List Price: $15.95 Details

Save: $0.76 (5%)

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime & FREE Returns

FREE delivery Thursday, March 24 if you spend $25 on items shipped by Amazon

Or fastest delivery Tuesday, March 22. Order within 2 hrs 24 mins

In Stock.

As an alternative, the Kindle eBook is available now and can be read on any device with the free Kindle app.

[{"displayPrice":"$15.19","priceAmount":15.19,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"15","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"19","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"gscgLhl41Pzksuo2eCBdvuOfSWdX5hO6foGeFi%2FtMIGQtiYAgRDAKDk8a4RrS%2B5XxjZ6i3f8qJOZFPQ4D49sy3SoLkEOgwSfES1ksjutczcZ9OFBOPtKCBQH9BpnTFyPTSzHZc%2BOX%2Bw%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW"},{"displayPrice":"$11.13","priceAmount":11.13,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"11","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"13","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"dV06eqCdlq1NgJlhp12ZhVsnYS17uH8e%2BGBZcNb8PAPQSglQ9G4u12%2B8a8iHKK1uCJR3p9SfVyJyM4hUTljdnQnfflNe1J84AxEecbQ5Lxs3uxTV4KD%2FDNjSdJef5e6ua2veUQ8Dgr1VVOBVce%2F2APCUT%2BbypkpkWX5MC6IwFjABCKTKi07Ohg%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED"}]

$$15.19 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Secure transaction

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Details

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Return policy: Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

FREE delivery March 28 - 31. Details

Used: Very Good | Details

Sold by Great Time Books

Share <Embed>

Other Sellers on Amazon

Added

Not added

$15.19
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: sweethomeliquid2

Added

Not added

$15.50
+ $4.29 shipping

Sold by: West Coast Bookseller

Added

Not added

$20.88
& FREE Shipping

Sold by: MyPrepbooks

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 3 images

Follow the Author

James B. Stockdale

Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot (Reprint ed.) Paperback – July 1, 1995

by James B. Stockdale (Author)

203 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

eTextbook

"Please retry"

$4.99

—

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$64.99

—

$64.99

Paperback

"Please retry"

$15.19

$10.20

$7.18

Spiral-bound

"Please retry"

$32.48

—

Enhance your purchase

Thoughts on issues of character, leadership, integrity, personal and public virtue, and ethics, the selections in this volume converge around the central theme of how man can rise with dignity to prevail in the face of adversity—lessons just as valid for the challenges of present-day life as they were for the author's Vietnam experience.

Print length

245 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Hoover Institution Press
Publication date

July 1, 1995
Dimensions

6 x 0.7 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

9780817993924
ISBN-13

978-0817993924
See all details

Frequently bought together

James B. Stockdale
387
Paperback
16 offers from $4.00
James B. Stockdale
53
Paperback
25 offers from $3.48
Epictetus
1,050
Paperback
55 offers from $1.44
Epictetus
1,489
Paperback
29 offers from $9.64
Marcus Aurelius
8,772
Paperback
in Greek & Roman Philosophy
81 offers from $3.18
Epictetus,
358
Hardcover
15 offers from $9.23

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It is difficult to do justice to this important, informative, and well-documented book. It is a monument to scholarship."

"No fair-minded reader can depart these pages without deep admirations for Stockdale and for the stoic philosophy he propounds...This is a book to be read, pondered, and cherished."

About the Author

Vice Admiral James Stockdale, a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution, served in the navy from 1947 to 1979, beginning as a test pilot and instructor at Patuxent River, Maryland, and spending two years as a graduate student at Stanford University. He became a fighter pilot and was shot down on his second combat tour over North Vietnam, becoming a prisoner of war for eight years, four in solitary confinement. The highest-ranking naval officer held during the Vietnam War, he was tortured fifteen times and put in leg irons for two years. His books include Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot (1995, Hoover Institution Press) and In Love and War (second revised and updated edition, 1990, U.S. Naval Institute Press), coauthored with his wife, Sybil. In early 1987, a dramatic presentation of In Love and War was viewed by more than 45 million viewers on NBC television.

