Tears in the Darkness

The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath

By: Michael Norman, Elizabeth Norman

Narrated by: Michael Prichard

Length: 17 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award, History, 2010

For the first four months of 1942, U.S., Filipino, and Japanese soldiers fought what was America's first major land battle of World War II, the battle for the tiny Philippine peninsula of Bataan. It ended with the surrender of 76,000 Filipinos and Americans, the single largest defeat in American military history. The defeat, though, was only the beginning, as Michael and Elizabeth M. Norman make dramatically clear in this powerfully original book.

From then until the Japanese surrendered in August 1945, the prisoners of war suffered an ordeal of unparalleled cruelty and savagery: 41 months of captivity, starvation rations, dehydration, hard labor, deadly disease, and torture---far from the machinations of General Douglas MacArthur. The Normans bring to the story remarkable feats of reportage and literary empathy.

Their protagonist, Ben Steele, is a figure out of Hemingway: a young cowboy turned sketch artist from Montana who joined the army to see the world. Juxtaposed against Steele's story and the sobering tale of the Death March and its aftermath is the story of a number of Japanese soldiers. The result is an altogether new and original World War II book: it exposes the myths of military heroism as shallow and inadequate; and it makes clear, with great literary and human power, that war causes suffering for people on all sides.

©2009 Michael and Elizabeth Norman (P)2009 Tantor

A Very Moving Story Of The Resiliency Of Humanity

This work carried me through 26.2 miles of high desert this past March in New Mexico.

An amazing story with contemporary application.

It made me think, why are we not helping ISIS captives? We must do more.

Powerful, a must for anyone interested in WWII

Highly recommend this for it's excellent story-telling and vivid accounting of the Bataan Death March and after-effects. I appreciated the authors weaving in flashbacks to "previous life" as it gave a break from the accounting and provided a stark contrast to the POW experience. I thought the book was well-performed (although we did speed it up just a little). My husband and I read, watch and listen to many books and documentaries about WWII and think this one is just terrific. It is horrifying, yet inspiring as you listen to the stories of the triumph of humans and the human spirit in the face of an horrific experience.

Haunting and unforgetable

I read this book in hardcover several years ago, and the descriptions of humanity and inhumanity, of hope and despair, of life and death never really left me. When this audiobook went on sale, I snapped it up quickly. I'm so glad I did.

This book has several (maybe even many) passages describing brutal forms of beatings, torture, sickness and death; it is not for the faint of heart. And yet none of it felt like it was inserted for shock value. The human spirit of those who survived the march, the camps, the mines - and those who did not - will not soon leave me.

Michael Prichard's narration takes some getting used to. At first I didn't like it very much, and then - I don't know what changed - it felt like a grandfather was sitting across a living room from me, unveiling secrets he'd long since buried.

Well worth your time, money, credit, and inevitable tears.

Very moving

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I was moved to tears a number of times. At one point, I was listening in my car and I happened to look up at the rear-view mirror and saw a huge furrow in my brow. My entire face was contorted in pain. I was completely invested in the main protagonist, Ben Steele - it was like he was my father or grandfather, and I had to see him through. I was surprised by the scenes that affected me the most. Some of the more violent moments didn't stir up the same emotional response that less conventional methods of torture sometimes produced.

A Must-Read: Respect, Appreciation for Veterans

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Greatly recommend this book. This book brings history to life! I have often wondered why we needed to drop the bombs on Japan. After listening to this book I truly began to understand the cruelty inflicted by the Japanese war machine on our troops. Japan did not consider our captured servicemen as Prisoners of War. They did not follow the guidelines of the Geneva Convention for POWs. Although I wouldn't want us to ever have to use this type of weapon ever again, I now realize it was the most efficient and probably the only way to end that war. This book gives a greater understanding of what our troops endured as "captives." THANK YOU TO EVERY SERVICEMAN AND WOMAN FOR YOUR GREAT SACRIFICE TO KEEP US FREE!

Great story

Having a central character in this historical and tragic event made this a wonderful book. I highly recommend.

Compelling, emotional, deeply engaging

This book is so powerful. It turns so many classic ideas around - like the difference between defeat and victory. It opens with a discussion about the surrender of Japan, then works its way through the near defeat of Japanese forces on Bataan, the ultimate surrender of US forces on Bataan and ultimately back to the final surrender of Japan.

Like an amazing and painful sports game, this book kept me deeply engaged by detailing not only battles and dates, but snippets of people's diaries - from enlisted and officer, from Japanese and Americans and not only their battle lives, but also the memories of lives they left behind. The authors have humanized and illustrated with powerful clarity the people involved in this painful, seemingly distant struggle.

I had always suspected, but this book makes it clear, that the Japanese government of World War II didn't only oppress foreign lands, but also its own people. Through detailed descriptions of the lives of common Japanese soldiers, the authors bring to life a myriad of miseries they had to endure.

This book doesn't demonize anyone. It shows war for how stark and bitter it was for all and it brings history to vivid clarity. I love the way the authors hold out the detail of the American officer who surrenders, showing him from the eyes of a Japanese lieutenant, so that it is only at the end of that page that we learn he was the general in charge, not just a subordinate filling orders. The author details how pained the defeated Americans felt about the idea of giving up. How frustrating it was for them from senior to most junior to do the unthinkable. And yet to continue fighting under the conditions was pure suicide.

I love the rhythm and the literary feel of the writing. The author includes short, declarative sentences that add a marvelous staccato beat to an otherwise complex, entwined sequence of words.

I love the small details of Japanese and Tagalog language, like the gatakoto, gatakoto sound of a train in Japanese language. The cultural detail, like the observation that people believed Filipinos to be a mostly passive people and they would "just go along with everything," until someone's honor was threatened and then they were just as likely to turn a machete from harvesting crops to harvesting someone's head.

I love the details about the lack of training and equipment for the American and Philippine forces combined with a deep will to win and the details that despite a rage against the Army, Japanese men felt an obligation to protect their families.

I just LOVE this book.

I'm listening to it on my commute, a download from Amazon's audible and the narrator's voice is fantastic. This book makes the commute fly by. I get so wrapped up in the story, I don't mind the traffic.

The narration in this book is great. Is well-read and well-produced.

tears in the darkness

the book was such an eye opener..i travel to the philippines evey year as my husband was born there..i will never see that part of the world in the same light...inhumane treatment of the p.o.w.s

Sobering Read

This was a great book for the history junkies out there. Brought me to tears reading details of events these men injured. Narrator was articulate, but a little slow for my liking, but not monotone or droning like some biography narrators.