Customer Reviews (1)

Inaccurate and biased
The author states that the 1917 Balfour Declaration (one of the most critical documents leading to the creation of Israel) proposed to divide Palestine between Jews and Arabs and make Jerusalem an international city. But Balfour Declaration made no such proposals.The Balfour Declaration declared that the British government favors "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people."The proposals to divide Palestine between Jews and Arabs and make Jerusalem an international city were in the 1947 UN partition resolution (which was accepted by the Jews and rejected by the Arabs).The author makes no mention of the 1947 UN partition resolution (apparently to avoid mentioning that the Arabs rejected the resolution). ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Midstream, published by Theodor Herzl Foundation on July 1, 2001. The length of the article is 2629 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The War of Attrition.(1967 Six-Day War)
Author: David Rodman
Publication: Midstream (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 2001
Publisher: Theodor Herzl Foundation
Volume: 47Issue: 5Page: 25

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description
Pakistan Air Force. Indo- Pakistani War of 1965, Six- DayWar, Indo- Pakistani War of 1971, Bangladesh LiberationWar, Nishan- e- Haider, Yom Kippur War, Soviet war inAfghanistan, Chief of Air Staff (Pakistan), Special ServiceWing, Air Bases of Pakistan Air Force, List of aircraft ofthe Pakistan Air Force ... Read more

Product Description
Six-Day War. Samu Incident, Waiting period (Six-Day War), Operation Focus, Jordanian campaign (1967), 1948 Arab¿Israeli War, 1949 Armistice Agreements, Suez Crisis, Khartoum Resolution, Yom Kippur War, USS Liberty incident. ... Read more

Product Description
Battles of Latrun. Latrun, 1947?1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine, 1948 Arab?Israeli War, 1948 Palestinian exodus, Israel Defense Forces, Six-Day War, Exodus from Lydda and Ramla, Mickey Marcus ... Read more

Product Description
ZSU-57-2. ZSU-37, ZSU-23-4, M42 Duster, Type 63 anti-aircraft gun, Vietnam War, Six-Day War, Yom Kippur War, Angolan Civil War ... Read more

Product Description
This is the original classic work by one of America's most respected modern military historians. It is a thrilling account of six extraordinary days in June 1967 when Israel embarked on a bold, risky war of national survival-and won! Hammel decisively disproves the myth that Israel's stunning victory was a miracle or a fluke and reveals how a tiny nation was able to, in secret, develop a First-World military force that has become the envy of nations around the world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

six days
the book is a tremendous step by step review, first of the development of the IDF and then the actual war.However, discussion of the Egyptian side and viwepoint and world reaction is superficial at best.Also,maps are imperative to follow the course of events.The maps in the Kindle version are unreadable.This is one book that should be read in paper

Awkward Israeli OohRa tilt
I will keep this short. The only necessary chapter to read is on the Zahal. the IDF. Much of the book depends on silly, childish praise for the realistically superior Israeli Force. So much so that it makes for pedantic reading. I do not recommend.

pretty comprehensive review of the war
The six days war is a pivital event in Middle East Politics after the second world war. Hammel provides an excellent detailed account of the war in six days in june.

Hammel splits the book into seven sections. The first is the road to war and gives a background into the origins in the conflict. Part two is entitled Zahal focusing on the Israel Defense Force. Countdown to War is part three and focuses on other armies like those of Egypt and Syria and the days leading up to the war. Part 4 deals with the war in the Sinai peninsula. Part 5 deals with Jerusalem. Partssix and seven deal with two of the most important issues of the war, the west bank and golan heights respectfully for these along with the gaza strip are a source for continuing conflict.

There are plenty of maps that help illustrate the history of the war.In addition, order of battle contains information on the different Israelicommands and forces involved.

Tactical Retelling of 1967 Six Day War
Hammel's "Six Days of War" is one of the best secondary sources available regarding the 1967 Six-Day War. It is written in a popular format rather than an academic research format although it does have extensive references and a large bibliography. The book is clearly intended for popular consumption rather than discussion of university academics. Hammel is a well-known military writer and has extensively written about WWII although this is his first foray into the volatile military environment of the Middle East.

