Japanese POW camp book reccomendations

i've been reading a lot on the pacific war at the moment and wondered if anyone can reccomend a book dealing with japanese POW camps. I recently read King Rat and would prefer non-fiction. Your reccomendations will be much appreciated

 

After reading this story I had to get this book:

BBC News - Today - The man who refused to die

Do have a look at the videoclips in the BBC link as he pretty well says it all

 

Looks good! , i'll be sure to give it a read. Thanks for the reccomendation

 

Niko,

One of the best overall accounts of the horror's of captivity under the Japanese is "The Railway Man" by Eric Lomax.

Derek.

 

I would highly recommend this list on the excellent Fepow website. Book Library

 

I personally recommend The Forgotten Highlander, by Alistair Urquhart, his book is very fascinating,as he was in a few Japanese POW camps.

 

Prisoners of the Japanese
Gavan Daws

 

The Cowra Breakout...

 

Belly of the beast (more about one of their Hell ships for POW's)

Ghost Soldiers is about the rangers breaking out the POW's of Cabatuan (sp?)

 

That's me and Alistair,on my avatar, a great man, my Grandpa was in the 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlander's with Alistair, but were unknown to each other,,Alistair who i have met on a few occasions is a true hero in my eyes just like the rest who survived the attrocities of the imperial japanese.

 

great read The forgotten highlander, worth a read.

 

Unbroken is one of my favorite books of all time. Tells a great story about a man that endured it all and survived. It really focuses on his time in the POW camp and you get a real insight to what he and so many of his fellow prisoners went through. Great, great book.

 

Haven't seen them mentioned yet, but here's a few I've read regarding life as a POW in Japanese care:

Amazon.com: Baby of Bataan: Memoir of a 14 Year Old Soldier in World War II (9781590960028): Joseph Quitman Johnson: Books

Amazon.com: Baa Baa Black Sheep (9780553263503): Gregory Pappy Boyington: Books

http://www.amazon.com/Devil-My-Heel...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319730616&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/HITCH-HELL-Po...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319730664&sr=1-1

Amazon.com: Ship of Ghosts: The Story of the USS Houston, FDR's Legendary Lost Cruiser, and the Epic Saga of her Survivors (9780553384505): James D. Hornfischer: Books

 

That sound's like a book i will have to search for, thanks.

 

Yes a great site the Fepow has almost all info available, and still a few Vet's on it.

 

Oh you will love it. Its about an Olympic Runner. He was in a POW camp with some famous people, one that miraculously from how badly he was beaten, went on to fight in the Korean war. I won't say too much and ruin it, but it was a book I couldn't put down. I have passed it around to my friends and family and everyone was so wrapped up in it.

 

Heh. "Unbroken" and "Devil at My Heels" are about the same guy.

 

"Tears in the Darkness" by Michael Norman is another pow tale well written and has sketches of prison life. Highly recommended.

 

Boyington's Baa Baa Black Sheep is a good book, but some of it was fictionalized (he aludes to this fact several times -- the last line was something like "show me a hero and I'll prove he's a bum").

I found the second half of the chapters dealing with his imprisonment from the Japanese somewhat surreal (he claims he drank sake and feasted in the camp kitchen on New Year's Eve under the noses of the Japanese officers, and talks about how he defied the camp guards). While feasible (the Japanese knew he was an MoH recipient, so he may have been giving more lenient treatment), I had a hard time believing a lot of it. It's not the best if you want an accurate view of POW camp life, but none-the-less its an excellent read.