Flags of Our Fathers

By James Bradley & Ron Powers

Flags of Our Fathers - James Bradley & Ron Powers
  • Release Date: 2000-05-02
  • Genre: History
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 133 Ratings

Description

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • This is the true story behind the immortal photograph that has come to symbolize the courage and indomitable will of America

In this unforgettable chronicle of perhaps the most famous moment in American military history, James Bradley has captured the glory, the triumph, the heartbreak, and the legacy of the six men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima. Here is the true story behind the immortal photograph that has come to symbolize the courage and indomitable will of America.

In February 1945, American Marines plunged into the surf at Iwo Jima—and into history. Through a hail of machine-gun and mortar fire that left the beaches strewn with comrades, they battled to the island's highest peak. And after climbing through a landscape of hell itself, they raised a flag.

Now the son of one of the flagraisers has written a powerful account of six very different young men who came together in a moment that will live forever.

To his family, John Bradley never spoke of the photograph or the war. But after his death at age seventy, his family discovered closed boxes of letters and photos. In Flags of Our Fathers, James Bradley draws on those documents to retrace the lives of his father and the men of Easy Company. Following these men's paths to Iwo Jima, James Bradley has written a classic story of the heroic battle for the Pacific's most crucial island—an island riddled with Japanese tunnels and 22,000 fanatic defenders who would fight to the last man.

But perhaps the most interesting part of the story is what happened after the victory. The men in the photo—three were killed during the battle—were proclaimed heroes and flown home, to become reluctant symbols. For two of them, the adulation was shattering. Only James Bradley's father truly survived, displaying no copy of the famous photograph in his home, telling his son only: “The real heroes of Iwo Jima were the guys who didn't come back. ”

Few books ever have captured the complexity and furor of war and its aftermath as well as Flags of Our Fathers. A penetrating, epic look at a generation at war, this is history told with keen insight, enormous honesty, and the passion of a son paying homage to his father. It is the story of the difference between truth and myth, the meaning of being a hero, and the essence of the human experience of war.

Reviews

  • Amazing

    5
    By Fizzy:D28
    This book is one of the best I have ever read! It is very true telling about those men and the simplest photograph can change lives of so many people to this day. In the book it says that they didn't want to put them selves on the spot and say they were heroes but in my mind they were and are. By them changing so many lives I. This story they are definitely heroes and should stay looked at as heroes along with all the men they fought with along side them in world war II.
  • Former Marine

    5
    By Dngnzls
    Fantastic! I couldn't put it down. Will never look at the picture or statue of the flag raising the same ever again. Great read!
  • Great read!

    5
    By Me this is I
    This book is really great if you're into WWII or history in general. I would highly recommend it, as for the crashing issues I haven't experienced any so I believe it has been fixed.
  • BOOK CRASHES IBOOKS

    5
    By KodeK64
    As the other reviewer said, loading the book crashes iBooks. There seems to be an issue with the book itself. Don't buy this until Apple fixes it.