Return from the River Kwai
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979. Book Club Edition. Hardcover. 318, [2] pages. Illus., endpaper maps, source notes, index, DJ somewhat soiled and has tear. Return From the River Kwai tells the harrowing tale of about 2200 of those soldiers who were selected because they were healthier than the others to be sent to Japan for work in the factories there. While en route the ships they sailed on, the Kachidoki Maru and Rakuyo Maru, were torpedoed and sunk by American submarines who weren't aware that they carried human cargo. The men who survived spent as much as a week floating in the ocean before being rescued by those same submarines. This book tells the firsthand accounts of their experiences and the hardships they endured, from the terrible conditions in POW camps and the difficulties of staying afloat and sane in a vast ocean, to the joys of being rescued and returned to society. The Blairs have done a terrific job of putting together the individual accounts and historical documents that form one of the extraordinary stories of surviving the brutal conditions of war. Unpleasant details are not left out either, although they are told with a sense of dignity. Intertwined with the record of the survivors is the story told by the men on the submarines, who played such an important role in rescuing the stranded men. Clay Blair, Jr. (May 1, 1925 – December 16, 1998) was an American historian, best known for his books on military history. He served on the fleet submarine Guardfish (SS-217) in World War II and later wrote for Time and Life magazines before becoming editor-in-chief of The Saturday Evening Post. He assisted General Omar Bradley in the writing of his autobiography, A General's Life (1983), published after the general's death. Blair wrote two dozen history books and hundreds of magazine articles that reached a popular audience. His last book was Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunted, 1942–1945 (1998), which followed Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunters, 1939–1942 (1996).
Blair's history of the Korean War The Forgotten War: America in Korea, 1950–1953 (1987) is considered one of the definitive historical works on the war. His work was notable for his criticism of senior American political and military leaders. Blair criticizes President Harry S. Truman and his Secretary of Defense, Louis A. Johnson, for failing to maintain the military's readiness in the years immediately following World War II. His history, while comprehensive, primarily employs a top-down perspective, with less emphasis on individual soldiers than on larger operational issues and the perspectives of general and field-grade officers. He has also been criticized by some historians for not making sufficient use of Communist sources.
Blair also wrote extensively on the submarine war of World War II, notably in the bestselling Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan (1975), considered the definitive work on the Pacific submarine war.
He was for many years married to Joan Blair, who co-wrote some of his books. Condition: very good, good / good.
Keywords: POW's, WWII, Japanese Prisons, Rakuyo Maru, Kachidoki Maru, Submarines, Survival, Rescue, Atrocities, Alfred Allbury, Burma-Thailand Railway, Victor Duncan, USS Growler, Charles Lockwood, Thomas Oakley, Panpanito, Eli Reich, Sealion II
[Book #56718]
Price: $15.00