When Hell Was in Session [Hardcover]

Jeremiah A. Denton (Author), Ed Brandt (Author)

Book Description

On July 18, 1965, Admiral Jeremiah Denton of the U.S. Navy was shot down during a combat mission over North Vietnam. A prisoner of war for seven and a half years, Denton provided the first direct evidence of torture by the North Vietnamese. This special 25th anniversary edition of Denton's experience is sure to inspire a whole new generation of readers.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

On July 18, 1965, Jeremiah Denton was shot down near Thanh Hoa. He spent almost eight years in North Vietnamese POW camps. During a 1966 television interview arranged by the North Vietnamese, Denton blinked in Morse Code, spelling out "T-O-R-T-U-R-E" with his eyes: the first confirmation Americans in Vietnam faced torture.Denton won election to the U.S. Senate in 1980. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 248 pages
• Publisher: Morley Inst
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966059700
• ISBN-13: 978-0966059700
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,934,065 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quite a book!!!, February 20, 2001

By 

Andrea Miller (Mobile, Alabama) - See all my reviews

This review is from: When Hell Was in Session (Paperback)

Beautifully written, touching, disturbing, encouraging, spiritually enlightening, and tremendously upsetting, this account of a true American Hero's 7 1/2 years of imprisonment in Vietnam will exhaust every human emotion that the reader possesses. I read this book from cover to cover without stopping to breathe. I was shocked by every page. I never allowed myself to believe that human beings could treat each other the way that Admiral Denton was treated by the North Vietnamese. I have the utmost of respect for him, considering the pain that he lived with, not only during his imprisonment, but during the writing of this book as well. A lessor man would make all effort to block these years from his memory, but Jeremiah Denton relived the horror everyday that he spent writing this book. He did this for me, you, and all Americans so that we might begin to fully understand, not only how he was treated and how his faith in God, his family, and his country got him through this ordeal, but the necessity of this badly misunderstood war as well. This is a "must-read" book for any American who hasn't taken the time to stop and thank a Veteran for our freedom. Without the courage and loyalty of men like Denton, our country would not be the wonderful place that it is. I thank God everyday for these men who risked their lives for people like me, whom they don't even know. What greater hero is there?

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Extraordinary Work, December 9, 1999

By 

Shannon Davis - See all my reviews

This review is from: When Hell Was in Session (Hardcover)

About five years ago, I picked up Denton's book with intentions of quickly skimming through it- I was hoping to grasp enough of it to write a report on it for my high school history class. But after reading just the first chapter of it, I knew that there was no way I could just skim through it. Denton's experience is rivoting- absolutely gripping and heartwrenching that at times I read through it with eyes blinded by tears. I could not put it down. Upon completion, I was left with a feeling of overwhelming pride and passion for my country, and with a sense of awe and admiration for our Vietnam POWs. Jeremiah Denton is a courageous man and an extraordinary role model- even in dire circumstances he stood by his country with so much love and determination that even in the face of death, he did not falter. I have read his book many times (since that first time five years ago), and every time I read it, I find something new- some glimmer of hope in the terror that held him captive for so many years. Denton's book is truly a masterpiece- a song of freedom and a narrative of patriotism so strong that it challenges the hearts and minds of it's readers to remember that we live in a such a blessed country- the land of the free.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A triumph of human endurance......., March 23, 2003

By 

Kyle Tolle (Phoenix, Arizona USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: When Hell Was in Session (Paperback)

In July of 1965, Naval aviatior Jeremiah A. Denton was shot down over North Vietnamese territory and taken as a prisoner of war. When Hell was in Session details the harrowing experiences faced by Denton and many other United States prisoners of war in Hanoi.

During his seven and a half years in captivity, quite a bit of that time spent in solitary confinement, he was subject to horrific tortures and treatment that the average person could only experience in their very worst nightmares. It is readily apparent that Denton was a very brave and honorable man with an iron will when he resisited his jailors at every turn. Furthermore, it is a testament to his courage and character that he chose to relive those horrifying years in his mind to be able to write this book with so much detail.

Even though this book is only 182 pages, its contents are probably one of the best eye-witness accounts you will read of an American held in Hanoi's infamous Hanoi Hilton prison complex. I've read quite a few books on U.S. captives in Hanoi and this one is at the top. Highly recommended to anyone who is interested in this subject material.