A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

Book Description

My new friends have begun to suspect I haven’t told them the full story of my life.
“Why did you leave Sierra Leone?”
“Because there is a war.”
“You mean, you saw people running around with guns and shooting each other?”
“Yes, all the time.”
“Cool.”
I smile a little.
“You should tell us about it sometime.”
“Yes, sometime.”

This is how wars are fought now: by children, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s. Children have become soldiers of choice. In the more than fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them.

What is war like through the eyes of a child soldier? How does one become a killer? How does one stop? Child soldiers have been profiled by journalists, and novelists have struggled to imagine their lives. But until now, there has not been a first-person account from someone who came through this hell and survived.

In A Long Way Gone, Beah, now twenty-five years old, tells a riveting story: how at the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he’d been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts.

This is a rare and mesmerizing account, told with real literary force and heartbreaking honesty.

Customer Reviews:

Written too well........2007-10-15

I feel a little odd giving 5 stars to a book with such horrific subject matter. The fact is, the author has written such a clear account of all that happened in his life that I was physically affected by some of the chapters I read. No child should ever have to witness much less participate in the events that happened in Sierra Leone (or any war torn country). Beah is a true survivor. I think everyone NEEDS to read this book.

Enlightening........2007-10-03

I think this is a wonderful book, so moving and beautifully written that you wonder how a person can manage to lead a "normal" life after experiencing what he has been through. The author tells the story matter-of-factly without whining or complaining about the hand he's been dealt. Because of this, it makes the story even more impressive.

Not just a good read, a book that enlightens is a must-read.

Fantastic book. Recommend for all ages!.......2007-10-02

This book is truly amazing. It is almost unbelievable to read about the lives of people like Ishmael, but it's true, and it's happening today. Yes, in some parts it is certainly hard to read, but it's worth it. It is better to be shocked and scarred by this book than ignorant to it. Ishmael is a wonderfully optimistic person, and I think we can all learn a lot from his courage. In his own words, Ishmael is not an expert on the history of Sierra Lione, but by putting a face and name to this story, you will still learn a lot from him! I recommend this book to anyone and everyone!

Easy to read, hard to digest.......2007-10-02

I read this book on my flight to D.C. a couple of months ago. It was probably the fastest I have ever read a book. It was very easy to understand and painted an incredibly vivid picture in my mind. The content is important and the way Beah wrote his story makes it accessible to all.

Painful but Poignant.......2007-09-27

This book is not for the fainthearted who wants a feel good story; this is tough book to read, however, it is an important book to read as well. So often us here in the west are isolated from the fact that there are tough places to live on this planet, places where people are forced to do unspeakable acts and are exposed to unimaginable acts of violence.
This book takes on the voyage of a young man named Ishmael, who lived in the war torn country of Sierra Leone. His life is completely turned upside down by the civil war in that country. Ishmaels story is first a story of losing his family, than of losing his innocence as he is forced to fight for the Countries Army that's fighting the "rebels". After that the story focuses on his rehabilitation in a place called Freetown and eventually his new life in the United States (although I would like to know more about how he is today).
The most amazing part of this story as an American who simply didn't understand the truth, is that this Ishmael was 12 years old and was killing people, not because he was an animal, but because he was drugged and forced to become one merely to survive. This is a concept that as westerners we look on and go oh that's too bad, but do we really take the time to understand that this happens all the time in the same world we live in? Do we take the time to understand that there is big world out there and for the most part it isn't that safe little havens we take for granted? I challenge anyone who reads this book to be able to look at the world the same again.

The Journey of the Lost Boys: A Story of Courage, Faith and the Sheer Determination to Survive by a Group of Young Boys Called "The Lost Boys of Sudan"

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The tragedy of the children of Sudan
Learning about Sudan? START HERE
OUTSTANDING BOOK
A good term paper
An accurate, heartfelt and well-written account

The Journey of the Lost Boys: A Story of Courage, Faith and the Sheer Determination to Survive by a Group of Young Boys Called "The Lost Boys of Sudan"
Joan Hecht
Manufacturer: Allswell Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Historical | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan (Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Books)

ASIN: 0976387506
Release Date: 2005-05-30

Book Description

Imagine you're a young boy—maybe as young as three or four—separated from your family by civil war, traversing deserts and mountains with little food or water, no medical care, and no protection from wild animals. Imagine watching hundreds of boys perish around you from hunger, disease, or attacks by enemy soldiers and wild animals. To most of us, it is unimaginable, but this was reality for "The Lost Boys of Sudan," thousands of young boys who were separated from their families and forced to walk approximately 1,000 miles to reach safe refuge from war and certain death.

