From Publishers Weekly
The author of Flags of Our Fathers achieves considerable but not equal success in this new Pacific War-themed history. Again he approaches the conflict focused on a small group of men: nine American Navy and Marine aviators who were shot down off the Japanese-held island of Chichi Jima in February 1945. All of them were eventually executed by the Japanese; several of the guilty parties were tried and condemned as war criminals. When the book keeps its eye on the aviators-growing up under a variety of conditions before the war, entering service, serving as the U. S. Navy's spearhead aboard the fast carriers, or facing captivity and death-it is as compelling as its predecessor. However, a chapter on prewar aviation is an uncritical panegyric to WWI aerial bombing advocate Billy Mitchell, who was eventually court-martialed for criticizing armed forces brass. More problematic is that Bradley tries to encompass not only the whole history of the Pacific War, but the whole history of the cultures of the two opposing countries that led to the racial attitudes which both sides brought to the war. Those attitudes, Bradley argues, played a large role in the brutal training of the Japanese army, which led to atrocities that in turn sharpened already keen American hostility. Some readers' hackles will rise at the discussion of the guilt of both sides, but, despite some missteps, Bradley attempts to strike an informed balance with the perspective of more than half a century.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From AudioFile
Atrocity has always been a part of war, but after WWII the details of the horrors of the Japanese POW camps remained rumors for years. FLYBOYS shares the story of eight American pilots captured by the Japanese in the waning days of the war. Even George H.W. Bush, the young pilot who escaped capture, didn't know the story until his presidency. James Bradley succeeds at recreating the lives of the men on both sides of the war. He reads his material gracefully, making the soldiers sympathetic, but tends to tease the listener a bit too much by hinting of the pilots' grisly fate. While its message of forgiveness is well stated, this book doesn't spare the details of the horror of cannibalism, which some listeners will want to avoid. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine--
Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
--This text refers to the
Audio CD
edition.
See all Editorial Reviews
(287)
$19.77
(119)
$10.20
(213)
(72)
