In Harm's Way
Book description
On 30 July 1945 the USS Indianapolis was steaming through the South Pacific, on her way home having delivered the bomb that was to decimate Hiroshima seven days later, when she was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. Of a crew of 1196 men an estimated 300 were killed upon impact;…
Why read it?
3 authors picked In Harm's Way as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I was completely and totally captivated by this book. I read it in two sittings, and that’s only because I finally forced myself to go to sleep at 3 a.m. The only WWII book I’ve read that did not glamorize war. What these men went through was absolutely shocking. How Captain McVay was treated was abhorrent.
Anyone who is considering joining the US military should read this book; it will make you think twice, and not because of the sharks.
From Grace's list on appreciating common comforts.
Like many people, I heard about the USS Indianapolis in the movie Jaws during Robert Shaw's fantastic monologue. The memory of that scene and that story never left me, and decades later, I stumbled upon this book in a used bookstore. Written in a third-person voice and using all the tools of a fiction writer, the author spins a much stranger tale than a Steven Spielberg movie could ever be.
It is a fascinating and horrifying account of the greatest naval disaster in the U.S. Navy's history, caused by cascading foul-ups, miscommunications, and oversights in the final days of World…
When the USS Indianapolis was sunk in WWII by a Japanese submarine the survivors expected that because they were overdue, U.S. search planes would find them within a day. The survivors, however, spent days in shark-infested waters in the Pacific under the searing sun by day and strength-sapping cold at night. Stanton brings the story to life by focusing on four survivors, including the ship’s Doctor and the ship’s Captain McVey. We feel their will to live and the pain they must endure.
McVey was later court-martialed because he failed to have the ship zig-zag at night, but the author…
From Michael's list on edge of your seat true stories of survival.
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