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Tears in the Darkness
- The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 17 hrs and 13 mins
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Editorial reviews
On April 9, 1942, more than 76,000 American and Filipino soldiers on the island of Batan surrendered to the Japanese, who set them walking 66 miles to prison camp, a notorious walk that came to be known as "The Bataan Death March". Their surrender meant defeat in the first major land battle for America in World War II. Tears in the Darkness, the result of 10 years' research and interviews, weaves a strikingly vivid tapestry of voices from all sides to bring this crucial episode to life. Its central narrative traces new Army Air Corp recruit Ben Steele from his cowboy upbringing in Montana to his shattering experience as a prisoner of war. From this quintessential American tale, other individual stories including those of Filipinos and the Japanese hang together, fleshing out the narrative and providing a remarkably rounded account. This balance is an important part of the book; although there are many detailed descriptions of the inhuman acts committed against prisoners, the authors treat the Japanese with sympathy and respect.
Michael Pritchard's delivery encompasses the campfire setting of Steele's Montana youth equally as well as the General Masaharu Homma's addresses to his Japanese troops, or the harrowing descriptions of the execution of surrendered captives. Pritchard's audiobook credits include titles by Zane Grey, Tom Clancy, and numerous works on American history, and it's not hard to see why: his dust-dry voice has a no-nonsense authority, an unforced sturdiness that honors the book's military milieu without ever being starchy or dull.
Tears in the Darkness stands apart from many military histories through the pungency of its writing: the steaming jungle, agonising thirsts, and overwhelming desperation are conveyed with a color that is more common to novels than history texts. However, the main achievement of the book is the cohesion of its myriad fragments: we get an appraisal of US military strategy in the Southwest Pacific, Filipino children running through Japanese soldiers' legs to get banana-leaves and handfuls of rice to their starving fathers, one survivor's agonisingly slow crawl to safety from under the corpses of executed captives. And throughout, the book's hold never flags, due as much to Pritchard's powerful yet restrained narration as to the sense of unflinching truth. -Dafydd Phillips
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.
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Story
On September 6, 1945, less than a month after the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, George Weller, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, became the first free Westerner to enter the devastated city. Going into the hospitals and consulting the doctors of the bomb's victims, Weller was the first to document its unprecedented long-range medical effects. He also became the first to enter the nearby Allied POW camps, which rivaled those of the Nazis for cruelty and bested them for death count.
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First Into Nagasaki
- By Harold on 02-15-07
By: George Weller
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The Longest Winter
- The Battle of the Bulge and the Epic Story of World War II's Most Decorated Platoon
- By: Alex Kershaw
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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December 1944: Deep in the Ardennes forest, a platoon of 18 men under the command of 20-year-old lieutenant Lyle Bouck huddle in their foxholes. Under attack and vastly outnumbered, they repulse three German assaults in a fierce day-long battle, killing more than 500 Germans. Only when Bouck's men run out of ammunition do they surrender. As POWs, Bouck's platoon experience an ordeal far worse than combat: trigger-happy German guards, Allied bombing raids, and a daily ration of thin soup. Somehow, the men of Bouck's platoon all miraculously survive.
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Great Story, Great Narration...Captivating
- By Amazon Customer on 07-19-19
By: Alex Kershaw
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The Liberator
- One World War II Soldier's 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau
- By: Alex Kershaw
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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From July 10, 1943, the date of the Allied landing in Sicily, to May 8, 1945, when victory in Europe was declared - the entire time it took to liberate Europe - no regiment saw more action, and no single platoon, company, or battalion endured worse, than the ones commanded by Felix Sparks, who had entered the war as a greenhorn second lieutenant of the 157th "Eager for Duty" Infantry Regiment of the 45th "Thunderbird" Division. Sparks and his fellow Thunderbirds fought longest and hardest to defeat Hitler.
