Amazon.com: Conduct Under Fire: Four American Doctors and Their Fight for Life as Prisoners of the Japanese, 1941-1945 (9780142002223): John A. Glusman: Books
Conduct Under Fire: Four American Doctors and Their Fight for Life as Prisoners of the Japanese, 1941-1945
by John A. Glusman (Author)
---
Top Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 starsPOWERFUL HISTORY
ByTHE EAGLEon May 21, 2005
Format: Hardcover|Verified Purchase
This book, about a subject that many Americans are unaware, is both a personal journey and taut war history. America in the early Forties was still dealing with the depression, and how it would conduct itself, while much of the world was already at war.
This story, not about generals or admirals, is instead a tribute to dedicated, unassuming men caught in the throes of the terrible war that finally found America in 1941.
John Glusman actually writes about four different things: the allure of Asia to these young men, the defeat in the Philippines, their struggles to survive, and finally to recover their lives.
His style is easily readible and compelling.
I have read many books on this topic, and the only one that compares is John Toland's, But Not In Shame.
---
5.0 out of 5 starsFour Heroic Doctors and Their Struggle Against the Japanese
ByJeffrey T. Munsonon July 20, 2005
Format: Hardcover
Author John A. Glusman has written a masterful book about the horrible conditions Allied POWs faced as prisoners of the Japanese. In particular, this book concentrates on the lives of four American doctors; Lt. George Ferguson, Lt. Fred Berley, Lt. John Jacob Bookman, and Lt. Murray Glusman. All were stationed in the Philippines when the Japanese attacked shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
After enduring the defeat of Bataan, and later Corregidor, some 78,000 American and Filipino POWs were forced to march over seventy miles in what became known as the Bataan Death March. For the next three and a half years, Ferguson, Berley, Bookman, and Glusman were at the mercy of their Japanese captors. Food and water rations were virtually nonexistant, beatings were frequent, and the work was long and hard. The atrocities committed by the Japanese can only be described as barbaric, and the doctors did the best they could to help the sick and wounded with virtually no medical supplies at all.
Eventually, the doctors were loaded aboard Japanese "Hell Ships"; overcrowded freighters converted into ships to carry POWs to mainland Japan. The conditions on the ships were worse than in the camps. Men were placed in vastly overcrowded and stifling holds, given virtually no food or water, and were unable to even lie down due to the crowding. But the greatest fear faced by the POWs was attack by American submarines. Once torpedoed, the Japanese were known to machine gun the surviving POWs in the water. Indeed, George Ferguson died when the ship he was on was torpedoed.
Once in Japan, the remaining three doctors were once again placed in concentration camps where they tended the wounded and sick. But as time wore on, they soon began to see hundreds of American B-29 bombers winging above them. They surmised that the Americans must be close to winning the war. However, they still had to endure the firebomb raids of Kobe and Osaka that virtually destroyed the cities. However, after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945, the Japanese finally surrendered, and John, Murray, and Fred were finally able to return home.
This is a spectacular book. John Glusman does an excellent job of describing the fall of the Philippines, the Bataan Death March, and the atrocities that the POWs faced at the hands of the Japanese. My favorite part of the book was the extremely vivid description of the firebombing raids on Japan in the spring of 1945. I give this book my highest recommendation. Read and see how four ordinary men from the heartland of the United States managed to survive against a brutal and unforgiving enemy.
----
3.0 out of 5 starsGreat book, but with a lost intent.
Byhintersteppeon November 17, 2006
Format: Paperback
The title and synopsis of "Conduct Under Fire: Four American Doctors and Their Fight for Life as Prisoners of the Japanese, 1941-1945" led me to beleive that I would read about the in-depth personal experience of four US doctors as P.O.W.s. However, the book does not read like a memior or biography, but rather like any third-person account written by a historian from a distant vantage point.
That is not to say that "Conduct Under Fire" is a bad book, but the fact that the title men are hardly mentioned throughout the greater part of the book is a serious flaw. John Glusman does provide the reader with background information of the four doctors, one of which is father, Murray Glusman. Unfortunately, the details of the doctor's personal experiences were infrequent once the book covered the time frame of World War II. In fact, I could not help but wonder if the author's research into his father's time as P.O.W. was limited to rummaging through sparse stash of old letters and a fireside chat with his old man. Glusman (the author) does record the harsh condition of Japanese P.O.W. camps for American troops based on the writings of others, but the reader is left to assume that the doctors' tenure as P.O.W.s was identical to that experienced by thousands of other American P.O.W.s. While it the suffering they endured at the hands of Japanese was certainly horrific and they deserve our respect, "Conduct Under Fire" lacks a unique element that could have distinguished it from numerous of other P.O.W. books.
If you are simply looking for an account of Japanese prisoner camps or even of the struggle against Imperial Japan, then "Conduct Under Fire" is worth the time. Glusman does give remarkable detail to the pre-war climate in the Phillipines and Shanghai, the seige of Bataan and Corrigedor, the American submarine campaign that strangled Japanese shipping, and the B-29 raids that led to massive firebombings and yes, the atomic bombs.
Although "Conduct Under Fire" promised to deliver an account of the war through the eyes of the author's father and three other doctors, the reader is left with text that could have been placed by a historian far removed from the horror.