Many read this book expecting a full account of the war including every aspect manageable: political, economic, military, etc. Hammel's specialty is military history from the tactical perspective (that is to say devoid of all but the most important political and economic factors) and this book is no exception. Hammel focuses very tightly upon analysis and retelling of the battles that occurred and the military factors that led
to them. This tendency leads Hammel to discuss the many terrorist intrusions into Israel that the Israeli military was forced to lean how to counter (a factor that contributed greatly to the effectiveness and readiness of the Israeli military), but to leave out much of the bitter inter-Arab politics preceding the 1967 Six Day War.

The book lacks footnotes, but has an excellent bibliography, which includes not only books, but periodicals and special studies. An additional bonus is a complete Order of battle for the Israeli, Egyptian, Jordanian, and Syrian forces of the 1967 Six Day War.

I definitely prefer this well-written book to but A.J. Barker's "The Arab-Israeli Wars," which shows a unsettling bias towards the Arab side of the conflict.

I highly recommend this excellent account of the 1967 Six Day War.

In addition, I recommend the 2002 "Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East" by Michael B. Oren. This book has the most up-to-date research, extensive reference, and is bound to be regarding as a classic for historians regarding the Six Day War. As much as I've characterized Hammel's "Six Days of War" as the best secondary source popular history of the war, Oren's "Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East" functions as the best secondary source academic reference of the war.

Review by: Maximillian Ben Hanan

Excellent Coverage Of A Vital Conflict.
Well written, informative account of the Six Day War and the events preceding it.

Cross border incursions into Israeli territory by Palestinian terrorists sponsored and supported by neighbouring Arab nations are outlined in some detail. The situation is very similar to that of today.

The author documents the UN situation and attitude in relation to these terrorist attacks. The UN response was muted even then.

The author documents the vastly outnumbered Israeli forces in comparison to their Arab counterparts and how the latter were supplemented by Iraqi and other Arab forces all eager to be part of the eradication of the Jewish state.

This is a must read for anyone interested in this ongoing conflict. Without the pre-emptive strike against Egyptian air power, the vastly outnumbered Israeli forces would have had their work cut out to survive a co-ordinated strike by the surrounding Arab nations. Unless you actually read the accounts from the time and the facts that then existed, it is easily to be mislead. The author has done a fine job here.

Interesting is the account of the Jordanian involvement, without which Israel clearly had no intent in re-taking the 'West Bank' (Judea & Samaria) or the Eastern section of Jerusalem. The detailed accounts of the Jordanian attack upon Israel thinking that the Egyptians had destroyed the Israeli air force, are worth reading in themselves. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (8)

A Well-Written, Clear-Headed Chronicle.
Jeremy Bowen's "Six Days" is a brilliant chronicle of the 1967 war and its consequences for the Middle East. It is a curious phenomenon to see the amount of attacks leveled at the book on this page. Most of the one star reviews provide little in the form of facts and documentation to refute Bowen's conclusions, instead their principle source of anguish is the fact that Bowen does not subscribe to statist worship. They want a classic, romantic narrative where tiny, God-chosen Israel slays the Arab menace with only the equally divine United States providing friendship and support. But as real students of history know, real life is something else. "Six Days" cuts through the imposed daydream and with a sharp, exciting prose, documents how the 1967 conflict erupted out of an Israeli government seeking to expand its territory and governments in Syria and Egypt who bit off more than they could chew.