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Now I Know What a Hero Really Is
- By Steven on 11-27-12
By: Alex Kershaw
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Rescue at Los Baños
- The Most Daring Prison Camp Raid of World War II
- By: Bruce Henderson
- Narrated by: Brett Barry
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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In February 1945, as the US victory in the Pacific drew nearer, the Japanese army grew desperate, and its soldiers guarding U.S. and Allied POWs more sadistic. Starved, shot and beaten, many of the 2,146 prisoners of the Los Baños prison camp in the Philippines - most of them American men, women and children - would not survive much longer unless rescued soon.
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Edge of your seat story. Great narration
- By Stuart Bruce on 04-16-15
By: Bruce Henderson
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The Deserters
- A Hidden History of World War II
- By: Charles Glass
- Narrated by: Barry Press
- Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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A tale that redefines the ordinary soldier in the Second World War, The Deserters is a breathtaking work of historical reportage, weaving together the lives of forgotten servicemen even as it overturns the assumptions and prejudices of an era. The Deserters reveals that ordinary soldiers viewed "desertion" as a natural part of conflict, as unexpected and inexplicable as bravery. The Deserters moves beyond the false extremes of courage and cowardice to reveal the true experience of the Allied soldier.
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war is hell
- By Stevon on 10-08-13
By: Charles Glass
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My Hitch in Hell, New Edition
- The Bataan Death March
- By: Lester I. Tenney, Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale USN - Ret.
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Captured by the Japanese after the fall of Bataan, Lester I. Tenney was one of the very few who would survive the legendary Death March and three and a half years in Japanese prison camps. With an understanding of human nature, a sense of humor, sharp thinking, and fierce determination, Tenney endured the rest of the war as a slave laborer in Japanese prison camps. My Hitch in Hell is an inspiring survivor's epic about the triumph of human will despite unimaginable suffering. This edition features a new introduction and epilogue by the author.e by the author.
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Best Story I have ever listened to
- By Amazon Customer on 09-03-20
By: Lester I. Tenney, and others
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Rampage
- MacArthur, Yamashita, and the Battle of Manila
- By: James M. Scott
- Narrated by: Jesse Einstein
- Length: 21 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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The 29-day battle to liberate Manila resulted in the catastrophic destruction of the city and a rampage by Japanese forces that brutalized the civilian population. Landmarks were demolished, houses were torched, suspected resistance fighters were tortured and killed, countless women were raped, and their husbands and children were murdered. American troops had no choice but to battle the enemy, floor by floor and even room by room, through schools, hospitals, and even sports stadiums. In the end, an estimated 100,000 civilians lost their lives in the massacre.
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TRUE CRIME OF PURE HELL
- By Steve on 12-18-18
By: James M. Scott
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The Great Raid on Cabanatuan
- Rescuing the Doomed Ghosts of Bataan and Corregidor
- By: William B. Breuer
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Before General MacArthur could fulfill his stirring promise of "I shall return" and retake the Philippines from Japanese control, a remarkable rescue mission would have to take place. Captured American soldiers, emaciated and ill from brutal mistreatment, were still being held at the notorious Cabanatuan prison camp. A small band of Army Rangers set out on a daring rescue effort: to penetrate thirty miles into Japanese-controlled territory, storm the camp, and escape with the POWs...
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A Great Story
- By PCB on 11-08-05
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As Good as Dead
- The Daring Escape of American POWs from a Japanese Death Camp
- By: Stephen L. Moore
- Narrated by: Tim Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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In late 1944 the Allies invaded the Japanese-held Philippines, and soon the end of the Pacific War was within reach. But for the last 150 American prisoners of war still held on the island of Palawan, there would be no salvation. As soldiers, sailors, and marines were herded into shallow air raid shelters, Japanese soldiers doused them with gasoline and set them on fire. By the next morning, only 11 men were left alive - but their desperate journey to freedom had just begun.
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A question of compassion.
