3 comments about The Pacific.

1. One of the biggest detractors I've encountered (twice in the first few pages) is that "Marine" is not capitalized. The word "Marine", when referencing a current or former member, or unit of the US Marine Corps is considered a proper noun and should be capitalized. Examples: "He's a Marine." or "A company of Marines."
   
   For those of us who have earned the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor of the USMC and the title "Marine", it's a major error.
   
   The terms "Soldier", "Sailor", "Airman", and "Marine" are all proper nouns.
   
   Other than that.. so far, so good.



2. As a huge fan of Band of Brothers I couldn't wait for the series to start so I picked up Ambrose's The Pacific in order to fill the time and give me a back story for when the series starts. The Pacific certainly did that and more as I now want to read a lot more on the war against the "Japs". With The Pacific I think the subject being covered was what triggered this, as Ambrose's style of writing is both a hit and a miss.
   
   The pros are that I oftentimes wonder as I am reading other memoirs/bios of WWII veterans as to where and how they fit in with one another. With The Pacific the mini bios of the marines and naval pilots are all woven together in a linear timeline so you always know where they are and what they are doing in relation to one another. This is fascinating to me because it adds many levels of detail that help to create an overall richer account of The Pacific War. Add to this the different elements of who they are, i.e. officer, dive bomber and so on, and we are treated to a more in depth look at the structure of the US forces battlling the Japanese in the Pacific ocean.
   
   The cons, and I really only have one worth mentioning, is that Ambrose's style of writing can be rather dry and stiff at times, feeling as though we are getting a recitation of facts instead of a narrative that is weaving the facts together. Although this style can work I oftentimes found that the writing style was having troubles catching my interest and I had to draw myself back in order to continue my own narrative of what Ambrose was telling us.
   
   Overall the book is workable as a companion volume to the upcoming HBO series for not only illustrating the lives of some of the men being represented but in also layering more detail with the inclusion of other equally fascinating men, notably Shofner and Micheel, who were perhaps more fascinating to read about because of their experiences as a POW in a Japanese POW camp and as a dive bomber, respectively. I would certainly recommend to read the other more immensely readable WWII memoirs of the Pacific Theater, i.e. Helmet For My Pillow and With The Old Breed, in order to get a better feel for what will be depicted in the HBO series, and pick up The Pacific as a companion volume instead of a stand alone history of the Pacific War.
   
   3.5 stars.



3. The 10 segment HBO mini-series will focus on the Pacific theater as seen through the eyes of Robert Leckie, John Basilone and Eugene Sledge. Based on the books "With the Old Breed" by Sledge and "Helmet for my Pillow" by Leckie as well as other first person accounts and interviews, the series includes battles in Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Okinawa as well as the marines return after VJ Day. The Pacific is the companion book to the series but differs in some ways. It also features the stories of Ensign "Mike" Micheel who got his first experience as a dive bomber at the Battle of Midway and that of Lieutenant Austin Shofner who was a POW in Manila after being part of the initial unsuccessful attempt to hold the Philippines.
   
   As in HBO's prior WW II series, The Pacific manages to personalize events which have been portrayed on more of an epic level in presentations such as Victory at Sea. In doing so, it succeeds in conveying the larger than life terror that citizen soldiers faced just a few months removed from their everyday lives in their hometowns. Micheel describes the "puckering" he feels while preparing to dive bomb an enemy aircraft carrier. A marine experiencing repeated bombing runs by Japanese airplanes writes in his journal: "We are all nervous wrecks." As Shofner struggles to survive the extremes of deprivation in an enemy POW camp, his friend tells him "Death isn't hard. Death is easy." It is at that point that Shofner knows his friend will not survive the camp.
   
   What is extraordinary is how the men surmount these challenges and fight in the face of fear, doubt, lack of food and water, sleep deprivation and the illness that can result from all of these factors. Seeing the War in the Pacific through the eyes of the men who fought it, the reader comes to understand that while military strategy initiates each battle, individual acts of teamwork, sacrifice and courage drive the results that follow. It is impossible not to constantly ask yourself if you would have measured up under similar circumstance. It becomes increasingly difficult to answer confidently in the affirmative.
   
   The Pacific also illustrates how little information each person at the battlefront has about the larger context in which he is operating. Due to the necessity to keep military strategy secret as well as the challenges in conveying information on the front, marines exist on a diet of rumor and speculation as to what will next occur. The book also does a good job of showing the incredible logistical challenges involved in providing food, water and other supplies every day to large numbers of field personnel scattered across a wide area under hostile conditions. Technical resources, battle strategy, national will and individual courage determine military success in The Pacific but the ability to keep men hydrated determines whether they will be able to fight at all.
   
   My favorite parts of the book are the descriptions of American dive bombers. Just reading about a pilot idling his engine to begin an 8,000 foot virtual free fall dive to drop a thousand pound bomb on an enemy ship causes some "puckering." If the pilot survives the dive, he hopes to have enough gasoline to find his own fleet on return and then ends by dropping his Dauntless onto the moving top of an aircraft carrier. When needed, Ensign Micheel volunteers for a second mission later the same day.
   
   My father was a gunner on a destroyer escort in the Pacific. At his knees as a small child, I sat through countless viewings of Victory at Sea. As I got older, I could never fully understand how much a part of him his service was. I now know more about the war in which he served but I'm not sure I am that much closer to understanding what he felt. Reading books like The Pacific gives me some idea for how an 18 year old kid from East Boston could spend 3 years on a ship at war, return home with one photo over his workbench, a knife and a set of tattoos and never once talk about his experiences with his son. I wish I could have known him better and, at the same time, hope that I could have served as resolutely if needed.

5 comments about Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific.

1. Not really a war memoir. The author describes more the times before and after the battles. The reader can experience the transition from untrained civilian to veteran. Mixed into the story are the surreal exploits of the marines in Australia after Guadacanal. Fine companion piece to the other books used as a basis for the HBO series.



