Books

Dead West
The Reckoning
Second Chances
Gambit: A Story of International Intrigue and Nuclear High Jinks
The Devil's Due
Tropical Depression
The Sociopath
The Ardennes Tapes: Pray That Somebody Listens!
Corka Hitlera
The Power Players
The Black Rose
Worlds Apart
The Killing Pages
The Silver Dollar Eyes: Was One of Them Dated 1804?
Viral Consequences
Small Deception
Dream Cycles
Reasonable Maniacs: For the Love of Northern Ireland
The Ministering Angel
Hate Ray
Short Three Thousand
Radio Rage
Black Rock Bay
Slicer
..on the Move

God Is Dead: Secularization in the West (Religion in the Modern World)

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Meticulously argumented theory/idea

God Is Dead: Secularization in the West (Religion in the Modern World)
Steve Bruce
Manufacturer: Blackwell Publishing Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics
On Secularization: Towards A Revised General Theory
Public Religions in the Modern World
The Secular Revolution: Power, Interests, and Conflict in the Secularization of American Public Life
Freedom to do God's Will: Religious Fundamentalism and Social Change

ASIN: 0631232753

Customer Reviews:

Meticulously argumented theory/idea.......2007-04-23

Just a quick review: The first chapter is Bruce explaining the secularization theory (paradigm, idea, whatever). He uses a graph to illustrate this. It is very intricate and complex, but he explains each part very clearly. The rest of the book is basically him refuting any opposition the theory faces - chapter by chapter. He states what people often argue, state what they don't understand about the theory (which they obviously must NOT understand, or else they wouldn't be arguing, or so he'd say ;) and then state how what they're saying isn't true. It is a complicated book, and you may not agree with it (MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND THE THEORY COMPLETELY BEFORE DISAGREEING, its not as theo-bashing as it may sound!) but it is interesting, well done, and relevent to today.

Wanted Dead or Alive: THE AMERICAN WEST IN POPULAR CULTURE

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Excellent introduction to the subject

Wanted Dead or Alive: THE AMERICAN WEST IN POPULAR CULTURE

Manufacturer: University of Illinois Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The American West : The Invention of a Myth
Romancing the Folk: Public Memory and American Roots Music (Cultural Studies of the United States)
The Western (Inside Film)
Rethinking Freedom: Why Freedom Has Lost Its Meaning and What Can Be Done to Save It
Hollywood's West: The American Frontier in Film, Television, And History

ASIN: 0252065271

Customer Reviews:

Excellent introduction to the subject.......1998-08-05

Wanted Dead or Alive is an excellent overview of the American West in popular culture. While the conclusions within this anthology are all similar and reflect a revisionist (New Western History) slant, the vast array of topics covered, represent the only overview of the subject I am aware of.

Cemeteries of New Orleans: A Journey Through the Cities of the Dead

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A Pre-Katrina Look at New Orleans' Cities of the Dead
First-rate coffe table book for graveyard junkies

Cemeteries of New Orleans: A Journey Through the Cities of the Dead
Jan Arrigo
Manufacturer: Voyageur Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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New Orleans Cemeteries: Life in the Cities of the Dead
New Orleans Cemeteries (LA) (Images of America)
Stories in Stone
New Orleans Architecture Vol III: The Cemeteries
City of the Dead: A Journey Through St. Louis Cemetery

ASIN: 0896586650

Book Description

Cemeteries of New Orleans: A Journey through the Cities of the Dead is a photographic tour of the city’s captivating graveyards. Glorious photographs accompanied by interesting captions showcase more than fifteen of New Orleans’s historic and fascinating cemeteries (or ""cities of the dead""), such as St. Louis #1, Greenwood, St. Roch, Lafayette, and bayou and plantation country cemeteries. This intriguing volume includes helpful travel information, such as a list of ""who’s buried where."" Sidebars and captions discuss origins of All Saints’ Day, architectural styles, burial processes, cemetery preservation, history, jazz funerals, and voodoo, making "Cemeteries of New Orleans: A Journey through the Cities of the Dead" a stunning keepsake. About the Author and Photographer: Jan Arrigo of New Orleans is the author of "Explore Jean Lafitte National Park and Preserve Louisiana" and Voyageur Press’s "New Orleans." She is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors and Editorial Freelancers Association. Laura A. McElroy of Atlanta, Georgia, is a freelance travel photographer whose work can be found in magazines, including "Y’all" and "Destinations," on postcards and in regional travel books. She teamed up with Jan Arrigo for Voyageur Press’s "New Orleans."