- By Art Baskel on 04-07-17
By: Stephen L. Moore
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Islands of the Damned
- A Marine at War in the Pacific
- By: R. V. Burgin, Bill Marvel
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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This is an eyewitness - and eye-opening - account of some of the most savage and brutal fighting in the war against Japan, told from the perspective of a young Texan who volunteered for the Marine Corps to escape a life as a traveling salesman. R. V. Burgin enlisted at the age of twenty and, with his sharp intelligence and earnest work ethic, climbed the ranks from a green private to a seasoned sergeant.
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Jerry
- By Anonymous User on 05-12-10
By: R. V. Burgin, and others
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Goodbye, Darkness
- A Memoir of the Pacific War
- By: William Manchester
- Narrated by: Barrett Whitener
- Length: 15 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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This memoir offers an unrivaled firsthand account of World War II in the Pacific - what it looked like, sounded like, smelled like, and most of all, what it felt like to one who underwent all but the ultimate of its experiences.
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The best war memoir ever
- By Doug on 05-31-07
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I Will Hold
- The Story of USMC Legend Clifton B. Cates from Belleau Wood to Victory in the Great War
- By: James Carl Nelson
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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The incredible true story of Clifton B. "Lucky" Cates, whose service in World War I and beyond made him a legend in the annals of the Marine Corps. Cates knew that he and his small band of marines were in a desperate spot. Before handing the note over to a runner, he added three words that would resound through Marine Corps history: I WILL HOLD.
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I Cannot Hold!
- By Matthew on 10-22-16
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The Man Who Broke into Auschwitz
- A True Story of World War II
- By: Denis Avey, Rob Broomby
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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The Man Who Broke into Auschwitz is the extraordinary true story of a British soldier who marched willingly into the notorious concentration camp, Buna-Monowitz, known as Auschwitz III. In the summer of 1944, Denis Avey was being held in a British POW labor camp, E715, near the site of Auschwitz III. He had heard of the brutality meted out to the prisoners there and he was determined to witness what he could.
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Great, great story
- By Anonymous User on 08-12-11
By: Denis Avey, and others
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The Long Way Home
- An American Journey from Ellis Island to the Great War
- By: David Laskin
- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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The United States has always been a nation of immigrants---never more so than in 1917 when the nation entered the First World War. Of the 2.5 million soldiers who fought with U.S. armed forces in the trenches of France and Belgium, some half a million---nearly one out of every five men---were immigrants. In The Long Way Home, David Laskin, author of the prizewinning history The Children's Blizzard, tells the stories of 12 of these immigrant heroes.
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Incredible story of immigration and war
- By Daryl on 01-06-14
By: David Laskin
What listeners say about Tears in the Darkness
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Book and Movie Lover
- 07-22-09
Powerful, anguishing story
I can't remember the last audio book that I enjoyed so much that I had to run out and purchase the hardcover version just to see the pictures and re-read some of the sections at my leisure, but I did so with Tears in the Darkness. It is the story of the Japanese invasion and occupation of the Philippine Islands during World War II. Manila was a plum assignment for anyone in the military. That all changed suddenly and dramatically with first the news that Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor and next when Japan attacking the Philippines. The Japanese army, built with men who had been subjected to cruelty from the day they entered the service of their country and had thus most had all humanity snuffed out of them during their introductory military training, took over the Philippines faster than the Americans could have ever anticipated, then went on to brutalize them in an unimaginable way. On the famous Bataan death march, which although is part of the title of this book is not a huge aspect of this book, men were routinely beaten, starved, and deprived of even water. They were shot or bayonetted for stopping to assist another. When it was inconvenient to transport men at one point, the Japanese simply decided to bayonet them in small batches and throw them over a cliff. When they were transported in a ship they were unable to breathe, given no food or water. This book will leave you with a lasting impression of true suffering endured by so many. If you don't understand why military tribunals exist for passing judgment for crimes committed on fields of battle, you may after reading this. (Dead men simply can't provide testimony.) There can be no excuse for what was done by the military of the Empire of Japan. Also a good reminder for us to maintain our military strength and stay vigilant at all times. Friends become enemies overnight.