2. "Helmet for my Pillow" is a book written by writer who was from my hometown of Rutherford, NJ. He had a personal relationship with his family physician William Carlos Williams the great poet. They spent much time together and you do not know how much of William's descriptive poetry style rubbed off on Leckie. I found his vocabulary to be extensive. You must keep in mind that he is describing a terrible yet historical time in U.S. history and he is attempting to give his fellow comrades in the marines their fair due. He never names a person by their real name and I think that is masterful because it shows how you do not want to get too personal with your fellow marines, because, they will be may gone at some point soon. He wrote the book after seeing 'South Pacific" when he walked out half way through the play and said to his wife Vera "I am going to write a book to tell the true story of what took place in the South Pacific". He wanted to honor his friends who gave up so much whether they lived or died. The book is hard reading but not as hard as he had it. He was a wild guy who tells the truth. He doesn't mix word or actions. Yeah, they drank a lot. From basic training to the awful islands where they would steal Saki when they could. After a while you begin to wonder if all the marines drank that much. Yet you must remember that his generation started the cocktail hour and they lived by "Its 5 O'clock, Dear Lets have a drink!". To sum it up they are making a huge HBO show 10 parts series about it, so whether you like it or not it is a must read to appreciate the show. I read it, and, I will have a much better understanding of what those men went through. I would recommend this book. I never met Mr. Leckie as far back as I can recall. My mother and uncles were his very close friends at St. Mary's high school, in Rutherford. He was the youngest of 8 kids and it is quite exceptional that the baby in the family turned out to be such a success. He wrote over 40 books in his lifetime and he is a man with a high school education. The Sisters of St. Dominic must have done a greast job teachingb him when he wasn't playing hookie.



3. I have spent years reading personal accounts of WWII in the Pacific; this book does not measure up. The author cannot settle on a writing style as he struggles between wanting to be a poet or historian. I bought the book for its historical significance, not as an art piece.
   
   I rarely found myself in sympathy with his character and frequently pictured him as a belligerent trouble maker (of which he was obviously proud).
   
   Perhaps 20% of the book provides genuine insight; the remainder is nothing more than filler.
   
   If you are looking for a story to skim read, with little substance, then buy this book. For me, the rating of 3 stars is a gift.



4. Take the outstanding details of life as a Marine in the Pacific from With The Old Breed and combine it with the prose of a poet, and you have the incredible story of Robert Leckie and the 1st Marine Division. In Leckie's first book, at the beginning of a career that will see him publish more than 30, he pulls the reader in to experience the war as if you're a fellow dogface in his platoon. Everyone is referred to throughout the book by their nicknames, he spares no details of gore in battle or celebration on leave, and his knack for putting the details of his environment into words allows the reader to truly get a mental picture of his experience. Best of all, "Lucky" has a hot temper and gets in his fair share of trouble, proving that while he's an outstanding contributor to the war effort, he's also his own man. His mouth gets him into hot water more than once, which reminds me of my own grandfather, also a Pacific veteran. This book is a wonderful addition to anyone's personal war library.



5. One of the best personal memoirs of war I have ever read. Leckie is brutally honest about anything and everything to do with his experiences in the 1st Marine Division during WWII. Incredibly impressed by his sensitive candor and philosophical reflections on the impact of war on human beings. Having been an officer myself, I was truly shocked to read his descriptions of Marine officers blatantly stealing from enlisted men. I guess in wartime, they were willing to let anyone become an officer. Leckie pulls no punches but shows remarkable understanding, forgiveness, and mercy towards all his comrades and even the enemy. This book is a classic and a must-read for anyone interested in what combat in the Pacific theater was really like and about young men's reaction to war. Rest in peace, Robert Leckie. For those who fell, there is no hell. I thank God knowing you have been reunited with your comrades. Thank you for writing this book. It was a privilege to have read it. A great gift to those who have never known the horrors and sacrifice of war.

5 comments about Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10.

1. Lone survivor is an awesome book. I like the audio version and played it back and forth to work. What a story. God bless the Navy Seals. They are true heroes. Marcus Lutrell is THE MAN!



2. Surely, you the know the background of his story, but hearing about the physical and mental extremes he went through during this historical fight from the lone survivor makes it a must read. SF soldiers have a never back down, never quit, always succeed mentality and he makes their very clear in his book. Remember, this is the guy to got in a high speed chase after two thugs killed his dog.



3. This is an amazing book. Luttrell's story is more than just an account of a guy's struggle through SEAL training and eventual combat. It's a gut-wrenching look into what sacrifices our guys are willing to make for their country. And it poses some serious questions about our treatment of non-combatants and the rules of engagement in a very hostile place.
   
   To the reviewers who gave the book low ratings: Luttrell isn't trying to write War and Peace; he's simply giving his account of a fierce battle which claimed the lives of three of his friends. If his writing style is unsophisticated, so be it. He's a straight-up guy giving his version of events, not a poet. Yes, he tosses in his political views and can be repetitious, but I'll forgive him that. I have enormous respect for this man.



4. luttrell and his team deserve all of the accolades and honor for their service. their story is admirable.
   
   luttrell's book, however, is not worth the read. instead of focusing on the ordeal -- a drama that would easily be engaging by itself -- he devotes much of the book for uneducated and ignorant rants about liberals, the media, religion, politics and people who never served. there are few books to which i regret the lost time spent reading and this is one of them.



5. I have enjoyed books about Special Forces in the past and admire the men who have made it to this level. I was really looking forward to a good read about an admittedly amazing mission in Afghanistan.
   
   After 50 pages my gag reflex was working at full strength. Do you really have to mention every other sentence how big, bad, and tough you are. I'll give this terrible author a hint that any screenwriter or decent action author knows. People are going to be impressed by describing in detail what the heroes do and letting us supply the admiration. You don't have to constantly tell the reader what to think. This book is the worst example of writing down to an audience that I have read in a long time. Another major fault is the constant repetition. At one point within the space of 6 or 7 paragraphs the Taliban were described with almost exactly the same adjectives 3 different times. I think the author thought he was being paid by the word.
   