For the first time, this award winning book offers readers a chronological timeline of the epic journey taken by these children, beginning in their rural villages of Southern Sudan and ending with their arrival as young men to the United States. Narrated through the voice of Joan Hecht, one of their American mentors, whom they lovingly call "mom" or "Mama Joan;" "The Journey of the Lost Boys" is a compelling story of courage, faith and the sheer determination to survive by a group of young orphaned boys. Because of Joan Hecht's personal relationship with them, she is able to portray their story in a way that most famous reporters and authors cannot. In addition to her extensive research of the political and historical events surrounding the long lasting civil war in Sudan, are the heart-rending personal stories and original drawings of the boys themselves. A must read for anyone interested in the the true story of the Lost Boys of Sudan!

Customer Reviews:

The tragedy of the children of Sudan.......2007-03-31

I can only summarize my comment about this book in a few words. The author Joan Hecht did a wonderful task in narrating the frightening and heartbreaking experience of the thousands of lost boys of the Sudan,Africa's largest country. Their dangerous journey involving thousands of miles in a very hostile landscape is incredible. The author's very kind heart,sincere consideration and admiration for these children is worth more than all the gold of the world. Very highly recommended for young and old.

Learning about Sudan? START HERE.......2006-10-15

This is the book you need to read if you are unfamiliar with the background of the issues in Sudan, the Lost Boys, and the issues faced by refugees who come to America. Ms. Hecht might not be an " academic", but she is the person with an enormous amount of first hand information on these subjects, and she breaks it down into managable pieces. Even if you are knowledgable on these subjects, this book is still useful as a clarifying tool. Ms. Hecht is also very committed, and that comes through on every page.

OUTSTANDING BOOK .......2006-08-11

Readers of this book will be touched by the stories of these incredible young men, who, at an early age, were separated from their parents and families. The atrocities witnessed by the boys are unspeakable. The author has provided the readers with stories that make those who have lived a life without fear take a new appreciation for the freedoms we enjoy in the United States.

A good term paper.......2006-07-26

The endless conflict in Sudan is another calamity that the press should have been bombarding us with daily for years. A tragedy of such dimensions should torment our collective conscience. This is exactly why it deserves a better telling than Ms. Hecht is able to offer us. The writing is amateurish and the text cries out for the editing it appears not to have been subjected to. Easy streamlining and the correction of some grammatical errors would make the book more readable and more powerful. Ms. Hecht's devotion to the cause of the Lost Boys is clearly sincere and praiseworthy, however, and she does deserve thanks for contributing to making us aware of the atrocities that go on in the world while we turn the other way.

An accurate, heartfelt and well-written account.......2006-06-28

Joan Hecht's "Journey" is in this reviewer's opinion the most interesting and accurate book available on the topic of the Lost Boys. As a former foster father to one of the lost boys and a fellow author and researcher, I recommend the book without hesitation. It presents an extraordinarily complicated situation in a manner that is comprehensible, fascinating and accurate. It gives the reader a true sense of the horror, courage and hope that has gripped a generation of young Sudanese men.

For its rare photos, clear and organized presentation and sincere prose, I highly recommend this informative and inspiring book and thank the author for her outstanding efforts.

Average customer rating:

understanding the chilling trend of "Children at War"
Cheaper wars mean more wars
Infomative, Disturbing, and Thought-Provoking
Superb Introduction to this disturbing aspect of modern international affairs
Chilling, Sad, Provocative, Scholarly

Children at War
P. W. Singer
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0520248767

Book Description

From U.S. soldiers having to fight children in Afghanistan and Iraq to juvenile terrorists in Sri Lanka to Palestine, the new, younger face of battle is a terrible reality of 21st century warfare. Indeed, the very first American soldier killed by hostile fire in the "War on Terrorism" was shot by a fourteen-year-old Afghan boy. Children at War is the first comprehensive examination of a disturbing and escalating phenomenon: the use of children as soldiers around the globe. Interweaving explanatory narrative with the voices of child soldiers themselves, P.W. Singer, an internationally recognized expert in modern warfare, introduces the brutal reality of conflict, where children are sent off to fight in war-torn hotspots from Colombia and the Sudan to Kashmir and Sierra Leone. He explores the evolution of this phenomenon, how and why children are recruited, indoctrinated, trained, and converted to soldiers and then lays out the consequences for global security, with a special case study on terrorism. With this established, he lays out the responses that can end this horrible practice. What emerges is not only a compelling and clarifying read on the darker reality of modern warfare, but also a clear and urgent call for action.