Customer Reviews:

A Pre-Katrina Look at New Orleans' Cities of the Dead.......2005-09-18

This book was sent to me to review before Katrina was a puff of air. As New Orleans became inundated with water from broken levees, I tried to remember when I first learned that New Orleans was below sea level. It hit me . . . when I was driving by a cemetery and saw the vaults standing tall above ground.

Sure enough, as I opened this book, it quickly pointed out that burying people is challenging because of the ground water due to being below sea level. The text is an amazing presage of what just happened in New Orleans as it relates to what happened to cemeteries in the past when floods hit.

Prior to the disaster, New Orleans was famous in part for its unusual rituals and practices involving the deceased. Cemeteries of New Orleans gives you a visual expression of those rituals and practices (from visiting your loved ones on All Saint's Day to a jazz funeral procession) while showing you the different structures and layouts of the city's major cemeteries. They do resemble cities more than any other cemetery you've ever visited, I'll wager.

If you decide that you want to visit New Orleans after the reconstruction, this book will be a valuable guide to the cemeteries. You'll have pre-Katrina photographs to compare to the post-Katrina reality. You will also know where to visit to see the resting places of the famous, such as Confederate president Jefferson Davis.

This is a photography-intensive look, rather than a text-intensive look. As a result, I think most people will find this resource to be just about perfect in helping them understand how New Orleans likes to handle its dead. I know that seems like a gruesome subject right now, but that's the book's focus.

May all those who need help in New Orleans find it!

First-rate coffe table book for graveyard junkies.......2005-06-20

Visitors to the Crescent City are always intrigued by the cemeteries with their aboveground tombs, like miniature marble cities with narrow lanes and alleyways, and necessitated by marshy ground and a high water table. Traditions included burial of a wife with her birth family, not her husband, and entombment of slaves with the family, and numerous ethnic and fraternal societies have sponsored tombs, especially in the three St. Louis cemeteries. There's a great deal of local history here, but this is primarily a picture book of high quality that includes twenty-eight cemeteries in Orleans Parish, the River Parishes, and neighboring communities like Chalmette and Lacombe. Featured tombs include those of Jefferson Davis, Benjamin Latrobe, Marie Laveau, John Kennedy Toole, Louis Prima, and many ordinary citizens and families. The photography is first-rate and the discussions of architectural styles, religious observances, and the jazz funeral will keep you engaged.

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A Western Zombie tale
Zombie in the Old West
The best of the best
ZOMBIES IN SPURS
Find thrills with the living dead

Dead in the West
Joe R. Lansdale , and Colleen Doran
Manufacturer: Night Shade Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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High Cotton: Selected Stories of Joe R. Lansdale
Bumper Crop
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Sunset and Sawdust

ASIN: 1597800147

Book Description

Dead in the West is the story of Mud Creek, Texas, a town overshadowed by a terrible evil. An Indian medicine man, unjustly lynched by the people of Mud Creek, has put a curse on the town. As the sun sets, he will have his revenge. For when darkness falls, the dead will walk in Mud Creek and they will be hungry for human flesh. The only one that can save the town is Reverend Jebediah Mercer, a gun toting preacher man who came to Mud Creek to escape his past. He has lost his faith in the Lord and his only solace is the whisky bottle. Will he renew his faith in himself and God to defeat this evil or will the town be destroyed?

Customer Reviews:

A Western Zombie tale.......2006-11-12

I read World War Z recently and found it to be so enjoyable it put me in the mood for more apocalyptic zombie fiction. I had also recently read Joe Lansdale's "The Bottoms" and found it to be a moving, highly literate coming of age story. So I thought, "why not combine the two experiences and read a Lansdale zombie story?" So I ordered this book from Amazon based upon the other reviews and read it last night.

