Flags of Our Fathers

By: James Bradley, Ron Powers

Narrated by: Stephen Hoye

Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

Flags of Our Fathers is the unforgettable chronicle of perhaps the most famous moment in American military history: the raising of the US flag at Iwo Jima.

Here is the true story behind the immortal photograph that has come to symbolize the courage and indomitable will of America. In February 1945, American Marines plunged into the surf at Iwo Jima - and into history. The son of one of the flag raisers has written a powerful account of six very different men who came together in the heroic battle for the Pacific’s most crucial island.

©2000 James Bradley and Ron Powers (P)2006 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

• Alex Award Winner, 2001

"Voluminous and memorable.... No reader will forget the lesson." (Publishers Weekly)

"Flags of Our Fathers is one of the most instructive and moving books on war and its aftermath that we are likely to see, in part because it is instructive and moving in unexpected ways." (The New York Times)

Riveting

Story starts out a bit slow - details on the flag raisers, their home life and where they grew up. But the sobering details on the day to day skirmishes to take Iwo Jima are heart-wrenching and sad. So many lives lost! It’s indeed a tribute to those who stood shoulder to shoulder with their fellow Marines who would rather die than to let their buddies down. And to the Navy Corpsmen (the Docs) who displayed equal bravery to care for their comrades. Unbelievable moment-to-moment commitment, discipline and bravery for days, then weeks! There were really more than 6 heroes - there were thousands of heroes. Great read.

great sad but great

I love this book I will listen to it about 10 time i bet in a year its such a good book I loved all of it. I even finished it in a week.

Highly recommend.

Very well written. The narrator really is outstanding. You won’t regret buying this one.
DAS

What is a hero?

Outstanding book. Very valuable study of what heroism is and how it is as much a function of the view point as the act.

This wasn't super human, this was ordinary simple young men passing through hell on earth. In that passage there were great acts of selflessness for buddies. What the world saw as heroism wasn't what those there recognized as heroism yet maybe no less needed. Living past it and beyond it strikes me as equally honor worth.

Fascinating insight into the flag raisers' personal lives

I felt like the author gave a great look into all that went on in the marines' lives – the good, the bad and ugly. I would highly recommend hearing the story

Marc W

Absolutely an amazing story. filled a ton of holes out of the history books but also another great perspective of the actual raisers. a must read or listen for any WWII history reader

If you doubt the reason for the A-bomb read this!

The only hero's are the ones who didn't make it home! Now I see the memorial thru their eyes.

Flags of Our Fathers

Excellent book that vividly describes the horrors of war and the valor of the young men who fought for the United States in World War II.

A Worthy Book With Limitations

I'm very glad I read this because I learned a great deal. I've always respected and appreciated those who fought in WWII, but this thoroughly researched narrative of the battle of Iwo Jima brought home even more how truly heroic all the marines in this nightmare battle were. I appreciate the author's work, but wish he had edited out perhaps a third of the manuscript, as he goes overboard in telling us how heroic his father and companions were, how non-heroic they felt themselves to be, and how relentless the media and public pursuit of them was. If he had related these perceptions only once, rather than literally dozens of times, I think the impact would have been greater. The narrator was excellent, though with a text that overdramatizes some ideas to the point of nausea, it's difficult to subdue the sappiness. I find it ironic that Bradly put so much into researching his father's experience and views, and in the process repeats the mistaken adulation that his father so disliked. I can imagine ol' Dad shaking his head and muttering, "Geez, Son, didn't I leave you with any sense of perspective?" Even with these irritations, the book is an admirable attempt to share the impact of this amazing battle and the incredible spirit required by those who lived and died in it.

Great book

Spell binding and entertaining. Would recommend it to any Lissner. my father-in-law was in some of those battles. So now I have a greater respect for what went on there