   I could go on, but the basic idea is that the book is very poorly written. I don't know how anyone above a 4th grade reading level slogs through this mess. I'm sure its a great story. Maybe someone could make a movie out of it. It would be one of the few times that the movie would have to be better than the book.

5 comments about With the Old Breed.

1. Stick your head up, you die. The descriptions here assault all your senses. The definitive story from a front line marine. It ain't pretty. It will shock some. But it is what happened.



2. I've read a lot of books about WWII, particularly the Pacific theater. I deeply respect the fact that no one who hasn't experienced combat can really understand what it's like. If you're a veteran, my comments don't apply. But for a civilian like me, this book comes the closest to giving an idea of how awful it was. Just to think about what these men did, and what they endured to get it done, runs a shiver up my spine. An incredible story.



3. I would highly recommend this book about WWII in the Pacific. Sledge has a remarkable way of writing that makes you feel what he felt.



4. This book deserves that sixth star. It should share the spotlight with the likes of Iron Coffin. E.B. Sledge paints a true picture of war with all of it smells, gore and humane reactions and personalities. As a Viet Nam vet I can relate to the authors story and realize that the conditions of WWII and WWI were exponentialy worse.



5. It would be a foolhearty attempt on my part to attempt to add any superlatives not already offer by other highly favorable reviews of this book. Like any great work, I did not want it to end. ----RIP Mr. E. B. Sledge; scholar, gentlemen, Marine.

5 comments about Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman.

1. The author tells three stories. One is the story of Pat Tillman and another the systematic failures that led to his death and produced a cover up. The third story, the modern history of Afghanistan, is used to parallel the life of Pat Tillman. The first two stories are the heart of the book. The third story is lengthy and seems to be filler. There are good maps and no photos.
   
   Given Tillman's interest in philosophy and literature, the title is appropriate as well as chapter introductory quotes. You come to understand that Tillman is no ordinary jock, but an exceptional person with considerable depth.
   
   Dysfunctions in the prosecution of the GWOT have been described many works. Here, as in Operation Hotel California: The Clandestine War Inside Iraq, personnel at a remote location literally call the shots. Here, the brass at the FOB ordered a Humvee carcass to be towed over a mountain and a platoon to be divided. There are rules of engagement in which the individual's judgment on the ground is given very little weight. Why is it that the communications equipment, which should be state of the art (goodness, what did it cost?) doesn't work in battle? Each of these is an element that factored into the "friendly fire" death of Pat Tillman.
   
   While the dysfunctions are described, the book's most powerful indictment is on how the tragedies of war were distorted and fed to an uncritical press in order to build support for the war. The "perception management" of Jim Wilkinson successfully diverted attention from an incident resulting the 29 US deaths, 11 missing and 6 other captives by creating Jessica Lynch as a hero. The author describes how this was done and how the Tillman tragedy was similarly managed at the highest levels. The Tillman story is more insidious because evidence was destroyed, witnesses ordered to silence (despite the presence of brother Kevin Tillman in their platoon) and reports delayed and otherwise manipulated.
   
   While the book is about other systemic problems, Chapter 19, on boot camp, is worthy of note. The description of the recruits is discouraging. This is not a cross section of Americans and clearly not like the universal commitment to WWII. The general recognition that Tillman is an exception, particularly for making a financial sacrifice, says something about the public's perception of this war. While it's the stuff of lore and jokes, what really is the purpose of "Clean your boots, scuff them up, clean them again because I said so"? Have the goals objectives and methods of boot camp been seriously evaluated in recent years? Tillman, who has had years of top notch athletic training and team work conditioning notes a lot of boot camp is "archaic, bizarre and counterproductive."
   
   In some areas the prose seems forced. Quotes from Abdul Ghani and Reka Cseresnyes strike me as too idiomatic for second language speakers. There is a lot of extraneous content. The final chapter's discussion of Nietzsche and the masculinity of western men struck me as just plain weird. While these flaws exist, there do not seem to be any problems with the research. This is an important work and should be widely read.



2. I was really looking forward to reading this book. When I finally got a copy and started on it not only did I find it slow moving and boring at best; the author puts a lot of energy into working his political opinions into the story. I really did not need a chapter on the 2000 election and how Gore really won; fact is I'm over that argument, it was ten years ago. You would think that the Bush administration personally killed Pat Tillman by reading this book. I have a lot of respect for Pat Tillman and all of our men and women that have died for our great county and I think it in poor taste to try and make a political statement (left or right)with someone else's death. I would not waste your time with this book.



3. As someone who could be described as a centrist, I was quite depressed, though not surprised, to see reviews here reflecting political bias from both sides. The true lesson of Pat Tillman is no side can own him - not the left, not the right. Pat Tillman was a complicated man that cannot be pigeon holed. For those who can get past their own politics, this is a fascinating story and I think everyone should know something about it. Who among us can say we approach his level of following his convictions? Some might say he is a tragic figure, because his own stubborn resolve to do the right thing led to his death, but what I took from this book was if there were more Pat Tillmans there would be less tragedies like that of Pat Tillman.
   
   We get enough politics and spin. Read this story and think about the man. When so many of us jump to knee jerk reactions over every issue, he questioned everything and everybody. His independence, intelligence, commitment and willingness to sacrifice and serve represents the kind of American we can all learn from.



4. Jon Krakauer has made a good living illuminating the lives of compelling madmen who pursue their dreams to fatal extremes. Along the way we've learned some good lessons: 1) Don't climb Mt. Everest in a storm (Into Thin Air), 2) Carry more than a sack of rice if you tackle the Alaskan wilderness (Into the Wild), and 3) the marriage of multiple women is something to be approached in serial, not in parallel (Under the Banner of Heaven). All well and good, and usually told in arresting prose by Krakauer. But in seeking to add one more cautionary lesson to the list --don't be a soldier unless you're willing to get shot-- Krakauer has finally missed his mark in Where Men Win Glory.
   