Bowen's book reads like an epic as it begins with the partition of Palestine, Israel's war of independence in 1948 and the tragic expulsion of the indigenous Arab population as a result of Israeli land grabbing in conjunction with territorial aspirations of the Jordanian monarchy. With fine details, figures and names, Bowen chronicles how the build up to the 1967 war was a long process involving years of hostilities between both sides as Israel coveted more land and regional governments engaged in provocative actions to keep the newly formed Jewish state on edge. The details of the period are well presented as Bowen takes us into a unique era in the Middle East when secular Arab nationalism was sweeping the region and Nasser's Egypt became a beacon of independence from imperialism, especially after the 1956 French-British-Israeli failed invasion. But as Bowen shows, Nasser also suffered from a need to keep his credentials and image intact which lead to Egypt parading itself as a military might which in fact, it wasn't. Syria, at the time suffering from continuous military coups, was also in the same situation. The conditions were ripe for a confrontation where Israel, having a superior and well-disciplined military force (and a newly-established nuclear program), could easily defeat the Arabs without ever having been under any serious, mortal danger.

The details of the Six Day War are well-known, especially Israel's dramatic air assault which decimated Egyptian air defenses, Bowen brilliantly captures it all here and those interested in the history of the conflict will not be disappointed. The book is especially worth reading for its exploration of little known, or little discussed incidents such as the Israeli bombing of the USS Liberty, a US ship where several crewmen died. This remains a highly controversial subject and Bowen presents both sides, was it an accident or a deliberate attack? And why did the US simply brush it under the rug? Most likely because after the war Israel proved it was a highly valuable client state in the region. Bowen also reveals how many of Israel's pretexts for the war were actually not completely honest, Nasser's "blockade" was a joke and was never fully enforced, it was all show to try and keep a macho face in the region. British and US intelligence also knew that Israel faced no mortal danger from its neighbors because of their poor resources and Israel's own superior military capacity. This of course is one reason why reviewers here condemn the book, much in the same way state cultists cannot accept scholarship showing that Iraq never posed a direct threat to the United States in 2003. So why go through the war with Egypt, Syria and Jordan?

As Bowen chronicles in "Six Days," the Israelis have always been an expansionist power with certain aims including the annexation of the West Bank, at the time Gaza and other territories were also coveted. Here is the real heart of the book, it shows us how the events of the past have lead to the situations of the present. The Six Day War resulted in Israel establishing itself as the prime military might in the Middle East and birthed the brutal military occupation of the Palestinian territories, not to mention the hotly disputed occupation of Jerusalem. While it crushed its adversaries, Israeli planners took advantage to expand the country's territory through a classic move of conquest. It takes courage to write the kind of honest, direct history that Bowen presents here. Instead of resorting to recycling the typical, doctrinal view, he looks at the facts, at the events, and draws some clear conclusions. This is not a one-sided narrative, Bowen also faults Arab scheming, grandstanding and poor military planning for what happened, but no one can deny that Israel has been occupying territories in actions deemed illegal by the world body which has resulted in decades of violence, hatred and ethnic conflict.

"Six Days" clarifies the past and clarifies the present, it is brave, vital scholarship which should be read by all serious researchers and those who simply want to know one reason why we are where we are today in the Middle East.

A brilliant look behind the scenes
Jeremy Bowen explores the causes of the 1967 war initiated by Israel, and why the Israeli decision to attack its neighbors resulted only in the seemingly never-ending disaster in the Middle East.As a Republican, and a strong supporter of Israel, I was quite disturbed by the facts presented, and better understand why the 1967 war can be a perpetual cause of Israel's bad relations with her neighbors, as can be evidenced most recently with the 2006 Lebanese devastation, and the recent massacre of civilians (including 500 children) in Gaza.The drumbeats of the 1967 still beat, as can indisputably heard even now, with the new Israeli government's threats to bombard Iran.My fellow supporters of democratic (albeit apartheid) Israel obviously do not want you to know the full story. You can begin to learn the other side of the story here.

Profoundly tendentious
Bowen is convinced the Arabs weren't out to destroy Israel, that the Israelis knew they would wipe the floor with their Arab antagonists. This hardly explains the Israeli chief of staff's (Rabin) nervous breakdown, or the then ex-PM's (Ben Gurion) white hot fury with him for what he perceived as an existential danger.
Oren's book is far more extensively sourced from Arab, Hebrew, Russian documents as well as English one - and unlike Bowen evidently strives for precision and balance. The comparison between the two is highly illuminating.