Hmmmm. This wasn't a literate novel like The Bottoms. In fact, it isn't even a novel. At 147 pages, with sparse text on each page, I am not even sure it stretches to novella. There is also little character development; the figures in the book are just stereotyped character sketches. There's the hard-drinking gun-toting preacher who doubts in God, the redneck town bully, the native indian curse, the elderly, good-willed town doctor, his beautiful daughter, the bullied teenager in need of a father figure, and the sheriff tormented by his failing to uphold justice through a lapse in character. The story is a pulp dime-store book and the cover art depicts it well. Now despite what may seem like a list of shortcomings, as long as you aware of what you are buying, I can see how this would be a pretty enjoyable read especially for the younger set. It has the feel and lfavor of a book directed at pre-teens or teenagers. Yes, the characters and story are simple, but if you are hankering for a fast-paced, quick read about zombies battling it out with dead-eyed gunslingers on a mission from God, then this one will hit the spot. The book doesn't pretend to be anything but what it is, an enjoyable pulp combining the zombie and Western genres for a fun little novella. It's kind of pricy for what you get, but if you can pick it up used and like these genres, you'll enjoy this romp.

I prefer denser stories with more development. If you do as well, then let me heartily recommend World War Z if you want a zombie book, or if you want literature let me recommend The Bottoms, a book hauntingly reminiscent of an updated To Kill a Mockingbird. If you like pulps though, I thought this was a reasonably decent one.

Zombie in the Old West.......2006-01-03

Lansdale seemlessly blends motifs of the horror and western genre in this very short, fast-paced book.

However, I felt that Lansdale is trying to shock a little too hard in some of his passages (wait till you find out what kind of emotional baggage the preacher is carrying around), but also makes it seem a rather casual aspect of the plot.

The "zombies" have an interesting fusion of mythology attached to them and certain parts of the story seem to prefigure "From Dusk Till Dawn".

A great book and an excellent example of how the horror western can succeed when written like this.

The best of the best.......2004-09-13

For some strange reason Joe Lansdale often carried the tag of horror writer for many years which is peculiar since out of the 20 or so books of his, only "The Drive-In" and "Dead in the West" are horror novels. Many of his novels are either westerns, hard-boiled mysteries or strange combinations of both. Dead in the West is another unique crossover as only Lansdale can do, a short novel that seamlessly combines the western and horror genres to mold a "zombie western". Let it be said that Dead in the West is one of the best and most unique contributions ever to the horror genre.

Reverend Jeb Mercer is a man of god who has lost much of his faith due to the many unfortunate circumstances that have shaped his life. Every once in a while Jeb still communicates with the lord and this time He has sent Jeb to the East Texas town of Mud Creek on a mission, a mission about what Jeb is uncertain but he boards his mule, packs his guns and heads over to the sleepy desert town. Jeb will soon find out that the town has been cursed by an Indian shaman and that is why everyone in Mud Creek is turning into slow shuffling zombies. Can the Reverend, a man of god who has lost his faith, save the town from the dark pits of hell that await?

The ideas are great and truly original but it is Lansdale's writing that make this novel so exceptional. He has a way with words and with humour that just jump at you and make you stare at the page in disbelief. The dialogue is some of the funniest ever and all the words seem to flow seamlessly on the pages. This is one of those novels that is very hard to put down unfinished. On the surface, the plot seems like one of a pulpy dime novel but it has such a tight structure and sense of atmosphere that it becomes so much more. This book has more treasures in 120 pages than most books of 400 pages could ever think of having.

Most of the novel would be classified as a western until that is the invasion of zombies in the last 30 pages or so that turn it into a bloody, gory and extremely graphic zombie gut-muncher. This is one of those gems that should never go out of print and should obtain classic status but because of how unconventional it is will forever remain an obscure cult anomaly. If you are a fan of Joe or horror in general what are you waiting for? Hunt this book down, then settle into your favourite chair with a bowl of chili on the side and let Joe take you on for the ride of your life.