Customer Reviews:

understanding the chilling trend of "Children at War".......2007-03-05

Back in the mid-1990s I spent many months reporting on child soldiers in places including Sierra Leone, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. I wrote from the immediacy of a journalist's perspective, but was unable to examine the cause-and-effect realities of this disturbing phenomenon. In "Children at War" P. W. Singer has produced a truly important study of the socio-cultural, economic and historic causes behind the militarization of children in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Singer's work is an incredibly valuable contribution to further the study and understanding of armed conflict in the post Cold War-era. This book is a must read for anyone interested in the welfare of children and the state of our world in often-neglected locations such as sub-Saharan Africa. It is also an insightful look at how "warlordism" and the greed driving so-called commodity wars is changing the face of modern armed conflict.

Cheaper wars mean more wars.......2007-02-15

As far as I know, Singer is the first to point out that child warriors are making possible a new kind of war, a war without ideology or purpose other than taking something someone else has. Adults fight better with a cause and a purpose--children are more easily drugged, brainwashed, and cut off from other support. They can also be far crueler in battle and harder to rehabilitate. Singer points to responses to lessen the problem, but she is far from optimistic.

Infomative, Disturbing, and Thought-Provoking.......2006-11-19

No one should consider themselves well-informed about contemporary international conflict unless they are aware of the child soldier problem. Singer should be commended as Children at War covers all of the necessary material in a practical way. The book is not marred by opinion or bias; it simply presents the facts on topics that range from recruitment to strategies that should be utilized when standard (specifically Western) armies must engage armies or militias that incorporate child soldiers.

First, I should say that despite my three star rating, I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an informed and well-rounded look at child warfare. Singer's writing style is easy to read in that it uses simple language and is clearly meant to be accessible; however, (and this is the reason for the three stars) he can be quite repetitive. Although one could argue that the information in this book needs to be drilled into everyone's head, reading the same sentence many times over, only with slightly different wording, can get old quickly.

As a warning, the descriptions and quotes in Children at War can be terribly disturbing. Assuming you are a human being, you will find that this book will leave you at times speechless, at times depressed, and at times unable to read on.

Superb Introduction to this disturbing aspect of modern international affairs.......2006-08-15

Being an International Relations student about to embark on a years study on this subject I was looking for a solid grounding on which to begin my study and this provided a perfect answer. Singer uses simple dialogue and logical progression in his publication to provide information on the recruting of child soldiers, what they are subjected to in the field, the difficulty of soldiers facing children, the worst culprits, reintegration of soldiers and proposed methods of ending this aspect of modern warfare.

An important aspect of this book that isn't mentioned so much is its discussions on how military forces should approach fighting child soldiers. As a potential officer of the future I felt this was particularly important, Singer mentions that the US Army supplied early drafts of this book to its officers as guidelines for potential situations so clearly they believe his suggestions hold merit also.

It should be noted that any reader should of course expect some horrific details from this book, I had expected these but was sickened by some of the stories. There are particularly brutal aspects that you could not imagine, just a word of warning as one of the accounts has left me particularly troubled by hummanity.

In conclusion I believe this book to be a perfect introductory reading to anyone studying, or simply interested, in the subject. I would also state that those more advanced in the topic should look at this book as, if the information and proposals are not new to you, the research is excellent and so the references can provide you with more resources that you may potentially have not yet accessed.

Altogether a superb book, ideal for anyone wishing to gain further knowledge in the subject area.

Chilling, Sad, Provocative, Scholarly.......2006-07-28

The Author writes about a chilling new chapter in post-modern warfare. It is a very objective and scholarly work that covers in comprehensive detail the underlying causes, recruitment, implications and response to "Child Soldiers". The author calls this a "new Doctrine" and not only covers the problems, techniques, tactics and procedures; but, also offers lessons learned and suggestions for countering this new dimension of warfare.
As a doctrine developer and trainer to the new Afghan National Army, I found this book extremely valuable. Despite the fact that you may get either emotional or angry at the author for how he conveys his message in select chapters, I strongly recommend that you purchase this book. If you are preparing to deploy to OIF or OEF, Buy this book and struggle through the entire book. In some cases you may feel like skipping chapters or even throwing it away, Dont do either. Read for Understanding