Factually false, but written in a fast-paced manner.
I thought it was better as a page-turner than most other accounts of the Six Day War.Indeed, Michael Oren's book felt more like a textbook than anything else.But therein lies the true difference.Oren's book is factually accurate, and what it sacrifices in page-turning ability, it gains in accuracy.This book is incredible in fact-picking.

First, one cannot reconcile Oren's book with this one.From the outset, this book makes it as if Israel, not the Arab world, wanted this war.Oren's book, however, describes the mood in Israel as vastly against war and that people in Israel felt that the end was possible, even if not near.Second, Oren describes numerous instances in which the Israeli government and military debated going into the Old City.From this book you would think that Israel hatched the war as a pretext for entering the Old-City.It's an interesting theory, and perhaps some in Israel did want the war precisely so they could use it as a pretext to conquer Jerusalem, but evidence demonstrates that the reality on the ground was very very different, and that the decision to take Jerusalem was not made till well after the war was under way.

The quotes of former high-ranking Israeli government and military officials are impressive.But the author fails to note that a number of the people quoted have adopted views in the past few years inconsistent with views they had in past years, including in the years after the war.That is, the author found a way to quote those that left israeli government and military and became spokepeople for groups on the fringes.

This book would be better if it was described as an editorial.Admittedly, I do not share its editorial perspective or conclusions, but I can accept a difference of opinion.Even then, however, the book's factual flaws seem rather fatal.

Flawed attempt at a comprehensive account of the Six-Day war...
As Abraham Rabinovich, author of The Yom Kippur War: The Epic Encounter That Transformed the Middle East, said: It is easy to be annoyed at this flawed attempt at a comprehensive account of the Six-Day war. But the book does carry the reader along and can serve as an introduction for those unfamiliar with that landmark event and, also, as a reminder for those who have forgotten.

The absence of a preface in which Bowen, a BBC journalist, should have spelled out what he was attempting to achieve and how he intended to go about it is an immediate warning of a lack of weightiness. Another sign is the absence of maps, except for two unhelpful regional maps.

To his credit, Bowen appears to have read dozens of the books written on the war, including the most recent, as well as relevant government archives, particularly of the United States and United Kingdom. He has also interviewed military and civilian personnel on both sides although he does not indicate how many. But his account remains that of a journalist making notes from the sidelines, not of a researcher who has immersed himself in the heart of the matter, who can make informed assessments, and has original insights to offer. He misses central elements in the story, such as the fascinating objections in the Israeli cabinet to the capture of Jerusalem's Old City-and the Western Wall-by ministers from the National Religious Party, who maintained that it was too politically and ideologically hot to handle; this from a party that would soon after spearhead Israeli settlement efforts.

The battle descriptions are incomprehensible, and Bowen, in searching for the illuminating detail or pregnant quote, more often ends up with banality and schmaltz. Nevertheless, there are interesting glimpses of the players, particularly in the Egyptian camp. Bowen's description of how Egypt and the Arab world worked their way up with ever expanding rhetoric into war fever despite their near-total lack of preparation remains, even four decades later, an astonishment.

Abraham Rabinovich
author of The Yom Kippur War:
The Epic Encounter That Transformed the Middle East
... Read more

Product Description
It was the war that lasted ten thousand days. The war that inspired scores of songs. The war that sparked dozens of riots. And in this stirring chronicle, Pulitzer Prize- winning journalist Philip Caputo writes about our country's most controversial war -- the Vietnam War -- for young readers. From the first stirrings of unrest in Vietnam under French colonial rule, to American intervention, to the battle at Hamburger Hill, to the Tet Offensive, to the fall of Saigon, 10,000 Days of Thunder explores the war that changed the lives of a generation of Americans and that still reverberates with us today.