ZOMBIES IN SPURS.......2004-04-25

From the opening scene in the old stagecoach to the apocalyptic ending in a church, DEAD IN THE WEST delivers more thrills and spills it in its short length than many 300+ tomes. Joe Lansdale, known for his black humor, whips it out in plenty in this tale of a Reverend who wanders into Mud Creek and finds himself involved in the curse of an Indian wrongly accused of killing a young girl, and lynched. His mulatto woman was also brutally raped and murdered. The curse is purely simple: zombies beget more zombies, and Lansdale spares nothing in his brutally graphic and frightening tale. Joining Rev. Jeb in the spotlight is a delightful young boy named David; the bewitching Abby and her rascally doctor father; and of course the many zombies populating the scene.
The book is relentless and no character is guaranteed safety by the time the book ends; it has a rather "twisty" ending as well; did he ever do a sequel? It would be great!!!
A very good horror story.

Find thrills with the living dead.......2002-08-23

One of the big differences between older Lansdale novels and ones written now is their length. At 119 pages, Dead In The West barely gets out of the short story realm. Regardless of the length the story still packs a hell of a punch. Reverend Jebidiah Mercer is unlike most other preachers during the wild west; he drinks, carries a gun and actively wander the country enforcing God's will. This time he finds himself in the town of Mud Creek and just in time to help face down the living dead thanks to a curse from a local Indian.

While the overall story might lack some of the character depth and introspective social commentaries mixed in with the dialogue that are found in most of Lansdale's later works, the story still puts enough emotion into the events that unfold to make you care about what happens. The caring is more about how everyone gets killed since it is pretty obvious that most of the characters are fodder for the zombies. But then this is acknowledged within the dedication and helps contribute to the charm of the book. If you like movies like "Evil Dead", "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and other Grade B films, then you owe it to yourself to pick this up and read it.

Mae West Is Dead: Recent Lesbian and Gay Fiction

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Mae West Is Dead: Recent Lesbian and Gay Fiction

Manufacturer: Faber & Faber
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

Mae West is Dead represents the best of contemporary lesbian and gay fiction in Britain and the United States. This edition includes a new story by Adam Mars-Jones.

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Amos
A good read, but disturbing
Brilliant Book

Amos : To Ride A Dead Horse
Stanley Gordon West
Manufacturer: Lexington-Marshall Pub.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

Blind Your Ponies
Finding Laura Buggs
Until They Bring the Streetcars Back (Mysteries & Horror)
Sweet Shattered Dreams
Growing an Inch (Fiction)

ASIN: 0965624706

Book Description

Set in Montana in the early '60's, it is the story of one man who against impossible odds refused to give in to despair and hopelessness. Amos was a man who thought he'd experienced all that life had to offer when, with a capricious turn of fate, he fell through the cracks of society's institutions, into the merciless cogwheels of human apathy and carelessness. After a tragic accident that kills his wife and leaves him with a shattered hip, without family, and penniless, Amos is deposited in the county poor farm, Sunset Home, outside a small Montana town. He believes his life is over and he resolves to let go and die as quickly as possible, isolating himself from the other residents of the poor farm.

Under head nurse Daisy Daws's iron-clad rule, he notices small cruelties and injustices but attempts to ignore them in his refusal to accept this meaningless end to his life, until an unthinkable horror witnessed by chance in the middle of the night reawakens his deeply felt sense of justice. Ever so often, indifference and neglect mutate into unmitigated evil and then humanity goes on trial. Rarely, someone stands in the breach and shouts "No" with only courage and dignity as weapons. Amos, in spite of himself, becomes that person when he says aloud to himself in the darkness of his bleak little room, "I'm not going to die, by God, and I'm not going to let her get away with it!" The story of his struggle with Daisy Daws not only to survive but to overcome is a compelling testimony to the inner strength and irrepressible spirit of man. Albert Camus once said, "In the midst of winter, I found there was within me an invincible summer." This became Amos's credo. With a growing respect and affection for his fellow inmates, with a newfound romance with the lovely Fern, and against devastating odds and arrogant brutality, he finds a triumph he never expected.