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43 people found this helpful
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Overall
- 9S
- 08-15-09
Riveting and heartbreaking
This chilling book reveals the barbaric treatment of allied soldiers by the Japanese army in WW2. The level of cruelty is as shocking as anything perpatrated by the Nazis in Europe. Some scenes of torture and murder caused me to cringe. That any of the soldiers survived is a testament to the will to live, as well as the kindness of fellow soldier's. This is a story of humanity-the loss of it by the Japanese, and the retention of it by those seemingly without hope.
Michael Pritchard did his usual superb job of narrating.
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25 people found this helpful
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- Cynthia
- 06-18-13
Excruciating Pain, Exquisite Story
"Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath" (2009) invites comparison to Laura Hillenbrand's much more well known "Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption" (2010). "Unbroken" is the story of former Olympian Louis Zamperini, who was taken prisoner of war by the Japanese following 47 days lost at sea, and held as a prisoner of war for three years. "Tears" is largely the story of Ben Steele, taken prisoner of war after the Philippines were surrendered in early 1942, and held until the end of the war.
"Tears" focuses on cowboy-turned-soldier Steele, who volunteered for the Army Air Corps rather than be drafted. Steele was sent to the Philippines, under the overall command of General Douglas MacArthur. MacArthur had a distinguished career, but he was at his inept, indecisive and arrogant nadir in 1941-42. The soldiers under his command still feel, even on the 21st Century, the humiliation of surrender.
Steele and his fellow soldiers - American and Filipino - were taken prisoner and force marched, mostly without food or water, 80 miles across the Bataan peninsula to a prisoner of war camp. Stragglers were bayonetted and left to rot in the jungle heat. No one is sure how many died during the march, but some estimates are more than 10,000. When they reached Camp O'Donnell, the prisoners worked as slave laborers while they were starved and beaten, and buried in unmarked mass graves when they dropped.
"Tears" also explains how the training and the structure of the Japanese military created the sadistic, sociopathic men who tormented Steele, Zamperini, and more than 100,000 other prisoners of war. There was a culture of contempt, brutality, and a complete lack of empathy that is condemned by professional military. I know - I am a US Army veteran.
If you have to choose between Michael Norman and Elizabeth Norman's "Tears" and "Unbroken" choose both. If you can't, "Tears" has an overall perspective on military strategy and tactics; but Hillenbrand's "Unbroken" is exquisitely well written.
As I write this review, Steele is 93 and Zamperini is 96. Steele is a widely respected artist and speaker, and Zamperini is a frequent speaker whose life story, "Unbroken", is being directed by Angelina Jolie. Enjoy these extraordinary men while they are with us.
[If this review was helpful, please let me know by pressing the 'helpful' button. Thanks!]
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21 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Curatina
- 10-27-09
Fascinating! (and I'm a woman!)
Regardless of gender, if you like history, learning about different places and culture, I think you'll like this book. Although I knew of the Bataan Death March in general, I had no knowledge of the harrowing details of the march and the imprisonment that followed. Additionally, the book gives insight into the Japanese mentality and culture so that one understands how the Japanese regarded the prisoners and also themselves. The entire book is deeply moving.
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15 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Douglas
- 09-08-09
Fantastic!
This is what every history book should be and must be praised for several reasons. To begin, it brings to light an often neglected horror of WWII: The Death March On Baatan. Like Iris Chang's book, The Rape Of Nanking, the Normans give us the lives and sufferings of people who should never be left in the shadows of historical narrative. Secondly, this is a hugely well-written book! This obviously deeply-researched volume absolutely brings this story to life. I have gone through it like I did James Stewart's MANHUNT: THE TWELVE DAY SEARCH FOR LINCOLN'S KILLER, and for the same reason. Both tell history through the eyes and stories of those who lived it in incredible detail with rich, poetic touches. This is a must read!!!