Terry Tucker,Adjunct Prof Military Studies/History
Trainer and Doctrine Developer to the Afghan National Army
Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan

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War in Africa
I Am Killing, Killing, Killing
a universal language of conflict
Highly recommended
chilling and all too real

Beasts of No Nation: A Novel
Uzodinma Iweala
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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Half of a Yellow Sun
Purple Hibiscus
The Inheritance of Loss
Never Let Me Go
The Sea (Man Booker Prize)

ASIN: 006079867X
Release Date: 2005-11-08

Book Description

In this stunning debut novel, Agu, a young boy in an unnamed West African nation, is recruited into a unit of guerrilla fighters as civil war engulfs his country. Haunted by his father's own death at the hands of militants, which he fled just before witnessing, Agu is vulnerable to the dangerous yet paternal nature of his new commander.

While the war rages on, Agu becomes increasingly divorced from the life he had known before the conflict started -- a life of school friends, church services, and time with his family still intact. As he vividly recalls these sunnier times, his daily reality spins further downward into inexplicable brutality, primal fear, and loss of selfhood. His relationship with his commander deepens even as it darkens, and his camaraderie with a fellow soldier lends a deceptive sense of normalcy to his experience.

In a powerful, strikingly original voice that vividly captures Agu's youth and confusion, Uzodinma Iweala has produced a harrowing, deeply affecting novel. Both a searing take on coming-of-age and a vivid document of the dark face of war, Beasts of No Nation announces the arrival of an extaordinary new writer.

Customer Reviews:

War in Africa.......2007-07-29

A first-person acccount of the experiences of a young boy, forced into a war. Vivid and credible. Hard to set it down before finishing. Then impossible to forget it. (We all need to be aware of the forces that are displayed here!)

I Am Killing, Killing, Killing.......2007-05-16

In a special wing in the House of Fiction there lives a notable band of young characters and child narrators. They began taking up residence in the Romantic era, trailing clouds of glory, singing songs of innocence, an implicit critique of the hyper-rationalistic Enlightenment which poets like Blake and Wordsworth rebelled against.

A generation later, Dickens reserved rooms for young men such as Oliver Twist and David Copperfield. Masterfully using the third person narrative style, Dickens shadowed these youngsters through their daily lives, telling their stories as a means to shame a complacent bourgeoisie into closing the workhouses, reforming the factory system and putting into place child labor laws.

Then ol' Huck Finn arrived. Unlike these earlier protagonists, Huck actually inhabited the role of narrator. Armed with a rough but ready moral compass that guided him through the fallen world of southern slavery, Huck related his complex and redemptive tale in his own frontier first-person vernacular.

One could venture to say that every era gets the young characters and narrators (and social critics) it deserves. And here's where "Beasts of No Nation" comes in. Through Agu, our first-person child narrator, we experience the brutal excitement and mind-bending horror of guerilla warfare as experienced by a child soldier in West Africa. A pre-adolescent boy orphaned by war and drafted at the blade of a machete to join an anonymous war, Agu tells us his horrific story in present tense pidgin English.

So why does "Beasts of No Nation," fail to measure up to anything approaching these great works of fiction? It's my opinion that the book's structure, told partly in flashbacks interferes. Because we are immediately thrust into the story of his forced conversion to murderous child soldier within the first few pages, we know immediately what the story is about. In those great classics cited earlier, the stories unfold in such a way that we come to know the character or the narrator first before we recognize where our journey is taking us. Huck, for instance, doesn't tell us in the first few pages that he's going to help Jim to freedom, then light out for the Territory. We accompany him on his journey, and discover as he does the meaning of that journey.

Perhaps if we'd come to know Agu before his country is plunged into civil war, gotten to know him and his social circumstances more fully, experienced the horrific ruptures the war brought to his village, the book might have more effectively communicated the blood drenched madness of war.

Or, if he had used the strategy Faulkner used in "The Sound and the Fury" where Benjy and Quentin related the story of their sister Cassie in broken shards, half-mad ramblings or looping indirection, the style might have communicated this disruption. Instead we have Agu's present tense pidgin which never reaches the demented poetic heights of Faulkner.

There's better novels to read if you want to get a visceral understanding of war: "The Red Badge of Courage," "All Quiet on the Western Front," "The Naked and the Dead," "Catch-22," "The Things They Carried" among many, many others.