   For starters, the narrative flow is jarring and disjointed. Alternating between the convoluted twists of Afghan political history and Pat Tillman's suburban childhood in California creates a vertiginous read that never really settles into a coherent pattern. The book is interspersed with long entries from Tillman's journals, and while he seems like a nice enough guy it's a bit like stumbling upon the diary of a hugely self-absorbed, angst-ridden high school kid. You almost expect to see scrawled pictures of naked women in the margins. It doesn't make you want to like Tillman more.
   
   The language of the book itself simply isn't as evocative as the Krakauer's past writings. Given the terrain where Tillman fought and died, and given the author's demonstrated ability to capture with words the features and power of nature, I was surprised that the prose was fairly flat and uninspiring.
   
   And finally --and this is the part I hated about the book-- Krakauer's unrelenting anti-Bush bias was distracting and and so strident that it marginalized the author's credibility. Krakauer tries to convince us of the illegitimacy of the Bush presidency (let's all spend several pages reading a conspiracy theorist's retelling of the 2000 election), the illegitimacy of the Iraq war (because apparently Krakauer must have known at the time there were no weapons of mass destruction but neglected to inform the world), and the byzantine cover-up of Pat Tillman's death by his fellow soldiers (that was admitted to within weeks after the death).
   
   We get it, Jon. You don't like George Bush. Hey, I voted for Obama. But, then how do you reconcile your unadulterated admiration for Pat Tillman, who voluntarily chose to take up arms in Bush's war? Square that circle, Jon, and you might have an interesting read after all. Keep spouting your narrow-minded vitriol, and you will keep getting two stars in my reviews.



5. I've loved every book Jon Krakauer has written, so I was waiting for this one with a great deal of anticipation. I'm glad he didn't disappoint me!
   
   Truthfully, I didn't really know that much about Pat Tillman except for the bare essentials: he was a good football player who, in the wake of 9/11, decided to join the military, and was killed by friendly fire a few years later. I certainly made assumptions about him as a person based on those simple facts, which this book proved were completely incorrect. But while this book tells Pat's story, it doesn't present him as a totally infallible or perfect person, which I appreciate. Certainly, reading about the events that led to Tillman's death and the cover-up that followed made me really angry and a bit surprised that none of this really came to public light. But I also know that there probably is some bias on Krakauer's part that factored into the telling of some of the story. This is a tremendously gripping book, although the background into the history of the Afghan/Iraqi conflicts was a little too dry for me. But Krakauer has brought another tragic story to life.

4 comments about Islands of the Damned: A Marine at War in the Pacific.

1. Right from the opening pages I was drawn in to this personal memoir of WWII. The descriptions of coming ashore in Peleliu, the detail, had me eagerly reading on. Its been a while since I was this drawn in to not only a WWII memoir but to any memoir/bio and couldn't wait to continue reading. Burgin's tale is heart wrenching and haunting and yet instills a sense of hopeful purpose that gives his account an edge over other memoirs.
   
   The narrative is what makes this memoir immensely readable. Burgin tells it as though you are sitting around a campfire, drawing us into the moment and making it feel as though we were there with him. His attention to detail, the little things, helps the reader understand a time and situation that is hard to grasp unless you've actually lived through it. He doesn't fail to mention such details as walking by a discarded bazooka, or the more sickening details of the maggots and flies everywhere. We are treated to anecdotes of his fellow marines, such as Scotty, Sledge, Lieutenant Legs and so on, all of which add a rich and detailed description of what Burgin and the men he fought with went through.
   
   Burgin also takes the reader on a linear walk through his life, briefly writing about his life pre-enlistment. We follow him through boot camp, rushed as it was since the Marine Corps cut the time in half to 6 weeks, and see some of the inner workings of how a WWII marine was molded and formed. Of course we also see Burgin as he progressed from a Gunner to a Sergeant and came out of three bloody battles: Cape Gloucester, Peleliu and Okinawa. The meat of his memoir is given in great detail of landings and battles he fought in and can only be told by someone who walked through hell and came out the other side. As Burgin says that there is nothing special about the hundreds of thousands of soldiers of WWII, but "everyone who fights for his or her country has something special to tell". Islands of the Damned is certainly special and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend. Islands of the Damned is now one of my favorite memoirs of WWII, for not only its detailed descriptions of important Pacific Theater battles but also in his grasp on life and love is it was interwoven with WWII.
   
   5 stars.



2. It was a real pleasure to find another first person account of the Pacific war. As mentioned in other reviews, books like this are far and few between. Especially, since our World War Two veterans are passing away far too quickly.
   
   This book was easy to read, flows very nicely, and isn't burdened by large amounts of historical data. It's personal account from the ground by a Marine who was really there. It does however, put into place the importance of the battles the author fought in.
   
   In particular, I enjoyed the descriptions of living and fighting on the South Pacific islands. The book also contains the only example of a man using a bayonet in combat on any book I've ever read. Most importantly I think the book puts in perspective ghastly nature of the war in the Pacific, in particular the cave-to-cave fighting common among the campaigns.
   
   Ironically, one of the major themes of the book is a love story. While I don't normally seek out this type of theme in a history book (or any other book for that matter), the author does a fine job of making his place in history far more personal by doing so. The best part is, it only amplifies this situation, without it distracting from the historical narration.
   
   This book makes for an excellent companion to the classic With the Old Breed by EB Sledge. If you enjoyed this book you would this book and Helmet for My Pillow by Robert Leckie...books I understand the mini-series The Pacific are heavily based on.



3. R. V. Burgin is in the last wave of World War II memoirists, and just in time. For 35 years, he says, he never talked about the war. It was only recently, in part driven by his involvement with HBO's dramatic miniseries "The Pacific," which covers the campaigns he fought in, that he and other veterans felt comfortable opening up. This plainspoken, humble personal account is among the results. It is a valuable first-person narrative and belongs in any history reader's library.
   