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15 people found this helpful
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- CBDC
- 08-11-09
Left me shaken and very moved
An incredible book which is at the same time upsetting and elevating. Perhaps the book moved me as much as it did because I knew one of the survivors of the Bataan Death March and some of what he experienced. It's one of the books I'll leave on my iPhone for awhile. "Tears in the Darkness" gave me renewed respect for our humanity, our vulnerability, and our strength. The people I met in the book will stay with me for a long time. I am grateful to the Norman's for pulling this material together.
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12 people found this helpful
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- Nothing really matters
- 05-05-15
Revenge does not taste sweet.
This beautifully-told and well-researched book tells the tale of the Bataan Death march, the events leading up to it, and the events that followed it. Primarily it is the tale of Ben Steele of Montana. But it also tells the stories of many others in varying amounts of detail. Interestingly, the book has a secondary focus on Masaharu Homma, the Japanese general who was in charge of the Japanese troops responsible for the Death March.
Ben Steele's story is terrible for all the reasons you would imagine, plus a few more. General Homma's story is also surprisingly tragic. And while Ben Steele's story is painful because of the physical and mental suffering he experienced at the hands of Japanese soldiers (though, let’s face it, soldiers of all nationalities act inhumanely toward their enemies and nearby civilians with depressing regularity) General Homma's story is no less poignant.
He is made a scapegoat and punished for the sake of expediency, politicking, and possibly even personal revenge. This left me feeling hollow as it capped off the tragedy of the Death March with one more unjust act visited on a man who was far less deserving of punishment than others who were never punished. When confronted with a tragedy, the desire in some for quick retribution leads them to betray the higher principles they are supposed to be fighting in defence of.
On a final note, I was surprised that by the end of this book my opinion of US General Douglas MacArthur had dropped considerably. The book did not cast any aspersions on him. To me, though, the facts suggested a man much more keenly interested in his power and legacy than in anyone or anything else.
PS: The picture on the cover is actually of Ben Steele in captivity
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10 people found this helpful
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- Joel
- 03-14-12
Compellingly written, compellingly read
Shortly after finishing this story, I read/listened to a new history of World War II. Within the nearly 40 hours of narration, this story of the heroism, bravery, and shocking depravity merited only about two sentences. To think that such an incredible sequence of events -- the invasion, battles, and surrender in the Philippines exists as almost a footnote in any other telling of WWII is hard to believe. The story here is so rich and intricate that fascination with what it took to survive overpowers any lingering revulsion at what happened in those years following the initial fall of Manila and the Bataan peninsula.
That doesn't mean that the events are any easier to accept. To confront such hatred and evil takes a particular determination. This story by Michael and Elizabeth Norman is told in a way that never excuses any actions, but does give context and three dimensionality to many of the most important players in this awful calamity. Michael Prichard, again, does a fantastic job of bringing the text to life. As a result, I came away from this book with a newfound appreciation for all of the little things, relatively speaking, that happen in war. Bravery doesn't always shine like a newly minted coin. Sometimes, it is hidden in far off corners of the world, where men and women do what they believe is right, in the face of unspeakable wrong.
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10 people found this helpful
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- Jan
- 01-09-12
How did I not know this?
I'd heard of the Bataan Death march, but had no clue to the extent of the cruelty, angst and endurance of survivors. Book starts a little slowly, but becomes impossible to put down. Very similar to "Unbroken" in looking at WWII from the Pacific side. It left me pondering life and humanity, much as I did after reading "Night."
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6 people found this helpful
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- Larry
- 01-05-10
Heartbreaking
Nothing prepares you for the hell that encompasses the men you encounter in this book. Ben Steel endures horrific and dehumanizing treatment at the hands of his captors and yet... and yet, he emerges scarred, but triumphant as a human being. Finding within himself the courage to face his own shortcomings and to forgive two nations, the one that betrayed him and the one that criminally abused him. March with these men and weep at their plight. Emerge a different person. I applaud the Norman's for shining a fresh light into these dark places and to Michael Pritchard for lending a human voice to this most tragic recounting of the Bataan Death March and its aftermath.
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6 people found this helpful