Or for a truly brutal novel of war as told by a child narrator, try Jerzy Kozinski's "The Painted Bird" whose narrator coolly, robotically reports on the horrors he witnessed as he wandered through a ravaged Eastern Europe during WWII.

a universal language of conflict.......2007-04-02

Iweala's book is an introspective take on what geos on on the inside of those caught in rthe middle of all kinds of conflict.
The language of Agu is one that conveys innocence violated

Highly recommended.......2007-02-17

The abuse and systematic identity-destruction of this boy-child is stunning for its clarity in conveying the possibility of something that seems so impossible that it cannot even be imagined. Horrifying, compelling, dramatic. The ending suggests redemption, but it is hard to imagine that anyone ever fully overcomes such a horrendous experience. Iweala says in an interview in the back of the book that the "voice" of Agu is a character in itself. For whatever reason, I didn't want when I realized this book is his first to grant Iweala my uncritical support. But he won me over, i.e., I have to agree that the voice of Agu in this book is a remarkably creative literary achievement -- and not just for a debut novel. Sophisticated craftsmanship ... kind of scary coming from one so young, but also very impressive.

chilling and all too real.......2007-02-13

Anyone reading What is the What will also want to take notice of this spare, stark book. Our senses may be dulled by the endless headlines and staggering numbers, but this story of one boy soldier's journey humanizes horror in the same way that The Diary of Anne Frank did.

Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go To War

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Good Anecdotal Information, but Limited in Scope
A deeper understanding about the experience of child soldiers
Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers go to war

Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go To War
Jimmie Briggs
Manufacturer: Basic Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Children's Studies | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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Children at War
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A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

ASIN: 0465007988

Book Description

For readers of Philip Gourevitch, David Rieff, and Samantha Power, a sober, vitally important book on the global tragedy of child soldiers

Ida, a member of Sri Lanka's Female Tamil Tigers, fought with one of the longest-surviving and successful guerilla movements in the world. She is sixteen. Francois, a fourteen-year-old Rwandan child of mixed ethnicity, was forced by Hutu militiamen to hack to death his sister's Tutsi children.

More than 250,000 children have fought in three dozen conflicts around the world, but growing exploitation of children in war is staggering and little known. From the "little bees" of Colombia to the "baby brigades" of Sri Lanka, the subject of child soldiers is changing the face of terrorism. For the last seven years, Jimmie Briggs has been talking to, writing about, and researching the plight of these young combatants. The horrific stories of these children, dramatically told in their own voices, reveal the devastating consequences of this global tragedy. Cogent, passionate, impeccably researched, and compellingly told, Innocents Lost is the fullest, most personal and powerful examination yet of the lives of child soldiers.

Customer Reviews:

Good Anecdotal Information, but Limited in Scope.......2006-06-09

Although children have never been fully excluded from acts of war, the rates of child participation in armed struggle has increased dramatically in the past decades. As such, a growing literature is emerging on the subject and drawing light to a growing global problem. Riggs work spans the developing world in the search of personal accounts of children at war.

The author speaks personally with children who participated in war, their families, and others affected by armed conflict. The book spans the globe, ranging in location from West Africa to South Asia, and examining the present conflict in Afghanistan. With each location the reader is given an eye witness account of the brutality of child conscription. All though much of work is based on anecdotal information, the book contributes significantly to the cannon. The case studies provide food for thought regarding a variety of geographical regions and provide significant background to a host of conflicts employing child soldiers.

The limitations of the book mainly arise from the limited scope of the work. Riggs avoids an examination of the unique socio-economic circumstances that accompany many of the conflicts employing child soldiers, or truly addressing the long-term repercussions for a nation embroiled in conflict with child soldiers. In addition, it would be helpful if Riggs would have examined in greater depth the many development programs addressing children at war. Nevertheless, Riggs provides an enlightening and readable book and will not disappoint those attempting to better understand the emerging problem of children at war.

A deeper understanding about the experience of child soldiers.......2006-04-06

Jimmie Briggs, the author of this book details with great compassion and strong writing the personal accounts of children who are recruited as child soldiers. His telling of their stories deepens your understanding and connection with this growing humanitarian issue. As you read the book you cannot forgot the personal stories of the children that Jimmie meets. These children linger in your mind and heart.

The book also gives you a good idea of what is being done to re-habilitate and re-orient children who have been soldiers by community based and faith based groups and others who are addressing the larger human rights issue.

I think this book will appeal to anyone who is interested in children's rights, international health and human rights. It is an engrossing and interesting read.

Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers go to war.......2006-02-19

One of the most alarming trends in modern armed conflicts is the practice of using children as soldiers. These children are deployed both by government forces and guerilla groups. Inspite of several international initiatives to stop the child soldiers, including the United Nations practice of 'naming and shaming' the parties engaged in this practice, children continue to be used as soldiers in armed conflicts around the world.
Jimmie Briggs attempts to deepen our understanding of this terrible phenomenon by using the personal stories of some of the children in these conflicts. The book begins with the story of Francois Minani, a 16-year-old Rwandan son of a Tutsi mother and Hutu father who was forced by Hutu militiamen to kill his Tutsi nephews in other to prove his allegiance to the Hutu tribe. The story of clementine and her four brothers and sisters addresses the plight of " unaccompanied children" ie. those under eighteen without parental or adult member custody.

The book discusses the problem of child soldiers in the conflicts in Colombia which have been going on for a long time. According to the author, the conflict in Colombia is not solely about drugs but also about class, economics and power. Cocaine is merely the ugly means for perpetuating an unseemingly unwinnable war. Consequently, children have been the main casualties both as victims of violence and as perpetrators of it. Jimmie Briggs also used the conflicts in Sri Lanka, Uganda and Afghanistan to show that the methods used by these armed groups to recruit children are the same all over the world.

The great strength of the book lies in the way the children's stories are used to illustrate the problem of child soldiers: how they are recruited- including voluntary recruitment, abduction, coercion, indoctrination and physical threat- as well as their effect on the children. the author does not probe too deeply into the various International rules to stop Child soldiers and the role of the United Nations in implementing them. Instead he appears to let the children's stories expose the deficiencies in the system. And best of all, the stories are well researched, mesmerising and pretty short.

The book concludes with some recommendations. Such as curbing the flow of small arms and Light weapons to nations where children are at risk of being recruited, implementation of the optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Support for the International Criminal Court, the Protection of demobilized child soldiers and the sensitization of American forces to the personal and moral consequences of confronting children on the battlefield before and after deployment.

I went through a lot of emotions when I read the book. I was moved to tears at what the children went through, moved to anger at the perpetrators and later decided to do something about this tragedy by writing this review in other to give it the attention it deserves. The book is not too graphic but passionate and descriptive enough to put one there. I would recommend it to everybody particularly those interested in Child rights, Human rights and Humanitarian law.

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Pssst....hey you! Want to market a few gold bullion?
This Book Is Really Bad

Old Soldiers Sometimes Lie
Richard Hoyt
Manufacturer: Forge Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Historical | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0765303310

Book Description

On November 14, 1947, two years after the war, General Douglas MacArthur met in private with Emperor Hirohito. They spoke for ninety minutes. To this day, there is no official record of what was discussed.Over five decades ago, MacArthur permitted General Tomayuki Yamashita to be executed for alleged war crimes. Now, Yamashitas granddaughter is determined to clear his name, even if it means unravelling a web of deceit and corruption that may stretch back to the Emperor himselfand a secret pact between Hirohito and MacArthur. Old Soldiers Sometimes Lie raises disturbing questions about what truly went on in the Pacific in the shadowy years following World War II. A former counterintelligence agent, as well as an award-winning author of espionage thrillers, Richard Hoyt pulls together disparate threads of historical fact and rumor to weave a gripping novel of intrigue and conspiracy in high places.

Customer Reviews:

Pssst....hey you! Want to market a few gold bullion?.......2004-01-05

I noticed this book while food shopping at a local market. The cover was sufficiently intriguing that I dropped the book in my basket. Later, when I started reading the book, I found the subject utterly fascinating. Knowing relatively nothing of Hirohito's gold, the mass burying of stolen WWII gold throughout the Philippines, the M Fund, and other facets related to this subject and time period, I was confused as to where the melding of fiction and fact began and ended. But this confusion did not detract from the book-it only served to whet my curiosity and to urge me to continue onward, page after page.

To readers who need constant action in order to keep reading a book, this novel may not be for them, as there are long (but captivating) narrations on the history of Hirohito's gold. But to those who enjoy a blending of historical fact with a snappy plot line, this book will give them a good read. Much of the action, both historical and in the present, is in the Philippines. Having been to the Philippines, I have to admire Mr. Hoyt's descriptions of the country and the people...I was soon sweating from his descriptions of the high heat and thick humidity (even while it was snowing here in Alaska), enjoying again the views of the verdant mountains and turquoise blue ocean waters, and reliving my own wonderful times with the truly unique and joyful Filipino people. In fact, I am now craving a San Miguel beer, and may have to just go back to the Philippines to get one.