   Burgin doesn't opine about grand strategy or second-guess commanders. He focuses on what he knew: life as a grunt in a 60mm mortar platoon that saw some of the worst fighting of the war, from Cape Gloucester to Peleliu to Okinawa. The perspective is immediate: "We were fighting uphill now, advancing in a wide arc through the jungle. It was raining, always raining. Every stream was swollen and the ground was gumbo. Moving forward was like trying to walk through oatmeal. I was still carrying around that mortar base plate, but we couldn't use it much because of the trees, so 90 percent of the time I took my place up front with the riflemen." Every Marine is a rifleman, including the mortarmen.
   
   Burgin wasn't spared anything, and doesn't spare anything in this touching book. Read it during the week, and immerse yourself in HBO's miniseries on Sunday nights. You'll learn something important about the humble men who won the War in the Pacific.



4. I was so lucky to to able to pick up aa advanced copy of ISLANDS OF THE DAMNED by R. V. Burin. What a book! It is easy to see why HBO would use it. This is another first hand account of the Pacific Theatre in WWII but don't just throw it in the pile, it is better than that. Now, I don't mean to knock the great WWII memoirs out there, check my reviews, I am a big fan. This is just to say Burgin has put together an exceptional book,filled with the human emotions that make war so insane but interesting. We watch him mature and rise in the ranks but more that rank into a tough seasoned Marine. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED whether you are a history buff, a Marine fan like me or just a reader. Go get this book.

5 comments about Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood.

1. I decided to pick up this book after reading Campbell's article in Guideposts magazine. I wanted to see how his faith fared while he was immersed in the military/combat life. In the book, the faith/Christian themes are pretty low-key; however, the insightful observations Campbell draws about the human spirit and LOVE in particular were - for me - a clear expression of his spirituality.
   
   This is the most balanced war memoir I've read. It's not about politics and it's not dripping with military ego/pride. Campbell's ability to be straightforward and honest about his own shortcomings, regrets and emotional state is truly compelling. It's about his personal journey and how he is changed by what he experiences - and he's not afraid to tell it like it is. He's obviously driven, and he's hard on himself, which only served to make me admire him more (not unlike the fictional military officer in my second novel).
   
   On top of that, he's either got a natural knack for writing or he's got an incredible editor, because this book pulls everything together in a way that other Iraq memoirs haven't (and I've read a number of them). And that makes the book even more powerful. Well done!



2. Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership and Brotherhood is by far the best military memoir I have ever read. I am a Veteran of the First Gulf War with the First Marine Division, just like the story of G/2/4 in Joker One. I have to say that these Marines are carrying on the finest traditions of the USMC and have made me so proud.
   
   The book is fantastic in it's tale of a transition of a young Lieutenant in command of a platoon for the first time in combat. Lt. Campbell changes from a nervous, naive, inexperienced leader (as every leader starts out as, whether he admits it or not) into a battle weary, strong, competent leader. The details of the day-to-day living bring the lives of these Marines to the reader in a way that very few writers have accomplished.
   
   I am truly humbled by the service of Lt. Campbell and his Marines. I will tell you that as I finished the book, I openly wept with the pain that Lt. Campbell felt.
   
   Obviously, I recommend this book for every American. Semper Fi Marines.



3. It is amazing that soldiers can fight under these conditions. Less a daily log, more of a highlighted trip to hell. This one allows those at home to sample the life. Now you know why they didn't follow the Olympics that summer.



4. Been there done that. United States Army Special Forces. He voices the unspoken thoughts of the soldier in combat. The world and the politically correct do not want anybody to know what it is really like. He tells it all. Eloquently. I always kept track of the location of the Marine units. If I needed help I wanted good help. I did Viet Nam Inc, Grenada, recovering Jim Jones congregation, the Beriut Lebanon Marine barracks, the Practice Gulf War and the real Gulf War. War is Hell.



5. I didn't go looking for this book. It showed up on Amazon's "pick's for you," and I needed a book so I purchased it. This book is so well written that upon finishing you feel as if you know the men of Joker One and One Actual. You feel the pain, joy, and fear right along with the men. There is some comic relief provided by the men of Joker One that made me laugh out loud several times. I personally know several Iraq veterans, and though they tell stories, they seem to keep their true feelings to themselves. Campbell, "for his men" he says, lets everything out. He tells about his depressions, his men's fear and his all encompassing need to shoulder the weight of every missions choices by himself. Best read if you want to know the true going on's of the Iraq War.

5 comments about The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom.

1. The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz is a story of an escape from prison, an escape from the Soviet gulag. This is a usual thriller/ adventure story but an unusual memoir of Soviet gulag. Rawicz is not in the line of Solzhenitsyn, or Ginzburg or Shalamov. The main subject of the memoirs of these great Soviet dissidents was the description of life in Communist prisons and camps. The Long Walk however is a story of the adventures of seven men who fled the gulag.
   
   Though never reaching the intensity of the great gulag memoirists, the description of the prison cells and of the interrogation by the NKVD officers in the Lubyanka, are authentic enough to produce a harrowing sensation in the reader.
   
   The journey on the Trans-Siberian railway is well portrayed though it is from here that the reader starts feeling the ease of a fairy tale in which even tragic circumstances have an inevitable sense of happy ending... and even if there is a sense of doom it is born with a superior feeling of a Christian martyr who has Heaven in sight after all the suffering.
   
   Nothing is seriously wrong with the narrative until the prisoners reach Irkutsk. Then it goes all mythical. We are told of a 600 miles plus trek of prisoners in the Siberian winters with -20 degree temperature or worse, and that with just the minimal clothing of fufaika?
   
   Apart from the fact that no human party could survive such at trek, it would serve no purpose to the gulag authorities to run all the prisoners to their death after taking enormous trouble of imprisoning them for months and then carting them over for more than 4,000 miles. The gulag indeed was meant for punishing the common people but it also had an economic angle, particularly in the decade of 1940s, the time when the events depicted in the book transpired. By this time the Great Terror (1937-38) under Yezhov had already passed and the gulag had a more economic purpose under its new chief Lavrenti Beria.
   
