Flags of Our Fathers

Bradley, James

ISBN 10: 0553712462 ISBN 13: 9780553712469

Publisher: Bantam Audio, 2006

Synopsis

Description: In this remarkably powerful book James Bradley takes as his starting point one of the most famous photographs of all time. In February 1945 American Marines plunged into the surf at Iwo Jima and into a hail of machine-gun and mortar fire from 22,000 Japanese. After climbing through a hellish landscape and on to the island's highest peak six men were photographed raising the stars and stripes. One of those soldiers was the author's father, John Bradley. He never spoke to his family about the photograph or about the war but, after his death in 1994, they discovered closed boxes of letters and photos which James Bradley draws on to retrace the lives of his father and his five companions. Following these men's paths to Iwo Jima, Bradley has written a classic story of the heroic battle for the Pacific's most crucial island - an island riddled with 16 miles of tunnels and defended by Japanese soldiers determined to fight to the death. In 36 days of fighting almost 50,000 men lost their lives. Above all a human - and personal - story, few books have captured so brilliantly or so movingly the complexity of war and its aftermath and the true meaning of heroism. 'The best battle book I ever read.' Stephen Ambrose.

About this title

Review

The Battle of Iwo Jima, fought in the winter of 1945 on a rocky island south of Japan, brought a ferocious slice of hell to Earth: in a month's time, more than 22,000 Japanese soldiers would die defending a patch of ground a third the size of Manhattan, while nearly 26,000 Americans fell taking it from them. The battle was a turning point in the war in the Pacific, and it produced one of World War Two's enduring images: a photograph of six soldiers raising an American flag on the flank of Mount Suribachi, the island's commanding high point. One of those young Americans was John Bradley, a Navy corpsman who a few days before had braved enemy mortar and machine-gun fire to administer first aid to a wounded Marine and then drag him to safety. For this act of heroism Bradley would receive the Navy Cross, an award second only to the Medal of Honour. Bradley, who died in 1994, never mentioned his feat to his family. Only after his death did Bradley's son James begin to piece together the facts of his father's heroism, which was but one of countless acts of sacrifice made by the young men who fought at Iwo Jima. Flags of Our Fathers recounts the sometimes tragic life stories of the six men who raised the flag that February day--one an Arizona Indian who would die following an alcohol-soaked brawl, another a Kentucky hillbilly, still another a Pennsylvania steel-mill worker--and who became reluctant heroes in the bargain. A strongly felt and well-written entry in a spate of recent books on World War Two, Flags of our Fathers gives a "you-are-there" depiction of that conflict's horrible arenas--and a moving homage to the men whom fate brought there. --Gregory McNamee

Review

"One of the most instructive and moving books on war and its aftermath that we are likely to see... unforgettable... Mr Bradley has produced an arresting meditation on the nature of heroism... Like the best books, Mr Bradley's goes beyond its narrow subject to invite reflection on deeper patterns of human behaviour." (New York Times)

"The best battle book I ever read." (Stephen Ambrose)

About this edition

• Publisher: Bantam Audio
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0553712462
• ISBN 13: 9780553712469
• Binding: Audio CD