Death Be Not Proud: A Memoir [Paperback]

John Gunther (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1989

Johnny Gunther was 17 when he died of a brain tumor. This deeply moving book is a father's memoir of a brave, intelligent, and spirited boy in his fight to overcome a dreadful disease that doctors had then only begun to understand. "A story of great unselfishness and great heroism."--The New York Times.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Gunther was born on August 30, 1901 on the North Side of Chicago. He was one of the best known and most admired journalists of his day, and his series of "Inside" books, starting with Inside Europe in 1936, were immensely popular profiles of the major world powers. One critic noted that it was Gunther's special gift to "unite the best qualities of the newspaperman and the historian." It was a gift that readers responded to enthusiastically. The "Inside" books sold 3,500,000 copies over a period of thirty years.

While publicly a bon vivant and modest celebrity, Gunther in his private life suffered disappointment and tragedy. He and Frances Fineman, whom he married in 1927, had a daughter who died four months after her birth in 1929. The Gunthers divorced in 1944. In 1947, their beloved son Johnny died after a long, heartbreaking fight with brain cancer. Gunther wrote his classic memoir Death Be Not Proud, which was published in 1949, to commemorate the courage and spirit of this extraordinary boy. Gunther remarried in 1948, and he and his second wife, Jane Perry Vandercook, adopted a son. John Gunther died on May 29, 1970. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins (July 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060809736
• ISBN-13: 978-0060809737
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (139 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,537,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

98 of 103 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "And soonest our best men with thee do go" -- John Donne, July 21, 2000

By 

Loren D. Morrison "amateur_reviewer" (Los Angeles County, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Death Be Not Proud (Hardcover)

John Gunther wrote DEATH BE NOT PROUD as a moving record of the last months of the life of his son, Johnny, who had died, as the result of a brain tumor, at the age of seventeen. Throughout his long and painful fight for his life, Johnny had maintained a cheerful outlook, and continued to hope that, somehow, he would go on. His father, in writing this book, made sure that Johnny did go on.

I'm sad that some of the younger (I assume) reviewers of this book found it wanting in pathos, or whatever it was that they thought was missing. Perhaps, with the coming of maturity, they will realize what a remarkable book it is. The fact that John Gunther was able to write this book at all, probably with tears in his eyes, was an amazing feat.

The death of a child is probably the most heart-wrenching loss that anyone can experience. I know. I, too, lost a son aged seventeen. That was 21 years ago, just three months after my son's seventeenth birthday. The pain of that loss is still with me after all those years. Just writing a review of John Gunther's book is almost too much. How much more difficult must it have been for Gunther to write DEATH BE NOT PROUD within two years of Johnny's death.

In spite of his own pain, Gunther wrote this book in hopes that other children and their parents who might find themselves in a similar situation "may derive some modicum of succor from the unflinching fortitude . . . . with which he (Johnny) rode through his ordeal to the end."

Before Johnny died he wrote a poem of prayer that ended as follows:

"Accept my gratitude

for all thy gifts

and I shall try

to fight the good fight. Amen"

And this when he knew he hadn't long to live. What a remarkable young man!

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sad and True, July 22, 2000

By 

A.Trendl HungarianBookstore.com "What should ... (Glen Ellyn, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Death Be Not Proud (Perennial Classics) (Paperback)

This might be the first book I read as a young boy which drew me to tears.

It is relatively short, and when I reread it as an adult, I found myself awake deep into the night, turning each page in sorrow, knowing how it was going to end. I started early on a Saturday, reading until I was done early on Sunday morning.

You know how it will end too. The title cheats us from wondering if Johnny will make it, but at the same time, there is a peace. Johnny was ready, and teaches us a little bit about being ready for life's ultimate end.

The title, from a famous John Donne poem, is intriguing, as Donne saw no dignity in death, but that there was dignity in how we died. It refers to a more famous passage by St. Paul... "Oh Death, where is your sting?" talking about how Death has no real power over the faithful. Johnny was a faithful, powerful young man. He prayed, like another biblical person, for his unbelief, as he humbly struggles with trying to believe in God in the middle of his fight for life.

John Gunther, the father, previously best-known for his travel books, has made a mark on literature which will never be erased.

Read this honest, quietly spiritual, compelling story. You'll be emotionally drained, but better off for it.

I fully recommend this book.

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Death Be Not Proud, January 20, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Death Be Not Proud (Perennial Classics) (Paperback)

This is one of the best books that I have ever read. It focuses on one teenage boy who suddenly develops a cancer causing brain tumor and his will to beat the odds and survive to make it to college. This book shows the will to win against any odds. It tells of the human sprit and a struggle of a young boy to survive. This book is beautifully written by the father of the teenage boy as he undergoes three surgeries and many treatments. It also shows the parents' desperate search to save their son from his proclaimed fate. They try almost anything for their son. It is remarkable how their son, throughout the entire book, is fighting. There is an ongoing struggle going on inside of him, to fulfill his dreams and make it into Harvard. Although he missed two years of high school, he gets tutors to help him make up his missed work. He is tutored even through the toughest times of his illness: surgeries, pain and diet restrictions. This boy does not give up whatever it comes to. This memoir is one that I recommend very much. It shows the courage that this boy had and really pulls at your heartstrings.