Great Escapes: The Stories Behind 50 Remarkable Journeys to Freedom [Hardcover]

Scott Chrisitanson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 25, 2009

A stunning visual record of the world's most audacious and compelling escapes and escape attempts.

Whether escaping from a prison or evading an enemy, individuals have shown extraordinary courage and inventiveness during their bids for freedom.

Great Escapes relates fascinating details about the 50 most remarkable escapes and escape attempts, including:

• Chris Ryan, who escaped from Iraq during the 1992 Gulf War as part of the Bravo Two Zero squad.
• Aron Ralston, the hiker who sawed off his own arm after being trapped for five days under a boulder in the Colorado wilderness.
• The Dalai Lama, the man Tibetans revere as a god, who was smuggled to freedom when the Chinese invaded his homeland.
• The Underground Railroad, which allowed thousands of African Americans to escape the shackles of slavery
• The many escape attempts from Alcatraz.
• The mass breakout of Allied airmen from Stalag Luft III, immortalized in the movie The Great Escape.

Packed with dramatic color and black-and-white photographs, Great Escapes is a powerful testimony to the desire to regain freedom.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Media of every kind love escape stories. They lead the news, inspire books, and become Hollywood movies. In fact, several of the 50 adventures recounted in this photographic compendium became box-office smashes, including The Great Escape (1963), Papillon (1973), and Apollo 13 (1995). With the exceptions of two tales of escapes from American slavery in the 1840s, all the episodes here occurred within the past 100 years, which author Christianson groups into categories of escapes from prisons; kidnappers; tyrannical regimes; POW camps; terrorist attacks; and miscellaneous predicaments faced by adventurers, explorers, soldiers behind enemy lines, and ship, train, and airline passengers. Each account tells in brief what happened, of course, but its browser-grabber will be the accompanying historical, spot-journalism, and cinematic photos. They freeze the drama and immortalize the emotions of escape, such as sheer elation. Nazis, Communists, Jim Jones, sharks, natural disasters, cannibals––name the menace, and it likely lurks within, along with survivors’ testimonies about their close calls. This high-interest title is sure to attract attention. --Gilbert Taylor

Review

Name the menace, and it likely lurks within, along with survivors' testimonies about their close calls. This high-interest title is sure to attract attention. (Gilbert Taylor Booklist 20091215)

These 50 stories of amazing escapes are so suspenseful that they're hard to put down.... A great book. (Gloria Hildebrandt Escarpment Views 200912)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Firefly Books (September 25, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1554075068
• ISBN-13: 978-1554075065
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #844,828 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun, lively work. Well worth your time!, April 25, 2010

By 

R. C Sheehy "deadsox" (Foxboro,MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Great Escapes: The Stories Behind 50 Remarkable Journeys to Freedom (Hardcover)

Bravo to Scott Christianson for writing a book that is engaging, educational and interesting. Great escapes brings together the usual stories of Papilion, Willie Sutton and "The Great Escape" of WWII fame, he also brings in more recent cases from Yemen, Colombia and 9/11. The stories are written in a gripping fashion and even when I knew the story in advance, I found it very enjoyable to read again thanks to great writing and a well done format.

This is a very entertaining book and highly enjoyable. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a better than fiction story.

5.0 out of 5 stars Capsule Histories of Famous Escapes!, February 28, 2010

By 

Michael OConnor "Wordsmith" (Wausau, WI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Great Escapes: The Stories Behind 50 Remarkable Journeys to Freedom (Hardcover)

What do Ernest Shackleton, Willie Sutton, Aron Ralston and Scott O'Grady have in common? Answer: they were all determined individuals who managed to break free from imminent death or imprisonment. In this 2009 Firefly Books release, Scott Christianson chronicles the details of those four escapees and forty other men and women who triumphed over adversity.

Christianson divides the escapee tales into chapters on Nature, Kidnappers, Regimes, Prison and the Law, Man-made Disasters, World War II and Modern Warfare. So, in some cases like mountain-climber Ralston, shark attack victim Vic Calandra and tsunami survivor Shenth Ravindra, the tale is one of beating mother nature. Others, like career criminal Willie Sutton and Luftwaffe pilot Franz von Werra, escaped from 'The Man.' In Sutton's case, that was the Eastern State Penitentiary; von Werra's an English POW camp. Peter Strelzyk and Guenther Wetzel escaped the East German regime in a homemade balloon; Dith Pran walked to freedom, escaping from the Pol Pot regime. In the Man-made Disasters chapters, accounts from Hindenburg survivors compliment those who escaped USS Squalus, Apollo 13 and the World Trade center. Other well-known escapes/escapees include Flight 1549, Entebbe, Dieter Dengler, the 'Great Escape,' Jonestown, Billy Hayes/Midnight Express, Papillon and so on.

Each account runs four-six pages with b&w and/or color photographs. Christianson does a good job of conveying the shock, terror, gritty determination and elation wrapped up in each event. Some of these stories were dramatized by Hollywood and it's interesting comparing the 'real' with the 'reel' version.

All in all, GREAT ESCAPES is an exciting view of how normal people handled themselves in very abnormal situations and ultimately triumphed. Recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars Scouter Page is Trustworthy indeed!, February 22, 2010

By 

Nina Waite "Scouter" (Silicon Valley CA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Great Escapes: The Stories Behind 50 Remarkable Journeys to Freedom (Hardcover)

Book arrived damaged in shipping, and Scouter Page was completely fair and honest in handling this unfortunate occurrence. Good communication also. I would not hesitate to order from this dealer again. About the book: bought it for the school library... a preliminary scan revealed a wonderful book on a topic that high schoolers love to read about. Well illustrated, but not a great binding. We can fix with some book tape, but I suspect this one was intended for a gentle life atop a coffee table instead of a life of rough treatment at the hands of multiple users in a busy high school library.