Customer Reviews:

Amos.......2007-01-20

Enjoyed this book very much. Had a different ending than expected, which was great. Loved it!

A good read, but disturbing.......2003-01-17

I enjoyed this book, but only gave it 4 stars because the subject matter was very hard for me to read. If you have any relatives in nursing homes, this story will hit home. The plot is all the more disturbing because it is based on true events from a real nursing home. West again creates characters who are dynamic and persever even when faced with amazing odds.

Brilliant Book.......2001-01-22

An extraordinary book, highly entertaining and very suspenseful. A celebration of the human spirit!

Writing to Cuba: Filibustering and Cuban Exiles in the United States (Envisioning Cuba)

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Writing to Cuba: Filibustering and Cuban Exiles in the United States (Envisioning Cuba)
Rodrigo Lazo
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Caribbean & Latin American | History & Criticism | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Spanish | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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Selected Writings (Penguin Classics)
Foundational Fictions: The National Romances of Latin America (Latin American Literature and Culture, No 8)

ASIN: 0807855944
Release Date: 2005-02-23

Book Description

In the mid-nineteenth century, some of Cuba's most influential writers settled in U.S. cities and published a variety of newspapers, pamphlets, and books. Collaborating with military movements known as filibusters, this generation of exiled writers created a body of literature demanding Cuban independence from Spain and alliance with or annexation to the United States.

Drawing from rare materials in the United States and Havana, Rodrigo Lazo offers new readings of work by writers such as Cirilo Villaverde, Juan Clemente Zenea, Pedro Santacilia, and Miguel T. Tolón. Lazo argues that to understand these writers and their publications, we must move beyond nation-based models of literary study and consider their connections to both Cuba and the United States. Anchored by the publication of Spanish- and English-language newspapers in the United States, the transnational culture of writers Lazo calls los filibusteros went hand in hand with a long-standing economic flow between the countries and was spurred on by the writers' belief in the American promise of freedom and the hemispheric ambitions of the expansionist U.S. government. Analyzing how U.S. politicians, journalists, and novelists debated the future of Cuba, Lazo argues that the war of words carried out in Cuban-U.S. print culture played a significant role in developing nineteenth-century conceptions of territory, colonialism, and citizenship.

Custer Battle Casualties: Burials Exhumations and Reinterments (Montana and the West V 7)

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Custer Battle Casualties: Burials Exhumations and Reinterments (Montana and the West V 7)
Richard G. Hardorff
Manufacturer: Upton & Sons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Custer Battle Casualties, 2: The Dead, The Missing, and a few Survivors (Montana And The West Vol. Eleven)

ASIN: 0912783141

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Dead Man in Paradise is one of the best books I have ever read in my life

Dead Man in Paradise
J. B. MacKinnon
Manufacturer: Douglas & McIntyre
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1553651383

Customer Reviews:

Dead Man in Paradise is one of the best books I have ever read in my life.......2005-12-06

This book is incredible. MacKinnon follows family history in this incredible piece of literary nonfiction. His uncle was a Catholic priest, murdered by police officers in the Dominican Republic in the 60s. The police were immediately shot by an army officer. Forty years later he tries to unravel what actually happened.

The thing that blew me away most was that I could feel him struggle with a foreign language in a different country. I have lived overseas as well, and his writing took me right back to the feeling of pressure inside my head, as I tried to understand. As the book progresses, the pressure diminishes. Truly spectacular writing.

I tried to take it slow, to savour the book, but I finally gave up and tore through it in a day and a half. I am going to reread it this winter.