   This is the first time when the readers feel that the story is fake. The BBC has confirmed that the story is not entirely true. The most probable course of events is: Rawicz did suffer in gulag, but he never escaped but was rehabilitated in the amnesty of 1942. This sounds true as the latter half of the book which is about the escape seems fake, while the former half is sufficiently authentic.
   
   But then why did Rawicz depict the stupid trek to Yakutia when he did experience deportation from the transit camp? Maybe Rawicz is just preparing his readers for the shocking fancies of the escape. Perhaps it is a necessary prelude for what follows later.
   
   As soon as they reach the gulag the talk of escape starts. Rawicz finds a Dickensian character in the camp commander's wife who quizzically helps them to escape by helping them in hoarding food for the journey. When it comes to gathering enough men for forming the escape party, Rawicz finds the appropriate men as if the whole thing is just a play being enacted on a domestic stage, with actors taking up their respective roles, enthusiastically anticipating the adventure!
   
   The account of the prison break is so short that it almost feels like the prison is just a baby cage, surmountable for toddlers over five.
   
   Rawicz goes from dubious to impossible when we come to the Gobi trail. Going on for days on end in the scorching heat, without shelter and without water! It's simply ridiculous. In a desert like Gobi, a man can die in less than six hours without water, out of sheer exhaustion. Eating snakes is quite convincing but how did they make fire and from what? Quite later in the book (Oops! I almost said novel!) it is described that Zano used to gather animal droppings to use as firewood. The reader wonders again: in a place where the only thing to eat was snake meat, how the hell did they gather enough droppings for the firewood? And anyways how did they manage to find stones to light their fire in a sea of sand? A possible explanation is the air dropping of cow dung as relief packages in the Gobi by the United Nations, but sadly it had not come into existence then!
   
   There are a lot of other such incongruities but even on the level of story the book is weak. The characters are all caricatures and stereotypes. They have no individuality of their own. There is no character development by the author. The characters are all shades of good: jolly, patronizing , wise, morose... There is also a fine specimen of fair sex in the party, who keeps the atmosphere light and enjoyable. It is as if the characters were handpicked for making a zoo of human virtues. All the classic gulag memoirists tell of the dehumanizing character of the camps where the sheer hunger and cold drove out every human feeling out of most of the prisoners and made them mad, hungry animals who could trade anything for just a warm bowl of soup.
   
   To cap it all there is the final shocker: the crossing of the Himalayas by six brave men with no mountaineering kit and next to no experience! And remember guys! It's not only one peak we are talking about, but the whole range of the highest mountains on earth! There is a reason James Bond has not crossed the Himalayas yet!
   
   All these hurdles are passed with the obligatory casualties and such ease that it almost feels like a picnic. It can even make the reader yearn for going on such a trek!
   
   ...and as dessert, there are Yetis...
   
   There is one authentic feature of Rawicz's writing, though a misplaced one. He always calls his persecutors as `the Russians', reflecting the traditional Polish hatred of everything Russian. Very rarely does he use the word `Communist', a fact which shows a lack of understanding of the ideological basis of the crimes of the Soviets.
   
   The Long Walk would have made for a good novel, but it is claimed to be a memoir. It is interesting but it's certainly fake.
   
   Peter Weir in Hollywood has caught on the story and with hard work it may turn out to be a good movie.



2. This is an incredible story. I've recommended this book to a very good friend of mine and he also thought it was VERY good. I'm getting another copy so I can give it to someone else.



3. I first became aware of this story as a teenager back in the 1960's. While visiting the home of my Great Aunt and Uncle, I noticed a volume of the Reader's Digest Condensed Books. One of the condensed books in the volume happened to be this story. I borrowed
   the volume from them and read it. Even as a teenager (teens tend to
   beleive more of what they read than adults) I was somewhat skeptical
   about some of the things written in this book. Looks as if my doubts were justified. The book does make a rousing adventure story, though. If you read it with that thought in mind, I think you will enjoy it.



4. One of my favorite stories, even the ending is compelling. Well done and well written. The fortitude of people to seek their freedom knows no bounds.



5. I am an avid reader of non-fiction adventure stories. Based on the positive reviews of The Long Walk, I was anxious to get my hands on a copy and dig in. Now that I have read it, I must say that it was a real disappointment. This book is not for any objective reader expecting an authentic non-fiction adventure story. If you're just interested in distracting yourself with a bizarre adventure fantasy, and are willing to forget reason and ignore the outright lies, then you might like it. But it is definitely not a true account of the author's experiences as trumpeted in the subtitle and text.
   
   Rawicz (through his tabloid journalist ghost writer, Ronald Downing) makes countless outlandish claims that are not supported by any witnesses, documentation, or even detailed descriptions on his part. Moreover, his assertions often defy the laws of science and common sense. Here are but a few examples:
   
   - reaching his destination after wandering a year through 4,000 miles of wilderness with no maps, supplies?
   - trekking 12 days across a torrid stretch of the Gobi desert in mid summer with no water or food?
   - crossing the Himalayas, summiting mtn after mtn in only worn moccasins and a few ragged articles of clothing?
   - encountering a yeti and taunting it like those guys in the beef jerky commercial (no joke-it's in the book!)?
   - Rawicz's inability to provide the most basic details about his ordeal such as the first name of one of his closest companions on the trek (the American, "Mr. Smith"!) or where he was finally picked up by the British Army or the hospital he claimed to recover in?
   
   the list goes on and on...
   
   The BBC did an investigation into Rawicz's story and also concluded it was a fraud. They found gov't documents showing that Rawicz was sent to the Siberian gulag for murder (which may or may not be true, but why would he lie?), not trumped-up spying charges as he claims. Soviet documentation also shows that Rawicz was released from the prison camp under Amnesty (along with other Polish prisoners) granted by Stalin in 1942 - so that these prisoners could be used to fight the Germans in the Middle East instead of chopping wood in Siberia. In a letter to the BBC, even Rawicz's own children appear to concede that his account was fictional. I want to emphasize here that my intent is not to diminish the true stories of those who may have survived or escaped from Siberian prison camps during WWII, but this fabrication does more to cast doubt on actual survival stories than legitimize them.
   