As an interesting aside, when I was last in the Philippines (about 4 years ago), I was approached by a supposedly religious organization with a most unusual request: could I help them market an enormous load of gold bars found on a coconut farm in Mindanao? They had pictures of countless gold bars in some sort of bunker that they gave to me. I declined the offer. After reading Mr. Hoyt's account of the lost Japanese golden loot, the difficulties (to put it mildly) encountered by anyone, even former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, in attempting to market stolen gold, I was relieved and gratified at my decision to have nothing to do with the purported unearthing of Japanese gold.

The three principal characters in the book-a former, disillusioned CIA operative, a history professor and a Filipino farmer-are well rounded and the types of folks that I (and probably you) would like to socialize with (preferably in an open air bar in the Philippines overlooking the sea). You care about them, their quest, and you hope that they come out of this dangerous business in one piece.

This is a good book, and you learn a great deal about an alarming historical deception while you are roundly entertained.

This Book Is Really Bad.......2003-11-24

The only reason I actually finished this boring, convoluted, uninteresting book was because I was stuck on an airplane with nothing else to read. I should have just gone to sleep. The plot (if there really is one) centers around the attempt to recover gold stolen by Japanese military leaders and buried in the Philippines during World War II. There is virtually no action or drama in the book--just long, drawn-out explanations of historical activity by the main characters. I completely lost track of why some of the characters were in the book. Most of the activity (not action) is implausible and generally disconnected with the main theme. Don't waste your time or money on this book.

Child Soldiers: From Violence to Protection

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Important Book if you want to know more about Child Soldiers
Crucial Book on Child Soldiers

Child Soldiers: From Violence to Protection
Michael G. Wessells
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Child Soldiers in Africa (The Ethnography of Political Violence)
Armies of the Young: Child Soldiers in War and Terrorism (The Rutgers Series in Childhood Studies)
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A World Turned Upside Down: Social Ecological Approaches to Children in War Zones
Children at War

ASIN: 0674023595

Book Description

Compelling and humane, this book reveals the lives of the 300,000 child soldiers around the world, challenging stereotypes of them as predators or a lost generation. Kidnapped or lured by the promise of food, protection, revenge, or a better life, children serve not only as combatants but as porters, spies, human land mine detectors, and sexual slaves. Nearly one-third are girls, and Michael Wessells movingly reveals the particular dangers they face from pregnancy, childbirth complications, and the rejection they and their babies encounter in their local contexts.

Based mainly on participatory research and interviews with hundreds of former child soldiers worldwide, Wessells allows these ex-soldiers to speak for themselves and reveal the enormous complexity of their experiences and situations. The author argues that despite the social, moral, and psychological wounds of war, a surprising number of former child soldiers enter civilian life, and he describes the healing, livelihood, education, reconciliation, family integration, protection, and cultural supports that make it possible. A passionate call for action, Child Soldiers pushes readers to go beyond the horror stories to develop local and global strategies to stop this theft of childhood.

Customer Reviews:

Important Book if you want to know more about Child Soldiers.......2007-04-05

The topic of child soldiers has now received the attention it deserves. Beah's moving book of his experience as a child soldier in Sierra Leone has now opened the eyes of many. For those who want to know more, Wessells' book takes us into the lives of children worldwide -- Sri Lanka, Angola, Columbia, East Timior, Afghanistan and more. Child soldiering is complex, and the author takes us into the many ways children are recruited, the roles they play, and the facets of their day-to-day lives. Especially compelling are the voices of children, woven in throughout the book. In the end, practical guidance is given -- there is hope for concerned citizens who want to bring an end to the exploitation of children who are forced to serve in the wars of adults.

Crucial Book on Child Soldiers.......2007-03-17

This book is a "must read" for anyone interested in the complex situation of child soldiers. The book is engaging and compelling, bringing forth the voices and experiences of hundreads of child soldiers from around the world, including Angola, Sierra Leone, Colombia, Uganda, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan. It goes beyond the usual stereotypes of such children as "victims" or "perpetrators", carefully detailing the many and varied roles that children participate in -- from human land mine detectors to caregivers of the babies born into armed groups. The plight of girl soldiers and their unique experiences as mothers at a tender young age -- the result of rape by their abductors who are also their "husbands" -- is eye opening and heart rendering.