Given Up for Dead: America's Heroic Stand at Wake Island

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Remarkable Courage
Well researched, clearly written, excellent sources, a valuable historical reference.
One of the first tough fights for the American army in WWII
A fantastic narrative history of little known Wake Island
The Alamo of the Pacific

Given Up for Dead: America's Heroic Stand at Wake Island
Bill Sloan
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

Pacific Alamo: The Battle for Wake Island
Hell Wouldn't Stop: An Oral History of the Battle of Wake Island
Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944 -- The Bloodiest Battle of the Pacific War
Facing Fearful Odds: The Siege of Wake Island
Wake Island Pilot: A World War II Memoir (Memories of War)

ASIN: 0553381946
Release Date: 2004-09-28

Book Description

A gripping narrative of unprecedented valor and personal courage, here is the story of the first American battle of World War II: the battle for Wake Island. Based on firsthand accounts from long-lost survivors who have emerged to tell about it, this stirring tale of the “Alamo of the Pacific” will reverberate for generations to come.

On December 8, 1941, just five hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese planes attacked a remote U.S. outpost in the westernmost reaches of the Pacific. It was the beginning of an incredible sixteen-day fight for Wake Island, a tiny but strategically valuable dot in the ocean. Unprepared for the stunning assault, the small battalion was dangerously outnumbered and outgunned. But they compensated with a surplus of bravery and perseverance, waging an extraordinary battle against all odds.

When it was over, a few hundred American Marines, sailors, and soldiers, along with a small army of heroic civilian laborers, had repulsed enemy forces several thousand strong––but it was still not enough. Among the Marines was twenty-year-old PFC Wiley Sloman. By Christmas Day, he lay semiconscious in the sand, struck by enemy fire. Another day would pass before he was found—stripped of his rifle and his uniform. Shocked to realize he hadn’t awakened to victory, Sloman wondered: Had he been given up for dead—and had the Marines simply given up?

In this riveting account, veteran journalist Bill Sloan re-creates this history-making battle, the crushing surrender, and the stories of the uncommonly gutsy men who fought it. From the civilians who served as gunmen, medics, and even preachers, to the daily grind of life on an isolated island—literally at the ends of the earth—to the agony of POW camps, here we meet our heroes and confront the enemy face-to-face, bayonet to bayonet.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

Remarkable Courage.......2006-11-13

"Given Up For Dead" is a well written and moving account of the battle for Wake Island days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

After the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor to start WWII, the small military force and civilian community on Wake Island were thrust into the first major battle of the Pacific conflict with barley anything more than determination and patriotic pride. Ill prepared to fight against the Japanese, the soldiers and civilians on the island working to develop this barren coral reef into an outpost, were forced to stand strong and push back what seemed like a never ending flow of Japanese air strikes and ground invasions.

The will and determination of these soldiers, told through meticulous research and 1st person accounts, is truly amazing. The courage these soldiers and civilians displayed was an inspiration to the nation and came at a time when the nation was in need of optimism after the Pearl Harbor attacks. It is hard to imagine (even with Bill Sloan's perfect story telling) how these men withstood such odds and continued to fight so bravely after their own commanders and government gave up on them.

What a tremendous story of will, determination and pride. It will make the patriotic hairs on your head stand up and cheer for these soldiers who gave it all they had in a fight they had no chance of winning. A remarkable story that should be told again and again. Three cheers to Bill Sloan for writing a superb recount of the battles and keeping the memory of these men alive.

Well researched, clearly written, excellent sources, a valuable historical reference........2006-10-17

There seems to be three types of books when it comes to the Wake Island saga: the personal account, the scholarly analysis, and the journalistic story.
Bill Sloan's book is the latter, a tapestry comprising personal stories, academic research as well as critical historical as well as tactical analysis.
Sloan introduces the characters as the story evolves, piecing together many of the inconsistencies found in earlier published works.
Sloan is highly critical of CDR Winfield Cunningham's role in both the command of the garrison as well as his responsibility for the garrison's surrender. Also criticized is the more heralded MAJ James Devereux, whose shortcomings, albeit much more limited, are also realized.
This is an exceptional book which shall serve as a valuable anthology of some less heard stories of Wake's survivors and dead alike.
Truly an homage to these men, so many of whom we are in the midst of losing today, whose gallantry will hopefully not be lost to the fickle memory of American History.
REVIEW EVERY BOOK YOU READ, AUTHORS DESERVE YOUR THOUGHTS, OPINIONS AND CRITIQUES!