   For those interested in fascinating, true, and compelling adventure and survival stories, I recommend the following well-documented accounts: Don Starkell's `Paddle to the Amazon', `The Journals of Lewis and Clark' (edited by DeVoto), and `Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage'.

5 comments about Hero of the Pacific: The Life of Marine Legend John Basilone.

1. The author spends more time finding fault with and comparing other source material than telling the story of this marine hero. Rather than clarifying the author merely confuses. The story he tells could have been half as long and to the point.



2. Mr. Brady's "Hero of the Pacific..." sheds some well-deserved light upon a Marine hero, John Basilone, for those of us who might never heard of his actions in WWII. It was great to read about Basilone's life prior to WWII in small town America, floundering in life until he committed to military service. While reading "Hero" I couldn't help feel like I was a kid again hanging out with my grandfather at my local American Legion/VFW listening in on their tales of life prior to "The War" and their time in service. Those stories, like Basilone's prior two biographies, in hindsight were undoubtedly embellished by family and comrades in arms. People's stories of friends and loved ones who've passed tend to do this. In Basilone's case, as with countless combat vets, his heroism truly didn't need embellishment. I was happily surprised that Mr. Brady took a critical look, albeit sometimes petty, at the previous biographies and the government's desire to create super heroes and not being content with just "regular" everyday heroes like Basilone.
   A few of the other reviews have accused Mr. Brady of shoddy writing in this book because of his critical tone of the two prior biographies helmed by Basilone's sister and nephew but, I found this to be a logical approach and not done with any intended spite. Gunny Basilone wasn't exactly a prolific writer, thus any Basilone biographer is heavily reliant upon the prior entries as well as other Basilone family members and acquaintances. Brady's biography wasn't flawless, but I feel that it does a good job at trying to separate the man and the myth of a long gone American hero, Manila John Basilone.



3. I generally liked the book. My one criticism is why the author found it necessary to rebuke the stories of other authors (Basilone's family members). I think when he himself was drawing on second hand or hearsay information he should have avoided criticizing their stories. What happened to literary license?
   I think the fact that Brady was a former marine he could not resist, by his criticism, the fact that he knew firsthand what the average reader or authors didn't know about the subject of military tactics. (Ex. Basilone was a machine gunner; he would not have carried or used hand grenades on Iwo).
   I did not have to read the book or any other book about GY Sgt John Basilone, to see him as a hero. I kept on asking myself "why would a marine who had proven himself and awarded the nation's highest medal want to go back into battle when didn't have to?" What did he have to prove? I say it was that he truly loved his country and his fellow marines.



4. I purchased the Kindle version of this book after I saw the hard copy in a local bookstore. The author, a Marine veteran of Korea (I have been told emphatically that there is no such thing as a "former" Marine), knew his subject matter, and provided helpful insights into Basilone, the Marines, and America during the World War II years. I also found that fairly extensive passages of the author's work were well-written, enjoyable, and absorbimg.
   
   Now the tough part: The book needed a good editor to pull all of the author's fine work together. There is a lot of repetition, and the author jumped around too much (he was trying to put the good stuff up front, when he could have told the story better if he had presented it as it played out). An editor would have pointed all of this out, and if so, this would have been a truly outstanding book. As it is, the book has great moments, and then goes sliding off into a confusing jumble of images and interpretations that leaves the reader--even someone who knows a fair amount about military history--somewhat confused.
   
   I understand the author passed away a year before this book was published, and that he was a professional writer. Either (1) he didn't want his work edited (many writers don't), or (2) he wasn't around to make sure the book was edited properly. Either way, that's the main problem with this book.



5. James Brady's Hero of the Pacific reflects on the life and time of Gunnery Sgt John Basilone who won the Medal of Honor during the Guadalcanal Campaign in October of 1942. He was killed in action on the first day of the Iwo Jima Campaign in February 1945. At least the book got that much straight. Brady's book proves to be quite readable but sources from where he got his information appears to be less reliable. After reading this book, I still don't have a good understanding of who John Basilone really was, only what he did. From reading this book, it was truly sad that a Medal of Honor winner such as John Basilone was so poorly served by historians, may they be professionals or ranked amateurs. Even his family and friends can't get their stories straight. Toward the end of the book, on page 235, author wrote that he is "neither a scholar nor a historian". I am sure that late John Basilone and we readers who brought this book wishes he was. Maybe a real scholar and historian might have crack some light on Basilone's life, deeds, motivations and perhaps show how exactly this hero died on Iwo Jima.
   
   On a minor downside, some of the background World War II history proves to be bit flawed or outdated. A good example is on page 20 how the author regards US Navy winning at Midway "against all odds". Anyone nowadays finally understand that Midway was a bushwhacked on the Japanese and Americans held many advantages that led to our victory. Also, I am not sure why the author insert his experiences as a Marine officer during the Korean War into this picture. Outside of being fellow Marines, the author and Basilone have no real common frame of reference. I may be in the minority on this but I found it to be distracting from the real story.
   
   Only upside to this book is that it does give readers a chance to know John Basilone more despite of the many contradictions and mythological stories that surrounds this man. It pretty clear that James Brady did not dig too deep here. Hopefully, maybe this book and that HBO mini series might encourage someone else to look into Basilone's life and career.

5 comments about I'm Staying with My Boys: The Heroic Life of Sgt. John Basilone, USMC.

