO, he not only healed enough to be "repatriated," but he was also chosen as a representative to the United Nations First International Children's Parliament. It was here that he met the woman who would become his surrogate mother, and arrange for his eventual escape from Sierra Leone.

Ishmael Beah is a powerful, eloquent voice for the many children who were forced to become soldiers. These children were robbed of their families, their limbs, their childhoods, and often, their lives. After a nightmare, "I would try desperately to think about my childhood, but I couldn't. The war memories had formed a barrier that I had to break in order to think about any moment in my life before the war."

I wish that Beah had gone into more detail about his journey to the United States. Perhaps he's saving it for another book. But even without this information, A Long Way Gone is an excellent book by a very young author.

a long way gone.......2007-10-20

This is an incredible account of Ishmael Beah's life thus far. How a boy could endure such hell on earth is beyond comprehension, however this young author awakens his readers, and with his words shows us the wide spectrum of love and hate that we humans are capable of inflicting upon each other. A truly enlightening memoir.

Everyone needs to read this book.......2007-10-19

Amazing, horrifying, well-written, and a book that every American should read in order to better understand the conflicts of Africa. What strikes me most about this boy's story is the fact that he was in the governmental army, not the rebel army. But many times there was no difference between the two. Such facts certainly make me doubt that any African or UN "peacekeeping" force will be able to change anything in that region.

Excellent.......2007-10-18

What an interesting story. Having lived all over the world, it is very interesting how stories of civil strife always seem to include child soldiers whether Palestinian, Lebanese, Iranian, Liberian or Somalian.

I recommend this book for those interested in the world around them.

Heartbreaking!.......2007-10-18

This was one of my Book Club's selections for this fall. I thought it was easy to read and I am glad I saw the movie "Blood Diamond" before reading this. It's a difficult subject matter but worth reading.

Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany

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A "must read" for all those interested in WW II.
Masters of the Air
The Story of the "Mighty Eighth"
Does anyone at Simon & Schuster proofread?
The Unsung Heroes of The Eighth Air Force

Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany
Donald L. Miller
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Aviation | Military | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0743235444

Book Description

Masters of the Air is the deeply personal story of the American bomber boys in World War II who brought the war to Hitler's doorstep. With the narrative power of fiction, Donald Miller takes readers on a harrowing ride through the fire-filled skies over Berlin, Hanover, and Dresden and describes the terrible cost of bombing for the German people.

Fighting at 25,000 feet in thin, freezing air that no warriors had ever encountered before, bomber crews battled new kinds of assaults on body and mind. Air combat was deadly but intermittent: periods of inactivity and anxiety were followed by short bursts of fire and fear. Unlike infantrymen, bomber boys slept on clean sheets, drank beer in local pubs, and danced to the swing music of Glenn Miller's Air Force band, which toured U.S. air bases in England. But they had a much greater chance of dying than ground soldiers. In 1943, an American bomber crewman stood only a one-in-five chance of surviving his tour of duty, twenty-five missions. The Eighth Air Force lost more men in the war than the U.S. Marine Corps.

The bomber crews were an elite group of warriors who were a microcosm of America -- white America, anyway. (African-Americans could not serve in the Eighth Air Force except in a support capacity.) The actor Jimmy Stewart was a bomber boy, and so was the "King of Hollywood," Clark Gable. And the air war was filmed by Oscar-winning director William Wyler and covered by reporters like Andy Rooney and Walter Cronkite, all of whom flew combat missions with the men.

The Anglo-American bombing campaign against Nazi Germany was the longest military campaign of World War II, a war within a war. Until Allied soldiers crossed into Germany in the final months of the war, it was the only battle fought inside the German homeland.

Strategic bombing did not win the war, but the war could not have been won without it. American

airpower destroyed the rail facilities and oil refineries that supplied the German war machine. The bombing campaign was a shared enterprise: the British flew under the cover of night while American bombers attacked by day, a technique that British commanders thought was suicidal.

Masters of the Air is a story, as well, of life in wartime England and in the German prison camps, where tens of thousands of airmen spent part of the war. It ends with a vivid description of the grisly hunger marches captured airmen were forced to make near the end of the war through the country their bombs destroyed.

Drawn from recent interviews, oral histories, and American, British, German, and other archives, Masters of the Air is an authoritative, deeply moving account of the world's first and only bomber war.

Customer Reviews:

A "must read" for all those interested in WW II........2007-10-10

This monumental work covers the bomber war in Europe in a more complete way than any other book I have read including anything the great Martin Caidin has written. Mr. Miller tells the story from the perspectives of the tail gunners, waist gunners, radiomen, bombadiers, navigators, co-pilots and pilots as well as the generals who devised the strategys. All aspects of the war are covered from the original construction of the air bases to airplane maintenance to training to missions to time-off at local village pubs. Unlike other books, this one covers the POWs and their horrendous plight especially as the war is winding down and the Nazis more them from location to location ahead of the advancing Allies. Miller also includes stories about Capt. Tibbets of Hiroshima fame and a fascinating story of Chuck Yeager's escape from occupied Europe through Spain and his subsequent return to combat, something almost never allowed because re-patriated flyers knew too much about the french underground that would jeapordize lives if they were shot down a second time. Also of interest was information about what happened to crewmen who elected to land in "neutral" Switzerland in wounded ships. I recommend this book highly.

Masters of the Air.......2007-09-11

A marvelous story about the WW II air war over Europe. Full of interesting details and descriptions. I have shared it with friends that did their 35 missions, and they concur.

The Story of the "Mighty Eighth".......2007-09-08

This well-written and exhaustively researched book chronicles the rise of the American Eighth Air Force from its early days in England to VE Day in 1945.

At the outset of the war, the British believed that night bombing was the best way to attack German cities and industry. However, once America entered the war, they chose a philosophy different from that of the British. The Americans believed that daylight precision strategic bombing was the only way to defeat the Germans. The British, on the other hand, still favored nighttime area bombing. This difference of opinion between the Americans and British was never really settled, but by combining the "round the clock" attacks of American planes during the day and British planes at night, the Germans faced an unending stream of planes and bombs.

When the Eighth flew their first mission in the fall of 1942, they could barely muster thirty planes, but at the end of the war, they were putting up well over one thousand, with several hundred fighter escorts as well. The German Luftwaffe could not match these incredible numbers of planes, and, despite such tactics as underground production and introducing the world's first jet fighter, there was little they could do to stop the Allied bombing.

Differences also existed between the British and Americans regarding target selection. The British favored carpet bombing Germany's cities with little or no regard for civilian casualties. The Americans favored targeting German industry (synthetic oil production, ball bearings, and transportation hubs). The Americans believed that the systematic destruction of the German economy would bring about surrender quicker than the British belief of "terror attacks" designed to break the will of the German people.

An interesting point made by the author is whether or not strategic bombing was effective against the Germans. A preponderance of the evidence would suggest that the answer to this question is "yes", but there are some compelling counter-points made in the book.

This is a fine work of aviation history. The book is well-researched and is easy to read and understand. Every aspect of the Allied bomber offensive in Europe is covered in great detail. The author also includes many personal testimonials from the men who flew the B-17s and B-24s against the Germans. An interesting chapter is also devoted to the Swiss government and how they treated "captured" Allied fliers. The terrifying incendiary raid on Dresden as well as the horrific destruction of Berlin is also told in vivid detail.