One of the first tough fights for the American army in WWII.......2005-02-28

Everybody knows about Pearl Harbor, and the sneak attack by the Japanese that helped usher the Americans into World War II. On the other hand, not that many people know about Wake island, the heroic stand of less than 1000 U.S. Marines and the civilian contractors who were there to help build it up, which began very shortly after Pearl Harbor and ended two days before Christmas. With Given Up For Dead, Bill Sloan has done his part to rectify this lack of knowledge. With powerful prose and words from the men who served there (and even a few from the invaders), Sloan tells us the story of these men and what they went through. The book is riveting, relatively easy to read, and quite thorough.

Wake island is a sleepy little atoll out in the middle of the Pacific, but it is strategically located. It was originally supposed to be built up during the 1930s, but lack of funding hampered this, until the coming of Pan Am, who wished to use it as a base for transoceanic travel. The island is mostly coral, scrub and trees, and is pretty desolate. For these men, however, it would become a crucible, and it would also gain the American army its first victory over the Japanese, though it was short-lived. The final defeat is shown to be completely unnecessary, as only a few miscues by the commanders (both on the island itself and back in Hawaii) result in the premature ending of a battle that was actually going fairly well for the Americans.

Sloan has interviewed most of the survivors from this battle, and he references the books written by the two commanders who died in the 1980s. This gives a very vivid view of the battle, right on the ground watching as the 3-inch gun crews manage to blow up two Japanese destroyers who ventured too close to land. We see the maneuvering during the second invasion, as Captain Wesley Platt manages to clear Wilkes island (one of the three islands that make up Wake Atoll) of all Japanese invaders, just prior to being ordered to surrender. Sloan pulls no punches, with the occasional description of battle that is quite graphic, but he doesn't go overboard. Instead, he makes it real.

The book begins with the history of the Wake atoll, from its discovery until its use as a military base, culminating in the pre-war years of build-up through Pan-Am and the military. This sets up the rest of the battle, as many of the civilian contractors who were on the island for this construction end up playing pivotal roles in the defense of the island. Some of the most heroic men who died were the civilians who volunteered to do whatever they could to help the Marines who were dying for them. Sure, some of the contractors fled to the jungle and survived on their own for two weeks, though strangely enough we never really hear about them again. Sloan mentions them in passing, but we never know exactly what happened to them. They were presumably killed, but if they were captured, Sloan never mentions them. Most of the civilians, however, took part in the defense.

Even more important than a detailed description of the battle, however, is the aftermath. Sloan tells us about the horrifying sea voyage of some of the prisoners, from Wake to Japan and then to a camp near Shanghai, about the desolate conditions on the ship and the brutality of their captors. There is no mention of any deaths on this voyage, except for the five who were beheaded up on the deck for no apparent reason (and Sloan states that the reason for this has never been revealed), so I'm not sure if that's glossed over or if it's just a fact that nobody died. The journey was horrible, though. Sloan also shows a few "good" Japanese soldiers, including Doctor Ozeki, who saved the life of Wiley Sloman back on Wake. Sloman had taken a bullet in the head, and Ozeki eventually saved him. None of the men had anything bad to say about him, and he even met with some of the survivors in 1995. Ed Borne even called Ozeki his best friend after years of correspondence with him.

In addition to all of this, Sloan examines the surrender and why it happened. A relief fleet was sailing toward Wake, but it was going too slow because of both the slowest ship's speed and the ambivalence of the new temporary commander of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Pye, toward the relief effort. Add this to the severed communications between the commanders of the Wake defense and the troops giving the commanders a wrong impression of what was going on and you get a recipe for a premature surrender. Platt had cleared one island and was looking to go help on one of the others. The Marines could probably have held out for two or three more days, but the relief convoy was aborted as soon as Commander Cunningham, commander of the garrison, indicated to the Pacific Fleet headquarters (in a cryptic, though dramatic message) that Japanese troops were on the island and the situation was grim. What could have been a major American victory turned into another defeat.

