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Brave Men, Gentle Heroes : American Fathers and Sons in World War II and Vietnam

Brave Men, Gentle Heroes : American Fathers and Sons in World War II and Vietnam

  • Hardcover
  • Author: Michael Takiff
  • Release Date: November 2003
  • ISBN-10: B0002TX574

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Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon

Summary

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: Score = 4.5 Score = 4.5 Score = 4.5 Score = 4.5 Score = 4.5

Sensitive and caring

Rating: Score = 5 Score = 5 Score = 5 Score = 5 Score = 5

Michael Takiff clearly understands the men he interviewed and whose sagas he reports. He is sensitive to their manner of speech, their language and their feelings. I can't wait for his next book about Clinton!

Superb! Real, raw, truthful accounts of experiences from two of the most important wars in this countries history.

Rating: Score = 5 Score = 5 Score = 5 Score = 5 Score = 5

Michael Takiff takes the words of the veterans he interviews and puts them on paper for an average citizen to read and appreciate. With this book, you will read raw and truthful vantagepoints on two very important wars on our country's history.

Not every veteran believes the sacrifice they made was beneficial, and that's an important thing to remember and appreciate. Some of these veterans question the things they did and saw. It's important that they do that because if we don't question our history, we can't learn from it. Some of these veterans look back fondly on their experiences even though they went through very difficult times, and some of them have very negative thoughts despite relatively lesser difficulties. No two people expereince the exact same things and no two people will view them the same way if they did. It's important to understand that war means many different things to many people and that the people that fight wars are human beings, citizens, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters. This book helps you appreciate that.

Both of my grandfathers and one of my grandmothers were veterans (one grandfather of a vet of WWII and the other two were Korean veterans). My grandfather who fought in WWII spoke often about his experiences, but mostly about his brothers in arms and the comraderie they shared. There's a lot of that in this book, but there's a lot more raw emotion to experience from the men in this book who talk about the horrible things they experienced. My grandfather never spoke of those things and thinking about it now makes me sad for him because I know he must have had a terrible pain in his heart. By all external indications, he was the happiest man alive, despite being confined to a wheel-chair because of war injuries, but there's no way that he didn't think back on his experiences and feel some pain. I know that now and can appreciate it after having read this book.

That's what this book does, it helps you appreciate what these men went through and what our men and women in the armed forces are going through now. Sure some of them have problems that they're dealing with and there are some veterans with problems that probably aren't dealt with. That's what is important to remember. One review stated that this book makes you scared to sit next to a veteran on the bus. For me, it does the opposite. It makes me want to sit next to them and say, "Thankyou, for your service."

If you really want living history

Rating: Score = 5 Score = 5 Score = 5 Score = 5 Score = 5

For the first 200 pages or so I wondered what the point of the book was. After that I figured it out. If you really want some "feel" for how men thought before, during, and after these wars, one way is to immurse yourself in their stories told first hand. By the end of the book I really felt like I had a better understanding of what people experienced.

Viet Nam was primarily a political war and many viewpoints are represented among those interviewed. It was nice not to have those opinions sanitized. I could not tell if their was an agenda to this book since many viewpoints were portrayed.

I felt I got my money's worth from just reading the chapters from the Novosels and Tarbells. You could make a great movie about the Novosels or Tarbells with no problem!

An unexpected thrill for me was reading the kind things said by Albert Tarbell about my uncle and our family. I knew that Albert had been interviewed for a book, but had no idea what he said until I read it. In real life you will not meet a nicer, humbler person.

If you are bored by living history, do not read this book. If you want to raise your level of understanding about what happened to the lives of men during and after wartime by a notch or two, this book is a valuable resource. (Dr. Phil Rosenkrantz, Cal Poly University, Pomona, CA)

Not a celebration of our troops

Rating: Score = 2 Score = 2 Score = 2 Score = 2 Score = 2

I read this book with great interest, having just finished Mike Jackson's exciting and inspirational Naked In Da Nang. This book also features Lt. Col. Jackson's story as well as his father's (Edmund Jackson served in World War II, hence the father/son connection). But I was terribly disppointed. Brave Men is disjointed and awkward and it seems to play to those who want to believe that veterans are semi-dysfunctional, given the horrific acts they experienced. Instead of humanizing our fighting men, Mr. Takiff's book seems hell-bent on showing only the grim and disturbing side of military service. While Jackson's book doesn't sugarcoat the realities of war, it maintains a very optimistic stance -- one that leaves the reader proud of our men in uniform, not concerned about sitting next to them on a bus!

listening to our Veterans

Rating: Score = 5 Score = 5 Score = 5 Score = 5 Score = 5

Rebeccasreads highly recommends BRAVE MEN, GENTLE HEROES as a treasure. Warriors telling their memories, fathers & sons thinking about the time that defined their lives. A unique weaving around specific aspects of their experiences & memories, complete with photographs, historical contexts & commentary by Michael Takiff, whose father fought in WWII.