Included within 10,000 Days of Thunder are personal anecdotes from soldiers and civilians, as well as profiles and accounts of the actions of many historical luminaries, both American and Vietnamese, involved in the Vietnam War, such as Richard M. Nixon, General William C. Westmoreland, Ho Chi Minh, Joe Galloway, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Lyndon B. Johnson, and General Vo Nguyen Giap. Caputo also explores the rise of Communism in Vietnam, the roles that women played on the battlefield, the antiwar movement at home, the participation of Vietnamese villagers in the war, as well as the far-reaching impact of the war's aftermath.

Caputo's dynamic narrative is highlighted by stunning photographs and key campaign and battlefield maps, making 10,000 Days of Thunder THE consummate book on the Vietnam War for kids. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

great book
I bought this book for my husband , he spent 2 tours in Vietnam
liked the book

In short, everything a young researcher needs to know about the war
Kids in grades 5-7 will find 10,000 Days Of Thunder to be a readily accessible survey of the Vietnam War which explores a war which lasted ten thousand days, sparking riots and controversy across America. Here are anecdotes from soldier and civilians, profiles of the actions of leaders, antiwar movements, and sidebars of quick facts paired with full-page maps, black and white and some color photos, and a dynamic coverage of key campaigns and battles: in short, everything a young researcher needs to know about the war.

Richie's Picks: 10,000 DAYS OF THUNDER
"Last electric Sunday morning,
Waiting in the Park for the dawn."
--Paul Kantner (1970)

I arrived at the Park a little while past dawn on Sunday, greeted by vendors who were still setting up, and long lines of blue Porta-Potties that were standing shoulder to shoulder at attention. The morning prayer ritual was just about to commence.

Mayor Gavin Newsom had declared it "Chet Helms Day." We streamed into Speedway Meadows by the thousands to spend the day ingesting sights, smells, and musical sets provided by scores of aging musicians who'd played at Helms' Avalon Ballroom back in the Sixties. For me, having been slightly too young and on the wrong coast to have experienced those days first-hand, having snuck into a Long Island drive-in theater in high school (None of us had a car!) to see many of these same musicians (and some of the same audience members) captured in the Woodstock and Fillmore: The Last Days movies, Sunday served as community get-together, musical history lesson, dream fulfillment experience, and peace rally.

"Give me an F!" "F!"
"Give me a U!" "U!"
"Give me a C!" "C!"
"Give me an K!" "K!"
"What's that spell?"
"What's that spell?"
"What's that spell?"
"What's that spell?"
--Country Joe McDonald leading "The Fish Cheer," 10/30/2005

On the long crack-of-dawn bus ride down to San Franciso Sunday morning, I experienced Philip Caputo's 10,000 DAYS OF THUNDER: A HISTORY OF THE VIETNAM WAR, a powerful record of the sights and significance of those days. As with the San Francisco music scene of the Sixties, I was just a couple of years too young to have needed to make any life-altering decisions regarding The Draft. But just as surely as I grew up listening to that music on the radio and seeing those movies at the drive-in and my first Dead show at the Nassau Coliseum, I also grew up experiencing the War.

But suddenly that War is so far in the past.

"Every year they say we're going to get right up to the present, but we always get stuck in the Industrial Revolution. We got to World War I in seventh grade--who knew there had been a war with the whole world."
--main character Melinda Sordino in Laurie Halse Anderson's, SPEAK

10,000 DAYS OF THUNDER is an incredibly timely book for adolescents who could well be looking war in the face in a few years. As a tenth-grade World History student standing in protest on the Capitol steps, listening to Phil Ochs and Coretta Scott King, I looked back at World War II which had ended a quarter-century earlier as if it were ancient history. For today's tenth-grade World History students, as the 2,000th American soldier falls in Iraq and Scooter Libby gets indicted as part of a tangled web of lies about the current War, the fall of Saigon is even further back into the past for them than Hiroshima was for me.

"The Vietnam War has three dubious distinctions: It was the longest and the most unpopular war in American history and the only war America ever lost."