Start reading Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0817993924
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hoover Institution Press; 1st edition (July 1, 1995)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 245 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780817993924
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0817993924
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.7 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #46,574 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #24 in Southeast Asia History
- #42 in Vietnam War Biographies (Books)
- #57 in Historical Asian Biographies (Books)

Customer Reviews:
203 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

James B. Stockdale

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale served in the navy from 1947 to 1979, beginning as a test pilot and instructor at Patuxent River, Maryland, and spending two years as a graduate student at Stanford University. He became a fighter pilot and was shot down on his second combat tour over North Vietnam, becoming a prisoner of war for eight years, four in solitary confinement. He was tortured fifteen times and put in leg irons for two years. As the highest-ranking naval officer held during the Vietnam War he organized the POWs in the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" to provide them with a sense of hope and empowerment. Disabilities from his combat wounds brought about Stockdale’s early retirement, he was the only three-star officer in the history of the navy to wear both aviator wings and the Congressional Medal of Honor.

His books include Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot (1995, Hoover Institution Press), A Vietnam Experience (1984, Hoover Institution Press), Courage Under Fire (1993, Hoover Institution Press) and In Love and War (second revised and updated edition, 1990, U.S. Naval Institute Press), coauthored with his wife, Sybil. In early 1987, a dramatic presentation of In Love and War was viewed by more than 45 million viewers on NBC television.

As a civilian, Jim Stockdale was a college professor, a college president, and a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution. His many and varied writings all converge on the central theme of how man can rise with dignity to prevail in the face of adversity. He died in 2005.

Customer reviews

5 star		77%
4 star		15%
3 star		6%
2 star		1%
1 star		1%

How are ratings calculated?

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Kindle Customer

most famous example of Stoicism in The face of tragedy

Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2020

Verified Purchase

The incredible story of how a fighter pilot uses the ancient philosophy of Epictetus to get through 7 1/2 years of torture at the Hanoi Hilton. Does a great job weaving in his Stoic practice with real world applications. he explains how his character was forged in a pressure cooker.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

🏔Rocky

If you find stories about living with great Truths help you grasp those Truths

Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2014

Verified Purchase

If you find stories about living with great Truths help you grasp those Truths, you will love, read and reread, and treasure this book. Academic analysis can develop complex implications of simple concepts, but I find the stories of the man who has "been there and done that" far more valuable. This book ranks with the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius in its practical application of Stoical concepts to real living with honor in the face of the tribulations of Job. Adversity comes to us all. Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot offers strength and resilience when (not if) we too are tried in the fire and must confront feelings that threaten to distroy us.

25 people found this helpful

Helpful

John Marke

A Powerful Book. One of My Top 5 of All Time

Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2008

Verified Purchase

I do not waste my time reviewing marginal books. I thought long and hard before writing this review. It is presumptuous to comment on the life and thoughts of this man. But it is also compelling to encourage its readership by the broadest possible audience....especially our young people. It is especially relevant today, circa early 2008, as America decides on a President.

This is perhaps the most intellectually and emotionally charged book I have read. And yet Admiral Stockdale was a quiet, humble man. As previous reviewers have commented, there is a wealth of material: ethics, history, drama...but I focus on the introspection he demands of America, especially in choosing leaders that send our young men and women into harms was...and, at times, into 7 and-a-half years of constant torture.

Do not presume to think you know the substance of this book. I assure you, you will be proven wrong. The book is brutal. Yes, it does describe the torture and underground resistance - the ordeal and triumph American POWs. And that is more than useful for several generations of Americans who came to maturity when we, as a Nation, preferred to ignore a government's duplicity and, in many instances, stupidity in the conduct of war and national affairs.

The book is critical of the government. What? A Vice Admiral and holder of the Medal of Honor being critical of the government? Damn right! So pay attention. This is not a criticism based on emotion or a "why didn't you help me" cry. It's a demand...nothing less...that elected officials exhibit character. Character is unambiguous. You want an example...it is simple: It is not what you believe in. It is how you act.

On page 30, Stockdale recounts a conversation as I quote: "I think that in an important way, the television news industry is doing the whole country a continuing disservice. We constantly reinforce a bad idea that we helped invent - the idea that the key to being a good citizen, a discerning voter, is to know where all the candidates stand on all the issues. The issues are given center stage and the politician is cast as their suitor. We have made the expression `so much for philosophy, lets get down to issues' a maxim of conventional wisdom. And at news time every evening, all networks project scenes of harassed men and women being nailed down by stubborn interviewers who insist on quick answers on where their victims stand on gun control, abortion, and so on......