I give this fine book my highest recommendation. If you're looking for information on the Eighth Air Force and the air war over Europe, this is the book to read.

Does anyone at Simon & Schuster proofread?.......2007-09-04

Mr. Miller's book includes not only substantial research into prior publications but very interesting research based on letters and interviews he's found on his own. It's a good book. But if you're a member of the word police you'll be annoyed by the many proofreading errors. Here's a sample: "In the heavily defended Ruhr, with its permanent cloud of industrial smoke, the number was only in ten." (p.54) Should have been "within ten miles." Some errors are so simple a spell checker would have caught them: (p.199) "spining" for spinning. And there are some factual errors as well. Miller attributes contrails to wingtips. They're created by engines. It's much easier to criticize than to write. Still, S&S should have, with the several editors listed in the acknowledgments, caught the errors. I have no idea whether they have been corrected in the paperback.

The Unsung Heroes of The Eighth Air Force.......2007-08-26

This is an overdue tribute to those young men who gave their lives, in great numbers, fighting the air war over Germany in WWII.To those who think WWII was fought without major tatical errors, this book will be a revelation. In tribute to the kids who lost their lives in this bloody effort, everyone should be required to read this story. If you thought that service in the Air Force was a cake walk read this book.

Soldier's Heart : Being the Story of the Enlistment and Due Service of the Boy Charley Goddard in the First Minnesota Volunteers

Average customer rating:

A Teenager in the Civil War
Charley is a freak (i think)
A kid at war.
Chris's Review
Not what i expected but a good read

Soldier's Heart : Being the Story of the Enlistment and Due Service of the Boy Charley Goddard in the First Minnesota Volunteers
Gary Paulsen
Manufacturer: Laurel Leaf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0440228387
Release Date: 2000-09-12

Amazon.com

In spare, almost biblical prose, Gary Paulsen writes of the horrors of combat in a Civil War novella that puts a powerful, more contemporary spin on Stephen Crane's classic The Red Badge of Courage. Based on the life of a real boy, it tells the story of Charley Goddard, who lies his way into the Union Army at the age of 15. Charley has never been anyplace beyond Winona, Minnesota, and thinks war would be a great adventure. And it is--at first--as his regiment marches off through cheering crowds and pretty, flag-waving girls. But then comes the battle. Charley screams, "Make it stop now!" disbelieving that anything so horrible could be real. Paulsen is unsparing in the details of what actually happens on the battlefield: the living men suddenly blown into pieces, the agony and fear, the noise and terror, the stinking corpses. After many battles, Charley is wounded and sent home an old man before he is 20, his will to live destroyed by combat fatigue--leaving him with a "soldier's heart." Paulsen has received the Margaret A. Edwards Award, the ALAN Award, and several Newbery Honor awards for previous work, but this superb, small masterpiece transcends any of his earlier titles in its remarkable, memorable intensity and power. (Ages 12 to 15) --Patty Campbell

Book Description

In June 1861, when the Civil War began, Charley Goddard enlisted in the First Minnesota Volunteers. He was 15. He didn't know what a "shooting war" meant or what he was fighting for. But he didn't want to miss out on a great adventure.

The "shooting war" turned out to be the horror of combat and the wild luck of survival; how it feels to cross a field toward the enemy, waiting for fire. When he entered the service he was a boy. When he came back he was different; he was only 19, but he was a man with "soldier's heart," later known as "battle fatigue."

Customer Reviews:

A Teenager in the Civil War.......2007-07-03

In 1861 Charley is fifteen years old, living on a farm in Minnesota with his mother and little brother. Everyone has heard the rumor that there is to be a war, with those in the North fighting to stop the Southern rebels from doing damage to the country. No one is quite sure if the war is really going to happen, but Charley is determined to be a part of it if it is.

He convinces his mother that he can handle himself as a soldier and tells her the eleven dollars a month he'll be paid will help her out, and she agrees to let him go. He signs up, lying about his age so they will let him into the army, and begins his training.

At first things are horribly boring. The volunteer military spends much of its time sitting around, doing drills that don't use up their ammunition, and eating really bad food. Charley is considering deserting and simply going home, when finally his unit marches into battle.

Their first battle is a bloodbath--his unit tries to march across an open field while rebel soldiers shoot at them from above. Charley isn't sure what he thought a shooting war would be like, but it was certainly nothing like this. As the war continues and Charley is a part of more and more battles, he learns what war really is, and sees more than his share of the horror of it.

I liked that war wasn't glamorized at all in this book--the narrator spoke of the boredom between battles and the horror of the battles themselves. Nothing was made out to be fun about it. I also liked that Charley was so shocked and couldn't get over what he had seen. He was just a kid when he went into war and it wouldn't have been realistic for him to handle it well.

However, this book was a little too simplistic. It didn't give any of the nuances of Charley's thoughts and feelings, and didn't explore the feelings of anyone except this one main character. I would have liked a bit more depth.

Charley is a freak (i think).......2007-05-29

I definitely recommend this book to all readers. Gary Paulsen does a great job in showing how Charley feels that he will certainly die, and how he changes from a happy farmer to a man that will kill to stay alive. This was one of the greatest historical fiction books that I have ever read because of all the amazing events that actually took place. For example, Charley and another man use dead bodies to build a wall to stop a vicious wind. This book had a lot of surprises, like when Charley is hit and wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg. I couldn't wait to turn the page because of all these horrendous and shocking surprises. Because this book is only 102 pages, it makes for an astonishing quick read.

A kid at war........2007-05-20

As already stated, this is a fictionalized story of a young 15 year Minnesota boy who fought in the Civil War. Paulsen takes liberties in relating the short life of Charley Goddard. Goddard participated in many major battles of the Civil War such as Bull Run and Gettysburg. He shows the cost of war on the youths that fight it by relating the term soldier's heart. A soldier's heart becomes hardened by the experience of death in battle. He no longer fears death, viewing it as a way to meet the soldiers who proceeded him in death.

This is a story detailing the cruelity of battle. Battle hardens our soldiers and puts severe strains on their mentail peace. This should be remembered in terms of the cost are soldiers are now going through.

Chris's Review.......2007-05-14

Soldier's Heart
By: Gary Paulsen

Number of pages: 102 Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Laurel Leaf

Do you like a book with action, drama, and a main character with lots of bravery? Then you should pick up the book Soldier's Heart by Gary Paulsen.
Soldier's Heart is based on a true story about a fifteen-year-old boy in Minnesota named Charley Goddard, who lies about his age to join the First Volunteers of Minnesota, to fight in the Civil War.
The main character in the story is a young man, Charley, for his age, Charley is a very mature man and is a very hard worker in every aspect. When Charley is sent off to get prepared for the war, he battles some conflicts. One conflict that he has to battle is that his mother sends him letters saying the she wants him to come back home. Charley feels bad and at first wants to come home, but these thoughts gradually leave.
I like this book for many reasons. One reason was that I like to read about historical fiction, and about the Civil War. Another reason why I like this book was because the main character, "Charley," was only fifteen, and I can relate a lot to the things that he thought and what was going on in his head. The last reason is because the author had a good perspective of what went on during the war.
Gary Paulsen was the author of the book Soldier's Heart. He has also written many other books such as Brian's Winter, Hatchet, The Crossing, The Rifle, and Danger on the Midnight River. Paulsen is able to have a great knowledge because he went to war and fought for our country.
The part in the story that I did not care for was the battlefields. They seemed like they were made up, because of the location. I also did not like how the story had started out. I would have liked to know a little bit more about his family and the backgrounds that Charley lived in.
I would give this book four out of five stars. I would recommend this book to people who like to know historical facts about the Civil War and the battles that were fought in it. Overall, Soldier's Heart is an exciting, historical, and adventurous book that anyone would enjoy to read.