1. This is a very bad book. It is billed as "The Authorized Biography of the Legendary Marine Featured in HBO's The Pacific", but in reality should be sold as A Novel Based on the Life of Sgt. John Basilone, USMC.
   As stated in previous reviews, the use of first person narrative is very wrong. Proser justifies this approach "based on hundreds of hours of interviews with people who knew John well and spoke with him frequently". But does not give us any sources stating with whom and when he conducted these interviews, and the specific citations used from them. We are supposed to just take his word that these interviews took place and support his contention that this work accurately reflects Basilone's innermost thoughts and beliefs.
   First person can only be legitimately used in autobiographies and novels. Since Basilone is dead this cannot be an autobiography, and so it is a novel.
   The second major problem, again previously cited, is the constant and glaring mistakes in period facts and details. The authors should have used a good technical editor who knew the period detail to weed these out.
   For example, one of many really bad mistakes can be found on page 266: "From the Army was Sgt. Schiller Cohen, the Navy man was Bosun's Mate Second Class Ward Gemmer and the Air Force threw in Machinist Mate First Class -which was their grade name for a pilot- Robert Creak".
   Machinist Mate was, and is, a Navy grade for personnel who work with the power plants in ships. The Air Force has never used that grade and it certainly was not what they called pilots. Anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of the WW II military would have spotted this.
   The military is in general very detail orientated, and the Marines particularly so. Military members judge their peers by how well they know their jobs, organizations, and equipment. If this book had actually been written by John Basilone in the 50's or early 60's, these constant, basic, and glaring inaccuracies would have made him look like a fool to his then very numerous WW II peers.
   Further, to me this book reads like a modern movie script that was not sold or be produced. The cover states that Proser is a "film producer" and Cutter is working on "documentary and feature film versions of his uncle's story". By turning it into a hopefully successful book and tying it to HBO's The Pacific the authors could be trying to increase its chances of being made into a feature film.
   Overall the authors did very poor research, and the editors' very poor fact checking, to produce this book. They were probably banking on modern readers not knowing, and/or caring enough, to expect accuracy in what they are reading.



2. Some reviewers have complained about the 1st person perspective in this book. Are they that narrow-minded? Clearly, the authors have done a ton of research and chose this format to help shed light on the type of person Basilone was--not just the type of heroic warrior he was.
   
   As the only authorized book on Basilone, you couldn't find a more informative, insightful and thrilling read. I loved it.



3. This was, quite simply horrible, it purports to be a biography of one of the legends of the USMC, Gunnery Sgt. " Manila" John Basilone. Basilone was a machine gunner at Guadalcanal who was instrumental in breaking the back of the massive Japanese assault on Henderson Field on 24/25 October 1942. For his bravery and effectiveness Basilone was awarded the Medal of Honor and sent on a War Bond tour. After the tour, Basilone was assigned to train Marines for later amphibious assaults. In 1945, he gave up his safe state-side training billet, demanding to accompany his trainees into combat. He was killed on the first day of the Iwo Jima invasion after single-handedly destroying a Japanese bunker that was pinning down his unit.
   
   The book was not nearly worthy of Gunny Basilone. In the first place, somebody decided to write the damn thing in the "first person" as if Basilone himself were the author. Since everyman and his dog knows that Basilone died in combat, this is just creepy. Second, there is a lot of "mental explanation" in the book (the authors, one of whom is Gunny Basilone's cousin, probably chose the "first person" perspective so they could put this crap in the book), but it is largely stuff the authors had no way of knowing. Stuff like How Basilone felt about a particular girl back home, or how he ended a "friends with benefits" type of relationship he had with another woman.
   
   The book in short on facts, but long on made up stuff about what GySgt Basilone was thinking or about how he felt, which stuff the authors have no way of knowing since the man has been dead for 65 years.
   
   Don't be suckered by the blatant attempt on the cover to tie in with the new HBO. This book just sucked. GySgt Basilone deserves a better biography.



4. "I'm Staying With My Boys..." is a wonderful book on a number of different levels. At face value alone, it is a fantastic book about a true "G.I. Joe" of World War II, a Marine who was awarded two of the highest military honors our nation has to offer (the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross). Taken from a different perspective, "I'm Staying With My Boys..." provides a very personal account of a young man who struggles with his own identity and his place in the world, which is a lesson that most 15- to 25-year-olds can relate to. Basilone never lost that young man's outlook on life, not only because he was a mere 28 years old when he died, but because he was never comfortable with the fame and attention he received after becoming a national hero.
   
   When taken along with the stories told by other Pacific War veterans and scholars, such as those in "With The Old Breed" by Eugene Sledge and "Flags of our Fathers" by James Bradley, a more true understanding of the Pacific war is possible. Accounts of the brutality of the Japanese soldiers is uniform through each of these books, as are the struggles of American service men through out the theater, whether they served on Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima, or in China and Burma.
   
   This is one of three primary books contributing to the new Spielberg/Hanks HBO miniseries The Pacific ("With The Old Breed" and Robert Leckie's memoir "Helmet For My Pillow" being the others). Considering how close Band of Brothers followed the facts of the Ambrose book, I really can't wait for March 2010 to come around.



5. Like most, if not all, Marines of my generation my boot camp experience was punctuated with references to Manila John Basilone, one of the heroes of the Battle of Guadalcanal. Sgt. Basilone won the Medal of Honor for his exploits there, and was sent on a widely successful war bond selling tour. Sgt. Basilone could have sat out the rest of the war, but that wouldn't do for John Basilone, who, as the title of this book says, wanted to stay with his boys, and so, ended up on the black sands of Iwo Jima. What I really appreciated about this biography was that a good portion of the book dealt with his life before joining the Marine Corps, such as explaining how he got his nickname, "Manila John" because of his boxing victories while serving with the U.S. Army, and his fascination for the heavy machine gun. The biography also dealt with Sgt. Basilone's home life, depicting him as a regular all-American guy, certainly no saint, but an honest, sometimes brawling and drinking young man who was mystified and somewhat disturbed by his survival in battles that took so many of his friends. This is not a chest-thumping, flag-waving glorification of war, but a heartfelt memorial to one of America's greatest fighting men - who also happened to be a regular guy who loved life and his fellow Marines.