Is it possible for a book about war to be beautiful? If so, this is that book. Designed with a large trim size, every right-hand page throughout the book contains a vivid close-up from the past of the children and adults who found themselves at the epicenter of this defining chapter in world and U.S. history. On the left-facing pages there is a combination of text, "Quick Facts," and smaller illustrations and graphics. The tale told by the text begins all the way back at the beginnings of Communism so that readers are provided with a real understanding of how it came to be that those of my generation watched filmed battle scenes and flag-draped coffins from halfway around the world on our childhood dinnertime news broadcasts.

Some of Caputo's "Quick Facts":

In 1954, following the French departure from Vietnam, President Eisenhower asked the army's chief of staff, General Matthew Ridgeway, to conduct a study of what American military aid would be needed to help the South Vietnamese defeat the Communists in Vietnam. Ridgeway reported that the United States would have to commit between 500,000 and 1 million men. President Eisenhower decided this was an impossible option, so instead chose to send minimal aid in the form of weapons, supplies, economic aid, and military and political advisors.

--Most troops arrived in Vietnam in airplanes. For many, the first memory of Vietnam was the 'wall' of intense heat combined with the pungent smells of sweat, dung, rotting vegetation, food, and smoke that would hit them the moment they stepped out of an airplane's cabin.

--A reliable evaluation of the number of Vietnamese people affected by Agent Orange is almost impossible. But a team of Canadian experts conducted an independent study of the contaminated regions in the Alvoi Valley in 1999. Their findings revealed that children born in sprayed areas were more than 8 times as likely to suffer hernias and more than 3 times as likely to have cleft palates, be mentally retarded, and have extra fingers and toes.

--The Selective Service System was composed of almost 4,000 local draft boards and staffed by unpaid volunteers, most of whom were white males who were veterans of earlier wars. A 1966 survey of 16,638 board members of the draft revealed that only 1.3 percent were African American.

--During the Vietnam War, U.S. Air Force bombers and fighter-bombers dropped an estimated 6.2 million tons of bombs. This amount, which does not include bombs dropped by U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and South Vietnamese aircraft, was almost 3 times the 2.2 million tons of bombs dropped in World War II.

As a kid I learned about those small lakes called kettle-holes that were created when a chunk of ice from one of the Ice Age glaciers that formed Long Island got stuck in the dirt and melted, leaving a round lake that still exists thousands of years later. There are areas on Long Island's South Fork where you see multiple kettle-holes near one another. One of the small-sized photographs included in Caputo's book shows an arial view of what appears to be a similar but much more intensive phenomenon in Vietnam. Only it was U.S. bombing that did the work of the epic glaciers.

There are so many of those "a-ha!" moments throughout 10,000 DAYS OF THUNDER.

"You hold the key to love and fear
All in your trembling hand
Just one key unlocks them both
It's there at your command"
--"Get Together," by the late Dino Valenti, as sung by his son and former bandmates, 10/30/2005

Philip Caputo's background as both a Pulitzer-winning journalist and a Vietnam Vet is consistently evidenced by the combination of wisdom, factual matter, and supporting materials that make 10,000 DAYS OF THUNDER both a great read and a great and essential teaching resource.

... Read more

Product Description
Detailed account of exteriors and interiors of the German defensive zone along the Normandy coast during the D-Day time period. ... Read more

Product Description
In ships and planes, they crossed the English Channel.
On the other side Hitler’s army waited.
And the longest day was about to begin....

