Kang Hang was a Korean scholar-official taken prisoner in 1597 by an invading Japanese army during the Imjin War of 1592–1598. While in captivity in Japan, Kang recorded his thoughts on human civilization, war, and the enemy's culture and society, acting in effect as a spy for his king. Arranged and printed in the seventeenth century as Kanyangnok, or The Record of a Shepherd, Kang's writings were extremely valuable to his government, offering new perspective on a society few Koreans had encountered in 150 years and new information on Japanese politics, culture, and military organization. In this complete, annotated translation of Kanyangnok, Kang ruminates on human behavior and the nature of loyalty during a time of war. A neo-Confucianist with a deep knowledge of Chinese philosophy and history, Kang drew a distinct line between the Confucian values of his world, which distinguished self, family, king, and country, and a foreign culture that practiced invasion and capture, and, in his view, was largely incapable of civilization. Relating the experiences of a former official who played an exceptional role in wartime and the rare voice of a Korean speaking plainly and insightfully on war and captivity, this volume enables a deeper appreciation of the phenomenon of war at home and abroad.
John M. McGrath, a young Navy pilot who was captured in 1967 after being shot down over Vietnam, vividly presents a straightforward and compelling tale of survival, of years of suffering, and of the human will to endure. During the era of the unpopular Vietnam War few issues united the American people as did the emotion-laden problem of POWs and MIAs. When the peace treaties were finally signed and the POWs returned to American soil, the nation was collectively relieved by their safe return. A self-taught artist, the starkness of McGrath's drawings underscores his remarkable and moving chronicle of the lives of these prisoners, who were constantly in peril, attempting to survive a brutal captivity almost unimaginable in civilized times.
The harsh conditions, the daily routines that occupy a prisoner's time, and above all, the psychological struggles and behavioral quirks of captives forced to live in close confinement are conveyed with devastating simplicity and candor. Throughout, the author constantly probes his own conscience, questioning motivations and decisions. What emerges is a multileveled portrait of an individual determined to retain his humanity in an uncivilized environment.
Susan Carruthers offers a provocative history of early Cold War America, in which she recreates a time when World War III seemed imminent. She shows how central to American opinion at the time was a fascination with captivity & escape. Captivity became a way to understand everything.
He lied about his age to enlist. Now he'll have to lie about everything else to survive! Survive the war. Outlast the enemy. Stay alive. That's what Henry Forrest has to do. When he lies about his age to join the Marines, Henry never imagines he'll face anything worse than his own father's cruelty. But his unit is shipped off to the Philippines, where the heat is unbearable, the conditions are brutal, and Henry's dreams of careless adventuring are completely dashed.Then the Japanese invade the islands, and US forces there surrender. As a prisoner of war, Henry faces one horror after another. Yet among his fellow captives, he finds kindness, respect, even brotherhood. A glimmer of light in the darkness. And he'll need to hold tight to the hope they offer if he wants to win the fight for his country, his freedom . . . and his life. Michael P. Spradlin's latest novel tenderly explores the harsh realities of the Bataan Death March and captivity on the Pacific front during World War II.
It is 1943, and the war has come home to Loring, Mississippi. As German POWs labor in the cotton fields, the local draft board sends boys into uniform, and families receive flags and condolences. But for Dan Timms, just shy of 18, the war is his ticket out of town and away from the ghosts that haunt him. As he peddles goods from a rolling store for his profiteer uncle, Dan tries to understand his friend L.C., a young man who, on account of his skin, feels like a prisoner himself. But one day, Dan spots Marty Stark who has just returned from Italy, mysteriously reassigned to guard the POWs he was once trained to kill. As Dan soon learns, Marty’s war is far from over and threatens to erupt again.
As an American asked to serve, I was prepared to fight, to be wounded, to be captured and even prepared to die, but I was not prepared to be abandoned. It is that one American is not worth the effort to be found, we, as Americans, have lost. These are the words of Captain Eugene Red McDaniel, who for six years was prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. For three of those years, he was listed missing in action. During those tumultuous years, his wife Dorothy McDaniel clung to her faith, knowing that he was still alive. It was her fight to find information on her POW husband, and his subsequent release from a North Vietnam prison that prompted them both to fight to have the United States government conduct search and rescue missions for prisoners they believed were still being held. In this 20th anniversary edition of After the Hero's Welcome, read the story that shows the war didn't end for either Dorothy or her husband when he was released. The war on behalf of the many POWs still in North Vietnam prisons was just getting started.