Not what i expected but a good read.......2007-03-09

I didn't realize how short the book was until I already recieved it. It was my fault for not seeing it on the display page but despite how short it is it still provides the reader with an idea of how being on a battlefield during the civil war would be like.

For the Boys : The Racy Pin-Ups of World War II

Average customer rating:

All-American Pin-up art
Not Just "Pin-Ups"...
The introduction is the best part!
The story and influence of the pin-up girl during WW II
Great photographs and artwork, poor presentation

For the Boys : The Racy Pin-Ups of World War II
Max Allan Collins
Manufacturer: Collectors Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1888054395

Book Description

This historical and visually entertaining volume shows the role pin-up girls of the 1940's played in maintaining morale during World War II. From V-Mail to bomber-plane nose art, pin-up girls inspired our boys overseas. With some of the era's greatest artists, like Elvgren and Vargas, this book features over 500 full-color illustrations, as well as a six-color foil hardcover which provides an incredible metallic impact.

Customer Reviews:

All-American Pin-up art.......2004-12-23

Set in a scrapbook-type format, this book showcases pin-up art used to help G.I.'s show exactly what they were fighting for back during the World Wars.

Plane Nose Art, Calenders and matchbook covers are some of the pieces showcased in this book. Everyone from Vargas to Elvgren's artworks are shown in a small sampling, that'll help entice you to look them up further.

Great racy art (considering it's been decades since they were made) of an era long gone. These pieces are definitely a 'less-is-more' situation where what you don't see is sexier than what you do.

Not Just "Pin-Ups"..........2003-07-29

I decided to add this to my "Pin- Up Book" collection when the price fell below $$$!

Although I really had no idea what to expect, imagine my surprise (and astonishment!), when I discovered that this book is not only a great "Pin-Up" resource, but also a fantastic "Nose Art" book (in it's own right!).

Not only does it cover the B-24 Liberator (in abundance), but also includes the B-17, B-25, B-26 and B-29 (bombers), and features fighter aircraft as well! Tons of color photos, never before published.

As an added bonus, I didn't realize this was a huge "Coffee Table" book! (13.35 x 10.32 in.) with 144 pages of visual delight!

The introduction is the best part!.......2002-08-02

The introduction to this book is an informative piece about various pin-up artists of the WWII era; however, most of the book was a scrapbook style work that left much to be desired. The main fault with the display of images was that there was no way to tell which artists created which images. Another drawback was how "racy" some of the images were. This significantly limits the appropraite audience for this book.

The story and influence of the pin-up girl during WW II.......2001-05-18

For The Boys blends an art history book with a focus on film and military images, considering the story and influence of the pin-up girl during World War II. For The Boys profiles calendars, postcards, mathbooks and other memorabilia featuring the girls and uses many original source images by Vargas, Elvgren and others to accompany photo-packed pages and information. A colorful, revealing collection.

Great photographs and artwork, poor presentation.......2000-09-26

I have quite a few books on the subject matter and although I love the original artwork being presented next to the nose-art photos, I really felt that proper credit should've been given to the artists (both original and the Service Men). On some pieces you can see the signature but on a lot of them, you can't and the artists aren't cited. On the photos of the Bombers and Fighters, it would've been nice if the authors had done a little more research and included Bomb or Fighter Groups/Squadrons to give further credit to the Service men who so faithfully recreated their favorite pin-ups on their aircraft.

The layouts are also sometimes too "BUSY" and give you a SCRAPBOOK FEELING, but again, THE ARTWORK AND PHOTOGRAPHS MAKE UP FOR THE OBVIOUS SHORTCOMINGS.

I would recommend "VINTAGE AIRCRAFT NOSEART" for better pictures of the painted aircrafts, and the "GREAT AMERICAN PIN-UP" as a starting point if you're really interested in both art forms as those two books are jammed packed with both good photographs, and rich history. then perhaps getting books on your favorite individual artists. Mine are Vargas and Elvgren.

Average customer rating:

Excellent, Straight Information about Critical Issues facing our boys.

Another fantastic book from Christina

Scratching the surface...

This is an excellent book, all the "progressive" educators should read it

the book should be one of your books about rising a boy these days

The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Men
Christina Hoff Sommers
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Who Stole Feminism?: How Women Have Betrayed Women

The Rantings of a Single Male: Losing Patience with Feminism, Political Correctness... and Basically Everything

The Myth of Male Power

The War Against Men

The Decline of Males: The First Look at an Unexpected New World for Men and Women

ASIN: 0684849569

Amazon.com

The author of the provocative bestseller Who Stole Feminism? returns with an equally eye-opening follow-up. "It's a bad time to be a boy in America," writes Christina Hoff Sommers. Boys are less likely than girls to go to college or do their homework. They're more likely to cheat on tests, wind up in detention, or drop out of school. Yet it's "the myth of the fragile girl," according to Sommers, that has received the lion's share of attention recently, in hot-selling books like Mary Pipher's Reviving Ophelia. When boys are discussed at all, it's in the context of how to modify their antisocial behavior--i.e., how to make them more like girls.

This book tells the story of how it has become fashionable to attribute pathology to millions of healthy male children. It is a story of how we are turning against boys and forgetting a simple truth: that the energy, competitiveness, and corporal daring of normal, decent males is responsible for much of what is right in the world. No one denies that boys' aggressive tendencies must be checked and channeled in constructive ways. Boys need discipline, respect, and moral guidance. Boys need love and tolerant understanding. They do not need to be pathologized.

Sommers eviscerates feminist scholarship by Harvard's Carol Gilligan, the American Association of University Women, and others. Hers is feisty, muscular prose and fans of Who Stole Feminism? will delight in it. "There have always been societies that favored boys over girls," she writes. "Ours may be the first to deliberately throw the gender switch. If we continue on our present course, boys will, indeed, be tomorrow's second sex." That rhetoric may err on the side of alarmism, but Sommers' ideas are full of common sense. She essentially urges parents and educators to let boys be boys, even though their "very masculinity turns out to be politically incorrect." The War on Boys is sure to set off a fiery controversy, just as Sommers' previous book did--but it should also find a big audience of readers who become fans. --John J. Miller

Book Description

It's a bad time to be a boy in America. As the century drew to a close, the defining event for American girls was the triumph of the U.S. women's soccer team. For boys, the symbolic event was the mass killing at Columbine High School.