In the spring of 1944, 120,000 Allied soldiers crossed the English Channel in the most ambitious invasion force ever assembled. Rangers, paratroopers, infantry, and armored personnel, these soldiers--some who had just cut their teeth in Africa and Sicily and some who were brand-new to war--joined a force aimed at the heart of Europe and Hitler’s defenses. On the morning of June 6, D-Day began. And in the hours that followed, thousands lost their lives, while those who survived would be changed forever

No other chronicle of D-Day can match Gerald Astor's extraordinary work--a vivid first-person account told with stunning immediacy by the men who were there. From soldiers who waded through the bullet-riddled water to those who dropped behind enemy lines, from moments of terror and confusion to acts of incredible camaraderie and heroism, June 6, 1944 plunges us into history in the making--and the most pivotal battle ever waged. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

It Will Keep You Riveted
You will be at the front lines listening to the truth of a necessary war.You will understand how a war is won by which set of generals are the least incompetant.Our generals were incompetant, but our soldiers courageous and that won the war.Reading this is vital, and I have purchased all the other Gerald Astor books that I could find.

Excellent - An Accurate Portrayal
I found Astor's book to be an excellent read. He lets the soldiers tell their own stories and does not exclude any of the blood-and-gut comments. You get an accurate portrayal of what the invasion must have been like for the soldier, e.g., like what you see in "Saving Private Ryan" - the blown-apart body parts, limbless bodies, etc. The book covers, quite well, the soldiers at home (before the war), their experiences in training, the trip over to France, their battles on the beach, and a follow-up. I certainly recommend his book to anyone. Any of Gerald Astor's books are good.

I did find one item unusual:several times I found myself thinking, "I remember a scene like this in 'The Longest Day' movie. I asked myself if Astor saw the movie first, then decided to write the book. Nevertheless, just a small observation. I would certainly read this book again!

A Humanizer of WWII
Gerald Astor's accumulation of stories from a wide variety of sources serves to bring a human aspect to WWII that seems to get overlooked in the strategic and political accounts. The author offers a quite vivid, detailedaccount of the carnage and fear that was felt on perhaps the most famousday in military history.

The Human Cost of Victory in Europe
If you saw Saving Private Ryan and wondered at the authenticity ofSpielberg's account, this is an excellent reference.Astor's method is asmuch journalism as history, relying heavily on first person narrative totell the story, providing enough background and tactical description tomake the overall account into a cohesive narrative.This is an important,moving work.Astor takes the time to start with the pre-war days with thepersonal lives of the soldiers from infantry and airborne divisions whowould eventually form part of the initial assault wave in Normandy on June6, 1944.The soldiers who formed the 116th Infantry Regiment, the firstassault force on Omaha Beach, were from small mid-Atlantic towns such asBedford, Virginia, regular guys with small town hopes and dreams - who werefed into slaughter and chaos.Astor's work is powerful and poignantbecause we are made to realize that these men were, as Ambrose coined thephrase, citizen soldiers.The troops were largely untested (more than 85%of the American participants in the Normandy invasion had never seencombat), but trained in depth and willing in heart to perform their duty -whatever hell lay ahead.The price of the invasion was steep - but thereward was even greater.There is no sentimentality or Hollywood melodramahere - just a clear, unflinching portrait of ordinary Americans exhibitingvalor in awesome circumstances, American citizens paying the price forfreedom.These men proved that Americans are the true descendants of theGreeks of the age of Marathon. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an OCR edition without illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from GeneralBooksClub.com. You can also preview excerpts from the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Volume: 6; Original Published by: United publishers of Canada, limited in 1921 in 500 pages; Subjects: World War, 1914-1918; Canada; History / Military / General; History / Military / World War I; History / Military / Canada; ... Read more

Product Description
This work offers deep and original research into events in Hiroshima on the 6 August, 1945. The story remains moving because the authors have not forgotten that this is a human story and that it must be visualized in human terms. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Not quite the whole story
I will say, that as a review from generally Japanese sources it provides a somewhat balanced view of the events of 1945 leading up to the bombing of Hiroshima.

It describes the unreality that pervaded the Japanese government and even the population at large.It seems that there were so many opportunities to end the war that were simply wasted by the Japanese.Again and again the Army drifted in and out of a fantasy land of imagined reality.

In the mean time, people were dying everyday.This is the point that the book is weak on.It does not explore the costs of Japanese occupation and the effect their indecision.There is no examination of the horrors inflicted around the Pacific by the Japanese with each passing day.No real description of the suffering borne by the subject peoples, the Allied POW's, the Japanese soldier at the front while the government pointlessly debated.