====
Conduct Under Fire: Four American Doctors and Their Fight for Life as Prisoners of the Japanese, 1941-1945
by John A. Glusman (Author)
---
Top Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 starsPOWERFUL HISTORY
ByTHE EAGLEon May 21, 2005
Format: Hardcover|Verified Purchase
This book, about a subject that many Americans are unaware, is both a personal journey and taut war history. America in the early Forties was still dealing with the depression, and how it would conduct itself, while much of the world was already at war.
This story, not about generals or admirals, is instead a tribute to dedicated, unassuming men caught in the throes of the terrible war that finally found America in 1941.
John Glusman actually writes about four different things: the allure of Asia to these young men, the defeat in the Philippines, their struggles to survive, and finally to recover their lives.
His style is easily readible and compelling.
I have read many books on this topic, and the only one that compares is John Toland's, But Not In Shame.
---
5.0 out of 5 starsFour Heroic Doctors and Their Struggle Against the Japanese
ByJeffrey T. Munsonon July 20, 2005
Format: Hardcover
Author John A. Glusman has written a masterful book about the horrible conditions Allied POWs faced as prisoners of the Japanese. In particular, this book concentrates on the lives of four American doctors; Lt. George Ferguson, Lt. Fred Berley, Lt. John Jacob Bookman, and Lt. Murray Glusman. All were stationed in the Philippines when the Japanese attacked shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
After enduring the defeat of Bataan, and later Corregidor, some 78,000 American and Filipino POWs were forced to march over seventy miles in what became known as the Bataan Death March. For the next three and a half years, Ferguson, Berley, Bookman, and Glusman were at the mercy of their Japanese captors. Food and water rations were virtually nonexistant, beatings were frequent, and the work was long and hard. The atrocities committed by the Japanese can only be described as barbaric, and the doctors did the best they could to help the sick and wounded with virtually no medical supplies at all.
Eventually, the doctors were loaded aboard Japanese "Hell Ships"; overcrowded freighters converted into ships to carry POWs to mainland Japan. The conditions on the ships were worse than in the camps. Men were placed in vastly overcrowded and stifling holds, given virtually no food or water, and were unable to even lie down due to the crowding. But the greatest fear faced by the POWs was attack by American submarines. Once torpedoed, the Japanese were known to machine gun the surviving POWs in the water. Indeed, George Ferguson died when the ship he was on was torpedoed.
Once in Japan, the remaining three doctors were once again placed in concentration camps where they tended the wounded and sick. But as time wore on, they soon began to see hundreds of American B-29 bombers winging above them. They surmised that the Americans must be close to winning the war. However, they still had to endure the firebomb raids of Kobe and Osaka that virtually destroyed the cities. However, after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945, the Japanese finally surrendered, and John, Murray, and Fred were finally able to return home.
This is a spectacular book. John Glusman does an excellent job of describing the fall of the Philippines, the Bataan Death March, and the atrocities that the POWs faced at the hands of the Japanese. My favorite part of the book was the extremely vivid description of the firebombing raids on Japan in the spring of 1945. I give this book my highest recommendation. Read and see how four ordinary men from the heartland of the United States managed to survive against a brutal and unforgiving enemy.
----
3.0 out of 5 starsGreat book, but with a lost intent.
Byhintersteppeon November 17, 2006
Format: Paperback
The title and synopsis of "Conduct Under Fire: Four American Doctors and Their Fight for Life as Prisoners of the Japanese, 1941-1945" led me to beleive that I would read about the in-depth personal experience of four US doctors as P.O.W.s. However, the book does not read like a memior or biography, but rather like any third-person account written by a historian from a distant vantage point.
That is not to say that "Conduct Under Fire" is a bad book, but the fact that the title men are hardly mentioned throughout the greater part of the book is a serious flaw. John Glusman does provide the reader with background information of the four doctors, one of which is father, Murray Glusman. Unfortunately, the details of the doctor's personal experiences were infrequent once the book covered the time frame of World War II. In fact, I could not help but wonder if the author's research into his father's time as P.O.W. was limited to rummaging through sparse stash of old letters and a fireside chat with his old man. Glusman (the author) does record the harsh condition of Japanese P.O.W. camps for American troops based on the writings of others, but the reader is left to assume that the doctors' tenure as P.O.W.s was identical to that experienced by thousands of other American P.O.W.s. While it the suffering they endured at the hands of Japanese was certainly horrific and they deserve our respect, "Conduct Under Fire" lacks a unique element that could have distinguished it from numerous of other P.O.W. books.
If you are simply looking for an account of Japanese prisoner camps or even of the struggle against Imperial Japan, then "Conduct Under Fire" is worth the time. Glusman does give remarkable detail to the pre-war climate in the Phillipines and Shanghai, the seige of Bataan and Corrigedor, the American submarine campaign that strangled Japanese shipping, and the B-29 raids that led to massive firebombings and yes, the atomic bombs.
Although "Conduct Under Fire" promised to deliver an account of the war through the eyes of the author's father and three other doctors, the reader is left with text that could have been placed by a historian far removed from the horror.
====
No comments:
Post a Comment