It would seem that boys in our society are greatly at risk. Yet the best-known studies and the academic experts say that it's girls who are suffering from a decline in self-esteem. It's girls, they say, who need extra help in school and elsewhere in a society that favors boys. The problem with boys is that they are boys, say the experts. We need to change their nature. We have to make them more like...girls.

These arguments don't hold up to scrutiny, says Christina Hoff Sommers in this provocative, fascinating book. She analyzes the work of the leading academic experts, Carol Gilligan and William Pollack, and finds it lacking in scientific rigor. There is no girl crisis, says Sommers. Girls are outperforming boys academically, and girls' self-esteem is no different from boys'. Boys lag behind girls in reading and writing ability, and they are less likely to go to college.

The "girl crisis" has been seized upon by some feminists and has been suffused with sexual politics. Under the guise of helping girls, many schools have adopted policies that penalize boys, often for simply being masculine. Sommers says that boys do need help, but not the sort they've been getting. They need help catching up with girls academically. They need love, discipline, respect, and moral guidance. They desperately need understanding. They do not need to be rescued from masculinity.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent, Straight Information about Critical Issues facing our boys........2007-09-11

A Brave, insightful, fully footnoted and supported, rational, objective, critical, and eye-opening piece of research and literature, Christina Hoff Sommers not only writes beautifully and engaging but also leaves little doubt as to what has happened in our educational system and society at large relative to recent approaches to gender differences in our educational system and society.

She is brave in her approach and as this is clearly indicated as she has gone through all the necessary steps to research her material, this included attending conferences and symposiums of those that do not share her views. While this places her in difficult situations it is clear that what she leaves with is a more objective view, either tempered by her adversaries rationality or fueled by their irrationality (more often the latter).

I highly, highly recommend this book.

Another fantastic book from Christina.......2007-08-21

Although 6 years old now, this book was a breakthrough book which intelligently exposed what all thinking people knew already - that many of the American male youth are being irreparably harmed by a movement which, although having in its history won the essential rights anyone would demand in a democracy, has degenerated into a hate-machine, chewing up funds and lying to maintain both its existence as well as the employment of countless thousands of women in the feminist infrastructure.

Sadly, it is evident to me that what Christina describes for the US is evident in just about every Western country. A short anecdote will show what I mean. As an English person in Germany I have assisted teachers in marking papers for final examinations, where I was shown the official model answer for the exam, the State's answer, if you will. One concerned a very short story by an American author, quite a well-known one but whose name I forget right now, which I must briefly relate:

A man gets off a bus and a woman recognizes him. She runs up to him, almost wanting to kiss him, but he acts distanced and unfriendly. We find out through the narrator though, that several years before she had left him for another man, and he had been absolutely heartbroken. Then, as luck would have it, he had met the love of his life, married her and they were now happily together with two children. She however, had since broken up with her new partner. The story ends with them making some non-committal comments to each other before they separate.

Incredibly, the official answer provided by the German Federal Education Department stated that Bill was in the wrong here, he was the bad one for not valuing friendship! She had only tried to be nice to him and he had cold-shouldered her, ignoring her betrayal and resulting heartbreak. I then quickly imagined their analysis of the story if we reversed the sexes exactly: a woman steps off a bus, and man recognises her. He runs up to her, getting really close and even looking like he wants to kiss her. How dare he! This man left her for another woman and broke her heart a couple years back, now he sees her in public and thinks he can just throw himself at her, she who destiny rewarded after his betrayal with a loving husband and two children. The cheek of it! She rightfully cold-shoulders him, they make a few non-committal comments and disappear. Would the German Education Department then point the finger at the woman, saying how unfriendly she is? Hardly likely. What they'd now doubt ask is how audacious can this man be, to leave a woman like that and then expect when seeing her again to just run straight in to her arms and kiss her. This would have been the correct analysis from the start, but the criticism of women is not allowed in the education system here. German men have it especially bad, as because of their country's 20th century history, any discussion of THEIR own rights or open criticism of women can lead them to be associated with the political right-wing much more than in other countries. Thus they teach the kids that they all equal at school, then they leave the school and the boys go to the army for 10 months, or perform a Civil Service, working in hospitals, old age homes, etc, doing mainly heavy lifting and carrying work. The girls are free to go off and do as they wish. Crazy. Yet few boys complain at this injustice. The girls would be going crazy if it were reversed! Yet they don't care, and just embarrassingly shrug off any attempt to talk about it. I would urge all these young men, to demand from a future government that respects their rights this time back in payment or early retirement. Like Christina shows with the US, boys around the world are up against it in a matriarchal system which threatens to emasculate them, and all praise to brave women like Christina for helping to highlight this war, which unlike Susan Faludi's mythical one, has practically been declared.

Scratching the surface..........2007-06-19

I gave this book one star simply because I have not read it yet, but I have ordered it and can't wait to read it cover to cover. I am a father of two daughters ages 7 and 13 and we have lived outside of the US for many years so I can't really say that I know what's going on in our society from the 'parent of boys' POV but I do think this is a timely topic which needs more exposure and discussion. Parents don't be silent! Stand up for your boys since they cannot fight for themselves without being labeled as a "problem".

I can tell you that I am an 18-year military veteran and the same anti-male attitudes described by the author and most of the reviwers here have woven their way into America's armed forces. If you know a male friend or family member who has been in the military for 5-10 years or more ask them and they will confirm what I am saying. What was up until very recently the final holdout of the uber-male machismo stereotype (once a neccesary and preferred trait in traditional combat roles but now deemed unecessary in our tech-war scenarios) has been replaced by a brady bunch version of itself due to our sycophantic military brass and their cowering civilian policymakers caving in to the ultra-feminist-PC male bashing movement. How can we give a guy a gun to "kill the enemy" and sensitivity training about cultural, gender and sociological roles at the same time???? Talk about a paradox!

So sadly, the old cliche about "join the military-it'll make a man out of you" just does not apply in today's sissified, hyper-sensitive summer camp edition of the armed forces. Just wanted to let everyone know that Public School is not the only government institution that is shortchanging and marginalizing boys and men in the 21st century. I'm glad I'm retiring before the next big war.

This is an excellent book, all the "progressive" educators should read it.......2007-05-19

Actually I read this book over a year ago, but was recently promted to write a review, after having read some biased (against boys) statements in a couple other recent books (like David Denby's "Greatbooks").
Hoff-Sommers makes an excellent argument for the case, that we need to rethink the way we are "educating" the boys in our primary and secondary schools. It is easy to spew forth truisms like "boys need recess", as some authors do, but Sommers goes into a great amount of detail and fact-finding, to show basically that the branch of feminism which I call "ideological" is largely responsible for the decay of boys' education, and of boys in general. The book has the added benefit, that it (intentionally or not) shows that ideological feminists are unethical, hateful people who will go to any length to destroy boys and men, including inventing or distorting facts, manipulation of the media and politicians, using double standards, taking either side of an argument as it suits their purposes, outright lying, intimidation, and ideology masquerading as "scholarship".
So basically in buying this book, you are really getting two books: a work proving that education of boys needs to be reformed, and an accurate critique of feminism.

the book should be one of your books about rising a boy these days.......2007-02-15

I did not go to this book in the first place, the title and the approach seems too controversial and not a good source of rational thinking about a subject. I personally prefer more balanced, more scientific arguments. After reading a lot on the subject I finally reached the conclusion the best book to read was "Why Gender Matter" by Leonard Sax.
However, then, somebody recommend me this and I read it. It totally worth is price. Cristina Sommers made me reflect about the fact that politic and market forces make arguments look very scientific and nice even when they are not. Science is as good as the source and the intentions of the persons doing the analysis and backing the data.

