Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)A brilliant, highly accessible account of the history of the POWs in Southeast Asia. The text is very readable and concisely written. The photographs alone speak volumes and the maps provide a nice illustrative point of reference.
Before you read any other POW-related book, take the time to read "Honor Bound" cover to cover. Not only will you feel you are getting to know these men - heroes all - personally, you will gain a brutally clear perception of the conditions these men were forced to endure and the way they managed to maintain their honor and dignity in the face of such terrible adversity. The human element is very strong.
This is not, mind you, a book for the weak-stomached. The book is unflinching in its cataloging of the various tortures the POWs underwent, the often rancid food they were forced to subsist on, and the day to day challenges their captors and the climate inflicted upon them.
Surprisingly, however, while the reader is horrified, he or she will leave the book strangely uplifted. It reaffirms one's faith in the human spirit and humanity in general.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Honor Bound: American Prisoners of War in Southeast Asia, 1961-1973
In this landmark study, two respected scholars provide a comprehensive, balanced, and authoritative account of what happened to the nearly eight hundred Americans captured during the Vietnam War.The authors were granted unprecedented access to previously unreleased materials and interviewed more than a hundred former POWs to meticulously reconstruct their captivity record and produce a compelling narrative of this sketchy chapter of the war.First published in 1999, some twenty-five years after the prisoners were released from Hanoi, the book remains a powerful and moving portrait of how men cope with physical and psychological ordeals under horrific conditions.Its analysis of the shifting tactics and temperaments of both captive and captor as the war evolved, skillfully weaves domestic political developments and battlefield action with prison scenes that alternate between Hanoi's concrete cells, South Vietnam's jungle stockades, and mountain camps in Laos.Details are included of dozens of cases of individual acts of bravery and resistance from such heroes as James Stockdale, Jeremiah Denton, Bud Day, and Medal of Honor recipient Donald Cook.Along with epic stories of endurance under torture, breathtaking escape attempts, and ingenious prisoner communication efforts, Honor Bound reveals Code of Conduct lapses and instances of collaboration with the enemy.This important work serves as a testament to the courage and will of Americans in captivity and as a reminder of the sometimes impossible demands made on U.S. POWs.
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