"...what's important is not the person's current views on transient issues, but his character."

And this, from Lester Crystal, then the President of NBC News!

Character. How does a man or woman of character act? They do not quibble. They do not lie. They do not debate "What 'is' is?"

On many levels, Stockdale defines the term.

54 people found this helpful

Helpful

Jim A

History and Philosophy Combined

Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2014

Verified Purchase

I give this book five stars for two reasons. First, Stockdale was there at the Gulf of Tonkin and illuminated the truth behind the falsehoods perpetrated by the Johnson administration. This was never taught in any of my history classes even though the information is well known. Looking back on the 1991 Gulf War and the 2002 Iraq war makes it clear that the American people, me included, never learned the lesson of starting a war without a formal war declaration. And, we continue this failed policy doctrine unto this day.

Second, and more importantly, Stockdale's life is a real-world application of Stoic principles and philosophy. He lived it and Stoicism helped him survive during the worst possible circumstances. Those of us who live in comfort should follow his example because we never know when our fragile lives will be interrupted. Those that live in hardship can follow Stockdale's example of a virtuous life.

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

Amazon Customer

A must read

Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2012

Verified Purchase

for every military officer, SF personel or any serious student. The viewpoint and descriptions of what it takes to walk thru the fire, survive and win against 7/8years of daily torture, oppression, interrogation, isolation. Ultimately it came down to holding out for the guys you're in with so you can look them in the face...not compromising one's principals and the prisons code. A man may scream or do some things he may not hope to, but then there are things a man of principal can hold out and never be forced to do even wiith the threat of death or worse. There are things one can control - ones code, and interpretation and things one cannot. The true stoics focus on the internal desires vs external wants. My biggest take away was never compromise your principals for any amount of luxury or relief as that is what kills mens souls.

23 people found this helpful

Helpful

ken weitzman

... prisoners in their quest for living through the most horrible and brutal captivity

Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2018

Verified Purchase

An incredible real life story of a man's survival in the Hanoi Hilton and how he lead all the prisoners in their quest for living through the most horrible and brutal captivity. The philosophy of Epictetus played a central role in enabling Adm. Stockdale and his fellow POW's to endure years and years of extreme cruelty.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

C. D. Patrick

A must-read for leaders

Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2014

Verified Purchase

I reviewed in GoodReads as well, but for the military professional, or any person seeking to improve their personal ethical and leadership habits, I strongly recommend. Probably better absorbed by a mid-grade professional who has already developed some experience as a leader and manager, Stockdale's essay length pieces will provide further illumination and clarity. Certainly for myself, I have internally grown, and find much to appreciate in the Stoic philosophy that Stockdale advocates.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

emimar

Courage, undiluted.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 26, 2013

Verified Purchase

Jim Stockdale endured - like other US aviators and military personnel - hardships so brutal as to verge on the unspeakable while a prisoner of the North Vietnamese. the fact he survived is amazing enough; the fact he gained from the experience is something else. an excellent book.

4 people found this helpful

raskelfe

Engaging the wisdom of the Stoics with the demands of ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 28, 2014

Verified Purchase

Engaging the wisdom of the Stoics with the demands of the modern battlefield of modern reality. This book is as relevant today as was when it was written. The character building lessons honed by Stockdale in Vietnam and in life in general. Make this book a timeless classic.

3 people found this helpful

Markmnk

Learn about why moral integrity is central to Western civilization.

Reviewed in Australia on December 28, 2014

Verified Purchase

This book is a collection of speeches from Jim Stockdale that centre around his life changing experience as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. The book discusses his personal philosophical journey. It gives his take on the character of military officers. It will also be interesting for any students on the Vietnam War as it deals with the opening shots of the conflict and Stockdale's opinion of why the war was lost and how it could have been won. Very readable.

Proud Canadian

Mind over matter

Reviewed in Canada on January 1, 2017

Verified Purchase

A great read of a man who would not be broken and who helped others survive their ordeal as POW's Keeping his mind strong and focused and never giving up hope.

Ian

Disappointed

Reviewed in Australia on October 17, 2020

Verified Purchase

This book is a collection of articles that are verbose and don’t flow together. Thankfully the kindle version was only a few dollars and not a significant investment.

See all reviews