She clearly and successfully make the point that certain political agendas implemented in our school were based on a controversial foundation and finally resulted in a negative force for our boys. You do not want to rise boys as girls nor viceversa. The 70s are gone. Fortunately, is not 1955 again. But is not the 70s. Sommers let us imagine a balanced 2010 were not only gender becomes accepted as it is but also character education, honor, discipline ..etc, things that were lost in a too-progressive, Rousseau-oriented education that is not getting results.

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The Chocolate War
THE CHOCOLATE WAR
This Chocolate Isn't Sweet, but It's Very, Very Strong
I'd give zero stars if I could
Hard stuff; nevertheless should be read by...

The Chocolate War (Readers Circle)
Robert Cormier
Manufacturer: Knopf Books for Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0375829873
Release Date: 2004-09-14

Amazon.com

Does Jerry Renault dare to disturb the universe? You wouldn't think that his refusal to sell chocolates during his school's fundraiser would create such a stir, but it does; it's as if the whole school comes apart at the seams. To some, Jerry is a hero, but to others, he becomes a scapegoat--a target for their pent-up hatred. And Jerry? He's just trying to stand up for what he believes, but perhaps there is no way for him to escape becoming a pawn in this game of control; students are pitted against other students, fighting for honor--or are they fighting for their lives? In 1974, author Robert Cormier dared to disturb our universe when this book was first published. And now, with a new introduction by the celebrated author, The Chocolate War stands ready to shock a new group of teen readers.

Book Description

IN 1974, AFTER SUFFERING rejections from seven major publishers, The Chocolate War made its debut. An uncompromising portrait of conformity and corruption, it quickly became a bestselling—and provocative—classic for young adults.

“Masterfully structured and rich in theme; the action is well crafted, well timed, suspenseful.”—The New York Times Book Review

“The characterizations of all the boys are superb.”—School Library Journal, Starred

“Compellingly immediate. . . . Readers will respect the uncompromising ending.”—Kirkus Reviews, Starred

An ALA Best Books for Young Adults

A School Library Journal Best Books of the Year

A Kirkus Reviews Choice

A New York Times Outstanding Books of the Year

Customer Reviews:

The Chocolate War.......2007-10-21

Fascinating characters that made me angry realizing (and remembering) how cruel teenagers can be. This novel is a must for high schoolers to read and discuss. I highly recommend this book for parents also.

THE CHOCOLATE WAR.......2007-08-17

[Warning: spoilers included]

In the Dickens novel NICHOLAS NICKELBY, Nicholas joins a troupe of actors that put on their own version of ROMEO & JULIET which is designed to please the audience and spare them the tragic ending, making sure that EVERYONE lives in the end! Hooray!

As much fun and as funny as that is, it captures a reality that often is not a reflection of reality at all: all of the best stories do not have happy endings. That is, after all, why they are called "tragedies."

Take THE CHOCOLATE WAR for example. It is bleek, ominous, and essentially the first truly tragic modern young adult novel I can think of.

From the opening sentence ("They murdered him") to the painful conclusion, Robert Cormier's masterwork is a lesson in Tone. Almost like being caught in the far-reaches of a whirlpool that slowly brings you in, tricking you into thinking you have some control and are able to extricate yourself from its pull, so too does THE CHOCOLATE WAR bring you in. And as desperate as we readers are to find the protagonist working his way out of the whirlpool, it is, unfortunately, inevitable that he cannot.

This is a truly memorable novel because its tragic theme seems to be harsh, bitter and entirely unrealistic, but, in fact, it is sadly real -- a little reminder that not everyone gets what they deserve; some terrible people are victors in life; and not everyone finds salvation. These lessons are terribly hard to swallow, and impossible for some to accept. For those who dislike the book, I suggest you consider the idea that Cormier, by writing such a different book, has himself "dared to disturb the universe" of young adult novels. Perhaps those who chastise him for such a downer of a book ought to consider themselves similar to the characters in this book who demand that he (Jerry/Cormier) get in line and who wish to bring about the destruction of the nonconformist.

If that weren't enough to warrant a read, Cormier performs another act of bravery as a writer: THE CHOCOLATE WAR, a book clearly meant for teenage boys, reveals an almost complete range of teenage boys that exist in our world. They range from those who rely entirely on their brains to those who never do (or can); there are the arrogant, the fastidious, the cautious, the bold, the fake, the selfish, the scared, the empowered, the weak, the easily-swayed, the failures, the spineless, the metamorphic, the blood-thirsty, and then there's Jerry. Like watching a mouse within a snake's reach, the reader watches Jerry and prays that he survives what seems to be unavoidable -- dear God, intervene and make it not happen! But sometimes, God answers prayers with a "No."

This book is difficult to read, difficult to accept, difficult to embrace...but read it if you dare; accept it if you can; embrace it if you want to grow. It's important that we acknowledge that not every great story ends happily, but every great story IS magnificently told.

This Chocolate Isn't Sweet, but It's Very, Very Strong.......2007-08-13

Robert Cormier introduced this book in later editions by saying that he didn't write it as a young adult novel--he just wrote it, and that's how it got picked up. A lot of parents, teachers, and defenders of organized religion HATED this book because of its supposed corrosive influence on young people. Well, I'm a teacher and a supporter of organized religion, and though I don't necessarily think this book's audience is limited to young adults, I do think it is an absolutely incredible (if cynical) work of literature. I came to this book as an adult, and I was blown away.

Jerry Renault is a normal Catholic school kid, struggling to get over the death of his mother, make the football team, and survive the normal, terrible pangs of adolsence. He's accosted by the Vigils, a secret society of students inside Trinity School that serves only to torment and upset the balance of the school universe. They assign jobs to younger students, tasks that require them to do things that are immoral, uncomfortable, and counter-authority. In Jerry's case, this means a simple (?) refusal to participate in the annual school fundraiser: selling chocolates.

The only problem is, EVERYONE sells the chocolates, and this year, the overly ambitious Brother Leon has staked his job and the school's finances on this sale. What follows is a colossal battle of wills that is waged on three fronts: Jerry, the school, and the Vigils. The eventual outcome is brutal, heartrending, and fundamentally counter to any established expectation one may have while reading from the young adult market. Even the movie--which got an R-rating--didn't have the stomach to represent the ending in all of its unapologetic nastiness.

Some may forget that William Shakespeare built a career on this kind of total story collapse. It's called tragedy. And in THE CHOCOLATE WAR, the genre is rendered beautifully for a modern audience.

(This review has been posted by Marcus Damanda, author of the vampire book "Teeth: A Horror Fantasy.")

I'd give zero stars if I could.......2007-08-10

Hands down this was the worst book I have ever read. All the characters are detestible, the plot is cynical, the language filthy, the behavior of the characters repulsive. Do yourself a favor and do not waste a precious minute of your life on this trash.