Given Up For Dead is a book that's hard to put down. The book is well-researched, with most of the sources being interviews or the books written by men who fought there. There are a few details missing, as mentioned above, but overall this is quite the comprehensive work. It will keep any military history reader turning the page, and it is an important book for bringing to light a forgotten battle. Everybody remembers the Alamo, but hardly anybody seems to remember the Alamo of the Pacific.

David Roy

A fantastic narrative history of little known Wake Island.......2005-02-24

Every high school student knows about the events of December 7, 1941 ("Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy..."), but almost nobody knows what happened on the other side of the globe only a few hours after that surprise attack on Pearl Harbor started - the Japanese attacked a tiny island of coral in the midst of the Pacific Ocean known as Wake Island.

Starting on December 8 (local time) and ending on December 23, the Japanese attempted to overrun Wake Island, but the Marine bastion stationed there resisted with passion and courage unknown to most. For 2 weeks, these marines held out against superior odds, and that is the crux of this book.

Sloan does a fabulous job of describing the history of the battle - it's more than a recant of the military posturing or the general's orders; it is a true narrative history of the soldiers that participated intertwined with the civilians that were unlucky enough to be on Wake when the attacks started and the actions of the commanding officers.

Publishers Weekly called this "The best account yet of the battle for Wake Island", and I would agree wholeheartedly with that sentiment. This is indeed an awesome book, and every student of World War II history should read this to better understand why Wake is so important in our history. It may have ended in the surrender of American troops on the island, but it was important from a psychological perspective - it proved to the Japanese and the world that America would not die quietly; we would indeed persevere even in the face of tough odds.

The Alamo of the Pacific.......2004-08-03

The heroic defenders of Wake Island have often been compared to the band of soldiers who defended the Alamo , and in this fine book, author Bill Sloan describes the battle for Wake Island from early on December 8 until the Marines finally and grudgingly surrendered to the overwhelming Japanese forces on December 23, 1941.

The first bombs began to fall on Wake just five hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Eight of the twelve aircraft from Marine fighter squadron VMF-211 were destroyed on the ground and the airfield was left pot-holed, but the Marines' spirit was never broken. A few days later, the Japanese tried an amphibious landing, but the Marines, led by Major James Devereux, succeeded in replusling the invasion attempt. Wake had three twin batteries of five inch naval guns, and these batteries succeeded in sinking two Japanese destroyers and heavily damaging a light cruiser and several other ships.

For the next two weeks, the brave Marines endured daily bombing raids by the Japanese, but the Marine anti-aircraft gunners managed to put up a tremendous volume of flak and succeeded in downing several Japanese planes. However, on the 22nd and 23rd of December, the Japanese, supported by two aircraft carrier groups detached from the returning Pearl Harbor strike force, managed to successfully land troops on Wake. For the next few days, the Japanese faced the wrath of the greatly outnumbered Marines and civillian workers. Japanese casualties were horrendous, while the greatly outnumbered Americans fought with bravery and gallantry right up until the controversial surrender order was given.

Many of the Marines on Wake thought the order must have been a mistake. The Japanese were being pushed back into the sea at many points, but the overly conservative Commander Winfield Cunningham thought that there was no way to stop the advancing Japanese. Many men contimplated mutiny and vowed to continue fighting the Japanese, but, in the end, the valiant Wake defenders surrendered to the Japanese after having inflicted many more casualties on the enemy than they suffered. These heroic defenders were now condemned to finish the war as prisoners of the Japanese.

I've read dozens of books about the Pacific war, and this is one of the best I've read. Bill Sloan has done an amazing job in bringing the heroic struggle for Wake to life. The book reads like a novel, and I definitely felt like I came to know each Marine mentioned in the book. Sloan tells it all; from the American's decision to turn Wake into a military base in the late 1930's, the attack by the Japanese, the aborted rescue mission by an American task force in which many American airmen came dangerously close to mutiny, and to the final surrender. I give this book my absolute highest recommendation. From the day the Japanese landed until the surrender, the Marines fought with gritty determination against vastly superior forces, yet they didn't waiver in the face of battle. This battle solidified the meaning of being a Marine. Semper Fi.

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