It is a book about the suffering of individual Japanese civilian and about the incredibly slow pace of Japanese decision making.About the absolute resistance to surrender that existed with the army (which controlled the government) and the absolute paralyzing terror within the "peace movement" (such as it was).

It is sort of like watching a train wreck as it happens, in that time period where all action seems to slow down.It is made all the worse because you know how it will all end.In short it is an excellent chronology of Japanese squandered opportunities to end the war before these weapons were used.The Japanese government behavior borders on unbelievable.

And in the end you realize that by the cruel logic of war, the dropping of the bombs was simply inevitable given the circumstances.It is the inaction of men that could have stopped it that is the real sadness.

The bibliography and footnotes alone are worth the price.Many Japanese sources of incalculable value are referenced therein.

Stunning...Tragic
I recently found this book in a library and purchased it (...). When I saw that its authors was a group called "The Pacific War Research Society" and made up by 14 Japanese researchers, my heart sank thinking that the book would be very biased in Japan's favor. I was completely wrong. The book was very even handed with respect to presenting the story from both sides (the US and the Japanese versions). The writing and the translation was impeccable.

The book indicated that the bomb was originally created for use against Nazi Germany. The US and its scientists were concerned that Hitler would use an atom bomb against the Allies. When Germany surrendered, the scientists were no longer excited about the use of the bomb against Japan - a fact I had not known.

The authors suggest that the Imperial Army controlled the country and it was the Army which suggested that Japan would fight to the death. The Allied insistence of "unconditional surrender" remained an "...insurmountable stumbling block" and that the Japanese leaders believed that the Army never would have accepted this and that Japan would have been plunged into civil war.

The authors suggest that the Emperor knew the war was finished but that Japan could not find an honorable way of surrendering without losing face. The Army continued preaching that they have the spiritual upper hand. Even though the Emperor and his ministers prefered an end of war, the Army won out.

The description of the horror of the bomb was absolutely incredible. I commend the Research Society for a very straight forward book on the path to the use of the bomb. They blame both sides for mistakes made which lead to the use of the bomb. And, they neither condemn or praise each side for what happened. A superb book.

... Read more

Product Description
World War II came to a conclusion on August 14, 1945, eight days after the first atomic bomb was dropped on Japan. The U.S.S. YMS - 472 was one vessel whose job was not complete at war's end. They were assigned to Okinawa Island with orders to sweep the area and destroy active mines. The men were already having thoughts of home, family and togetherness. The weight of the war had, finally, been lifted off of their shoulders. However, not a single one of them suspected they would soon be introduced to a new type of enemy. On September 16, 1945, thirty-three days after the war, a category 3 typhoon named "Ida" would catch the thirty-one man crew of the YMS - 472 off guard and send the ship to the bottom of the ocean. Six Days on a Raft is a true story of one man's experience on the Pacific Ocean while lost to the sea in a tiny life raft. As his comrades began to slip into the ocean around him he knew it would only be a short time before it was his turn to succumb to the elements. However, his epiphany about true faith would be the catalyst to a miracle rescue. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Couldn't put it down
I was very impressed with the graphic and detail explanation of what took place at this time during the war. I felt like I was there.Never being shipwrecked or under these kind of conditions, I found my heart going out to those who did and did not survive as well as their families. I was really impressed with the author's reliance and trust in the Lord through this whole terrible ordeal. I highly recommend the reading of this book. It will definitely hold your interest. I couldn't put it down.Very well written.

Gripping
A great story of human endurance written against the background of WW2 and set in the vast eastern Pacific. The writer survived the sinking of his ship during a huge typhon by mentally reliving his childhood and the family love that had carrried his own Father through the Great Depression. Even as others in the raft were driven to death by thirst and the hopelessness of their situation, these memories of compassion gave Mr Harrison the will to survive. This is a very moving story. ... Read more