Hard stuff; nevertheless should be read by..........2007-06-17

...middle schoolers and discussed with parents and peers BEFORE moving into high school...I've been out of high school over thirty years but still recognize people and situations that I had to deal with totally unprepared...and I suspect from what I've read and seen reported that high school probably is worse now in even more respects than what I experienced...

"I'm Staying with My Boys..." The Heroic Life of Sgt. John Basilone, USMC

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A MUST READ ! ! !
It sounds so prophetic
A must read
Excellent
An Extraordinary Biography and Full Frontal View of War

"I'm Staying with My Boys..." The Heroic Life of Sgt. John Basilone, USMC
jim Proser , and Jerry Cutter
Manufacturer: Lightbearer Communications Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0975546104

Product Description

I'M STAYING WITH MY BOYS... is a first-hand look inside the life of one of the greatest heroes of the greatest generation. Sgt. John Basilone was lauded by General Douglas MacArthur as ...A ONE MAN ARMY and awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic defense of a vital airfield early in World War 2. It was the turning point of the war and Basilones foxhole was the site of the turning point in that battle. Distinctive among military biographies, the story is narrated by Sgt. Basilone himself allowing readers to experience the development of Johnny Basilone, the aimless youth, into Gunnery Sergeant MANILA JOHN Basilone, the clear-eyed warrior, undefeated light-heavyweight boxer and nationally revered war hero. This publication is the only family-authorized biography. The story is woven with surprising personal details such as Sgt. Basilones uncanny premonitions. Three times he confided to his family unlikely visions of his future. All three times the visions came to pass - including the final one that foretold his death. In spite of his final revelation, and true to his unwavering dedication to his men, he returned to battle and was killed on the beach at Iwo Jima - an emotional true story

Customer Reviews:

A MUST READ ! ! !.......2005-09-15

My friend loaned me this book to read and I must say that it gave me a new found appreciation of what those men and women did for us in WWII. This book was very easy to read, and should be included in the curriculum of every Recent American History course taught in High School or College. I HIGHLY recommend picking up a copy of this book. I have already purchased a copy for myself after reading my friends copy.

It sounds so prophetic.......2005-01-26

He knew he was going to die, and he just kept on fighting. He never abandoned his marines and thats just what he should have done. Its how the writer makes this so real that is so inspiring, not that his deeds werent great, but there have probably been thousands who have done just what he did, they just werent famous. But overall this is a good book. I like how it takes us to a time when being "patriotic" didnt get us arrested or sued.

A must read.......2005-01-06

Wonderfully moving and well written insight into a true American hero. It is a must read for all patriotic Americans and almost a responsiblity for us all to be aware of one of the US Marine's best.

Excellent.......2004-10-25

If you are interested in a personal story of WWII, then this is an excellent book. Rather than getting into the details of the conflicts this book focuses on the personal story of John Basilone - one of the handful of true American Heroes from WWII.

Written in the first person with an ample dose of personal details from his family, this book truly brings Manilla John back to life for many. I've been studying WWII for only 10 years and have read my share of the technical assessments of the important battles in WWII. This book stands out in my mind because it puts the reader in touch with the qualities of America's best young men and women of the 1940's; selflessness, courage, a supreme sense of duty, and in Basilon's case, a supreme sense of destiny.

Highly recommended for anyone with a passing interest in WWII, or for anyone who wants to learn about what made America's young people "tick" 60 years ago.

An Extraordinary Biography and Full Frontal View of War.......2004-08-28

Author and Film Producer Jim Prosser has created a richly detailed, raptly written, devastatingly powerful book about the life of American War hero John Basilone. This book is especially pungent at this time in history because it revives a lost tradition of the country's view of maritime heroism. Since the atrocities of the Vietnam mistake to the present harrowing details of a similar (or worse) war in Iraq the concept of war is now very much in a negative light. Even the words 'war hero' seem an oxymoron, so strident are the feelings about America's latest aggressions. But to appreciate this fine book requires a return to the mindset of the US during World War II when not only was Europe under the vile threat of Hitler and Mussolini, but the Japanese warriors were annihilating China, Korea, and ultimately the Philippines in the mission to own the Pacific Ocean. And even in those early years the threat seemed frightening but distant until the Japanese successfully decimate the US Pacific Fleet on December 7, 1941. That incident unified the country, creating a fighting force and support system at home that eventually resulted in the defeat of the massive evil outside the borders of the USA.

Given that atmosphere of over a half century ago, author Proser has created one of the most convincing portraits of a military hero in literature. And the intensively researched and detailed approach results in a biography that fully restores the ambience of WW II. John Basilone was a nice Italian boy form Raritan, New Jersey, a lad who quit school to follow his recurring visions. He caddied for Japanese businessmen at a country club, seeing in his prophetic mind that at some day he would be at war with Japan. After trying multiple jobs he finally enlists in the Army, makes the best of boot camp by gambling and boxing, and is shipped to the Philippines where he spent time waiting, boxing (becoming a champion nicknamed Manila John), running a little bar with his Island sweetheart, and finally returning home. Frustrated once again with the boredom of work and the embarrassment of not having finished his education, Basilone finally returns to the military by signing on with the USMC, trains hard at Quantico, Cuba, and other US training camp swamps, and finally is shipped to Guadalcanal where his brilliance and dedication to his commanding officer ("Chesty" Puller) through one of the most devastating battles in the Pacific arena earned him not only the respect of his men, but also the Medal of Honor - the highest commendation offered by his country. Returning home form this mission he ride the waves of adulation form the American people, hobnobs with movies stars, sells War Bonds, and falls in love, only to be shipped out once again to the Pacific where he is killed in action in the battle for Iwo Jima.

The amazing (that is, ONE of the amazing) aspect of this book is that Proser has elected to write it in the first person of John Basilone. Everything is told as Basilone perceives it, lives, feels, and survives it. Rarely has a story been written with such clarity and perception: we truly feel that Basilone has written his memoirs. The language of the period is exactly right, the descriptions of the various battles and conditions of being a soldier under tremendously adverse conditions are vivid, and the soldiers' mentality of being in the thick of war are written with such bulls-eye focus that no matter what the reader's opinion of War might be, this book makes it all understandable form the point of view of the soldiers who fought. Some of the battle passages are tough to read: "On October 23, a light tank and infantry attack across the mouth of the Matanikau ran right into the teeth of Vandegrift's defenses. It was chewed up in short order with over 600 Japs killed, many of them trapped in a jungle clearing where US tanks just drove over them instead of wasting ammunition. They ground the poor bastards up like sausage under the tank treads until the entire clearing was covered in gore and left to rot in the sun." And a soldier's impressions: "We all heard a lot about the bravery of the Japanese soldier before we got on the island. They were supposed to be the most fearless warriors ever to fight. But I kept thinking what kind of bravery it was that sent them, one after the other, right into the same guns that mowed down dozens before them. I don't know if that was bravery. I don't know what it was. Either they were crazy or they just didn't care. So I didn't care either. They weren't even men anymore. They were dumb animals who wanted me dead and had killed all my friends."

Proser very cleverly weaves snippets of Iwo Jima from the opening of the book to its finish, which in an act of brilliance makes the whole story more pungent in retrospect. There is little doubt the Sgt. John Basilone was an extraordinary soldier and military hero along with the thousands of others who lost their lives in the incomprehensibly vast WW II. I think this is a very important book that everyone should read, and I say that as a pacifist, as a Vietnam Veteran convinced that war on any level is simply not an option. This book is vastly important, well written, and contains a story and moment of history we all should face and incorporate. And perhaps then we can all better empathize with soldiers form throughout history to the very present. Recommended without reservation!

Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps

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Concerns about pre-teens
NO MENTION OF 3 MILLION POLISH CATHOLICS KILLED
Surviving Hitler
I'm a Holocaust freak and I loved this book
Surviving Hitler

Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps
Andrea Warren
Manufacturer: HarperTrophy
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0060007672
Release Date: 2002-09-17

Book Description

"Think of it as a game, Jack.
Play the game right and you might outlast the Nazis."

Caught up in Hitler's Final Solution to annihilate Europe's Jews, fifteen-year-old Jack Mandelbaum is torn from his family and thrown into the nightmarish world of the concentration camps. Here, simple existence is a constant struggle, and Jack must learn to live hour to hour, day to day. Despite intolerable conditions, he resolves not to hate his captors and vows to see his family again. But even with his strong will to survive, how long can Jack continue to play this life-and-death game?

Award-winning author Andrea Warren has crafted an unforgettable true story of a boy becoming a man in the shadow of the Third Reich.

Customer Reviews:

Concerns about pre-teens.......2007-09-13

I haven't read the book, but my 11 year old checked it out at school. He was hooked on the story from the beginning.
However, I was surprised when he asked me "Mom, what is a homosexual?" He said that homosexuals were singled out to be victimized. He also
was upset about how children, especially those with disabilities were tortured and murdered.
I appreciate all the positive reviews here, but it really opened up a lot of issues for my son. Might be better suited to older children.

NO MENTION OF 3 MILLION POLISH CATHOLICS KILLED .......2007-06-28

The author makes a good effort to be objective, but drops the ball here and there. The biggest blunder seems to be in the summary of holocaust casualties. The author left out the fact that 3 Million Polish-Catholics were butchered by Hitler. This fact is often forgotten, and very hurtful, especially to the Poles who lost someone in the Polish holocaust or "Forgotten Holocaust.". A great book to read is Richard Lukas' "The Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles Under nazi Occupation."

Surviving Hitler.......2007-01-31

I recently read the book Surviving Hitler by Andrea Warren. I not only thought it was one of the most fascinating books I thought it was very well written. I had been to the holocaust museum in Washing DC and I was mortified looking at everything, but this book really put me in the perspective of the boy who was close to my age. The book got better and better as it went on, and I am usually not very fond of non-fiction books. This book really makes you realize how you can survive anything that comes at you as long as you believe in yourself. You are automatically hooked and as soon as the book is over you wish there was still more to read. I would definitely recommend this book to any person, young or old, it's truly unbelievable.

I'm a Holocaust freak and I loved this book.......2006-12-19

This book is an awsome book i read the first chapter and i was hooked it is awsome.It is about a boy named jack who gets sent to a concetration camp and gets his arm tattoed witha number on it and he still has it on this arm he and his got seperatered at the train station and they died it is a very sad book but the ending makes up for the sadness. I was 9 when i read this book and loved it. THIS BOOK IS AWSOME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Surviving Hitler.......2006-12-14

Imagine urinating in the same cup you eat in. Imagine feeling fleas crawling all over you and sick people coughing on you. It doesn't exactly sound pleasant but that is the lifestyle the concentration camp prisoners had to go through. The book, Surviving Hitler, is a memorable and sad memoir that focuses on The Holocaust during World War 2. The book has a moving story, and a powerful message that has truly put a different perspective in my eyes on how crule people can be and how understanding people have to be.

This book is about a boy named Jack, who is a very fortunate Jewish boy living in Europe. Jack and his family move in with his uncle who lives in a nearby town. Jack's father stayed behind to get organized and then he would meet up with them after. He had to close up his shop, sell his place, and pack up the big furniture. Unfortunately, before he could meet his family he was put into a concentration camp. Three years later Jack is working and supporting his mom and little brother while his sister, Jadiza, goes to their Aunt and Uncles house to help them with aetheir new baby. Hitler's soldiers invade the town they are living in and later group all the Jewish families into the town square to send them to concentration camps. Jack gets separated from his family and starts a whole different life in the concentration camps. He learns to survive on his own and take what he can get. It is a very rough experience for him, and you have to read the book to see the outcome.

I really enjoyed how the author put black and white photographs in this sad but true story because it really helps you imaging the living conditions back then. The structure of the book is not terribly long, making it an easy read. What I truly love about this book is that the author is always keeping you on your toes and never drags on about one topic. This book sends out a powerful message that I never truly understood until I finished he novel. It taught me to never take anything for granted and to enjoy every moment possible. Of course I forget this message a lot and I do take a lot for granted but when in doubt I always try to remember this book. Jack also gets a message out of his experience in the concentration camps. He learns to live life to its fullest and try to help as many people as he can but still be cautious of his own well being. "Three years as a teenager in the death camps he survived through courage, luck, help from others, and sheer will. Like all survivors, he has much to teach us about bravery and self reliance, and about history and the lessons of the Holocaust." Surviving Hitler is a very moving book that can really make people change some of their views of the world.

In my opinion Surviving Hitler is one of the best books I've ever read. Not only has it intrigued me to know more about the Holocaust, it has actually interested me a little more in history in general. I would defiantly recommend this book and hope that the next person who reads it loves it as much as I have.

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Humanity, stripped to its core
disappointing
Empire of the Sun
Survival amidst death
Coming of Age

Empire of the Sun
J. G. Ballard
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0743265238

Book Description

The classic, award-winning novel, made famous by Steven Spielberg's film, tells of a young boy's struggle to survive World War II in China.

Jim is separated from his parents in a world at war. To survive, he must find a strength greater than all the events that surround him.

Shanghai, 1941 -- a city aflame from the fateful torch of Pearl Harbor. In streets full of chaos and corpses, a young British boy searches in vain for his parents. Imprisoned in a Japanese concentration camp, he is witness to the fierce white flash of Nagasaki, as the bomb bellows the end of the war...and the dawn of a blighted world.

Ballard's enduring novel of war and deprivation, internment camps and death marches, and starvation and survival is an honest coming-of-age tale set in a world thrown utterly out of joint.

Customer Reviews:

Humanity, stripped to its core.......2007-05-24

My first introduction to this story was, like many others, through Steven Spielberg's adaptation. For me, the hauntingly beautiful "Suo Gan" that serves as that movie's de facto theme song perfectly captures the fragile yet enduring beauty of humanity that Spielberg so successfully captures in his movie version. The movie abounds with poignant moments of hope, warmth, and exhilaration amongst the great struggles that befall Jim and his band of acquaintances. I enjoyed the movie, and Jim's story and haunting memory of Suo Gan made a lasting impression.

Years later, I encountered the original story--J.G. Ballard's novel that served as Spielberg's inspiration. Just as the newsreels and magazines that tell of the war fascinate Jim in the book because they describe a war so different than the one he knows, so does Spielberg's movie tell a different tale from Ballard's book. The events are by and large the same, but the tone of the story, the horrors experienced by Jim, and the lessons and impressions instilled by the novel are on a different order of magnitude from the movie. I enjoyed the movie on its own merits, but I imagine the order in which you encounter them colors your impression--for people like me who saw the movie first, it was easy to appreciate the movie, and then be blown away by the power of the book. For those who read the book first, I would imagine the movie would be a disappointing, sanitized version of the original work.

The novel overpowers the reader from start to finish by Ballard's stark account of Jim's survival against all odds, in conditions stacked heavily against him. Death, betrayal, illness, and hunger surround Jim and yet somehow he always managed to survive because he never despairs, never gives up, always keeps his wits about him, and as he himself explains, because he "takes nothing for granted." The world of WWII Shanghai strips humanity to its bare, naked, ugly core. Growing up in this environment, Jim becomes a remarkably complex character in spite of (or perhaps because of) his young age. Jim is intelligent, naive, loyal, callous, hopeful, curious, delusional, and yet oddly lucid--all at the same time. The image of flight is strong throughout the story, as a form of escape, and in some ways the only vestige of childhood granted to this boy as he goes through a life full of cruel ironies--first, the inability despite repeated attempts to surrender to an enemy that he needs infinitely more than they need him; then, the odd realization that this "enemy" is his greatest protector and in many instances, friend; finally, that even with the war over he is in greater danger and further from his parents than ever. War, peace, friend, foe, cause, effect, even the distinction between life and death ... these cease to have meaning for Jim. Finally, Jim is saved in an almost deus ex machina fashion by the heroic Dr. Ransome, a man whose selfless actions mildly amuse and baffle Jim, who cannot quite understand this brand of humanity which is quite different from the one he learned through his own experiences. Ransome's life is one that takes certain things for granted. Jim has not been afforded this luxury.

Jim's reunion with his parents is another, critical difference between the movie and the book. The "happily-ever after" ending in the movie is filled with hope and relief. Jim and his parents don't recognize each other at first. Then they do. This symbolizes that the war is finally over for Jim, now he can go back to a normal life. The End. In the book, however, the ending is much more nuanced. Despite returning "home" to Shanghai, Jim's home will forever be Lunghua in the novel version. Normalcy will never be a suburban life in England, for Jim it is wartime Shanghai. The odds of Jim being able to live what most of us would call a "normal life" are practically zero ... after all, he has just experienced a lifetime of events more "real" and vivid than "normal life" could ever be; the war never ends for Jim. Seeing the far-from-normal life Ballard himself has lead, and the fiction he has written, one realizes that even though "Jim" and "J.G. Ballard" may not be the same person (one crucial difference--Ballard is never separated from his parents), Ballard is still the adult that Jim would have grown up to be. It is this honest and uncompromising portrayal of Jim as a true tragic hero that separates the book from the movie, and makes this book one of the truly great accounts of surviving a brutal war that knows and shows no mercy.

disappointing.......2007-05-13

The movie was fantastic, and usually a good movie has a good book at its root. In this case, the writing didn't pull one into the story and let the reader identify with the characters.

Empire of the Sun.......2007-01-19

Book was delivered in excellent condition with fast reliable service from merchant.

Survival amidst death.......2006-04-25

A most incredible book... It holds the reader glued to every page, not unlike the grip of death which encased Shangai after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941.

The story, based on J.G. Ballard's actual experiences, is about a young British teenager who lives with his parents in Shangai at the eve of Pearl Harbor and is then interned by the Japanese from 1942-1945 in the Lunghua prison camp near Shanghai. It is truly mesmerizing, in the negative sense unfortunately, because of the countless moments of inherent evil that arose as a result of war. The places-airfield runways made of bones of dead Chinese, a make-shift cemetery full of corpses with extremities sticking out, canals full of dead bodies, floating flower coffins with Chinese babies-the people-an opportunistic American soldier who profits from death, Japanese soldiers bent on brutality, an American doctor who does everything to save the sick and dying, the indifference of a British woman to a sick boy-and events-the killing of a Chinese coolie, the never-ending deaths of sick prisoners, the death march to Nantao-exemplify that evil and are described with such incredible detail and clarity as to be almost permanently engraved in the mind of the reader.

Through all the death and destruction, of which almost every chapter of the book is filled with, lives a young British teenager (the author himself, but written in 3rd person) who has an incredible will to survive. The question of his morality is ever-present if we judge his thoughts and actions solely; yet in the face of starvation and omnipresent death, his story is one of a smart young boy who is trying his best to survive. When viewed under those circumstances and compared to the actions of others in the book, his story can be perceived in a more positive yet still overwhelmingly sad light. Indeed, it is the author's reconstruction of his thoughts in particular that divulge the horror of the events he experienced. One of the most memorable concerns the death march to Nantao:

"Dr. Ransome had recruited a human chain from the men sitting on the embankment below the trucks, and they passed pails of water up to the patients.

Jim shook his head, puzzled by all this effort. Obviously they were being taken up-country so that the Japanese could kill them without being seen by the American pilots. Jim listened to the Shell man's wife crying in the yellow grass. The sunlight charged the air above the canal, an intense aura of hunger that stung his retinas and remind him of the halo formed by the exploding Mustang. The burning body of the American pilot had quickened the dead land. It would be for the best if they all died; it would bring their lives to an end that had been implicit ever since the Idzumo had sunk the Petrel and the British hand surrendered at Singapore without a fight.

Perhaps they were already dead. Jim lay back and tried to count the motes of light. This simple truth was known to every Chinese from birth. Once the British internees had accepted it, they would no longer fear their journey to the killing ground...."

Steven Spielberg's adaptation of the book in the 1986 movie of the same name is insufficient at best. While the cinematography and acting are good, the crux of the story-the cruelty and horrors of post-Pearl Harbor Shangai-is conveniently glossed over. It's as if Spielberg decided to change the script from an "R" to a "G". The problem is that the latter version of the movie no longer resembles the former and effectively does injustice to the thousands of people (and millions more not included in the scope of the book)-including the author himself-who suffered and/or died in Lunghua prison and Shangai from 1942-1945 at the hands of the Japanese.

Coming of Age.......2005-07-08

I first became acquainted with this story thru the marvelous Steven Spielberg movie. I thought it was such a powerful story that I bought the book the day after I saw the movie.

The story is an account of the author experiences after war breaks while he is in Shanghai. Separated from his parents and sent to a concentration camp Jim has to learn to survive on his own by creating alliances with other prisoners.

This is a coming of age story that will stay with you for a long time. Highly recommended.

Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two

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Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two
Joseph Bruchac
Manufacturer: Puffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0142405965

Book Description

The United States is at war, and sixteen-year-old Ned Begay wants to join the cause—especially when he hears that Navajos are being specifically recruited by the Marine Corps. So he claims he's old enough to enlist, breezes his way through boot camp, and suddenly finds himself involve

"Think of it as a game, Jack. Play the game right and you might outlast the Nazis."

"Think of it as a game, Jack.
Play the game right and you might outlast the Nazis."