The book carefully documents the numerous ways children come to be in armed groups (including abduction, fleeing abusive families, volunteering because of ideology, and having no other options because of grinding poverty). Michael Wessells is a psychologist, and writes compellingly of the social and emotional toll that is exacted on these chidlren. He also writes of the children's resilience, and how, despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles, many children actively cope with their situation.

In spite of the horrors that these children experience, the book offers hope. It provides moving examples of children re-entering their communities and once again becoming part of the fabric of community life -- as students, as citizens, as peacemakers, and as agents of social change. A far cry from categorizing these children as a "lost generation", the book contends that we have the tools and knowledge to stop the wanton exploitation of children as soldiers, and provides the reader with hopeful strategies and initiatives that have worked.

Unspeakable The Hidden Truth Behind The World's Fastest Growing Crime

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Decent book with dark truths about our world
Both stunning and heartbreaking
Truly shocking

Unspeakable The Hidden Truth Behind The World's Fastest Growing Crime
Raymond Bechard
Manufacturer: Compel Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Not for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade--and How We Can Fight It
Human Trafficking
Woman, Child for Sale: The New Slave Trade in the 21st Century
Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy
Understanding Global Slavery: A Reader

ASIN: 0493745858
Release Date: 2006-11-18

Product Description

Available now, UNSPEAKABLE: The Hidden Truth Behind the World's Fastest Growing Crime, the new book by Ahava Kids Founder and Director, Raymond Bechard, will finally bring the dark world of Child Trafficking into the light of day. Exposing this global attack against children is one of the most important missions of Ahava Kids and a lifelong passion of Raymond Bechard. With UNSPEAKABLE, you will experience what it is like to walk through the back alleys, the brothels, the battlefields, and even the magnificent mansions where children are being bought and sold into modern day slavery. Most people do not want to go where this extraordinary book will take them. But, to save children from the most horrible abuse imaginable, we must all find the courage and go. Together, we must speak for the children who are trapped in a life of silent torture. All proceeds from the sale of this book support the work of Ahava Kids.

Customer Reviews:

Decent book with dark truths about our world.......2007-10-01

I read this book and I thought it was pretty decent. Unfortunately, I am not as shocked as most that would even attempt to read a book of this magnitude. I have read many books on human trafficking but this is not to say I am not dismayed. This is very disturbing information given all the details in the book and knowing the current slave trade is largest in world history. I think Raymond Bechard does an excellent job of pointing out that child trafficking comes in different forms- sex slave trade, slave labor, illegal activity like begging and drug trafficking, child soldiering, adoption trade, illegal body parts trade, and forced marriage. He does of good job of delineating the various aspects of child trafficking and provides real life testimonies of children who have had to endear such horrific conditions. This will definitely grasp your attention. Although I did like the book very much, I must say, unfortunately, I felt at times that the book could have been better organized. I felt as if the book would jump from one area of human trafficking then go to another all within the same chapter. That said, perhaps having each chapter focusing solely on one area ,e.g., child soldiering or sex slavery, then proceeding to the next. At times, I was not sure if I was beginning a new chapter or if I read the real life vignette wrong.

Nevertheless, his message is important and it does provide enough detail to educate the novice reader/researcher information about this horrendous crime in this era of globalization. Recommended.

Both stunning and heartbreaking.......2007-05-23

Raymond Bechard's book is not for the faint of heart. I had to stop reading at various points because the material was so disturbing and profoundly affecting; when I finished, I had tears running down my face. Bechard presents the reality of trafficking - the human and ideological toll, and the immensity of its scope. The children's lives he recounts are beyond the understanding of most Westerners; the tableau is a nightmare. In conclusion, he provides the reader with various means of changing the situation - some easy, some bolder and more challenging. In essence, UNSPEAKABLE is a call to arms in the name of humanity.

Truly shocking.......2007-02-06

This book offers shocking and horrible truths about the fate of many children around the world. It exposes the terror these children face on a daily basis. It is a very interesting and illuminating read, and immediately made me want to do something to help.

A World Turned Upside Down: Social Ecological Approaches to Children in War Zones

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A World Turned Upside Down: Social Ecological Approaches to Children in War Zones

Manufacturer: Kumarian Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Social Work | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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Violence in Society | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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Children And Youth On The Front Line: Ethnography, Armed Conflict And Displacement (Studies in Forced Migration)

ASIN: 1565492250

Book Description

A World Turned Upside Down looks at the experiences of children in war from a psychological and social ecological perspective, offering thoughtful observations and dispelling myths about what results when children grow up in conflict situations.

In contrast to individualized approaches, the volume offers a deeper conceptualization that shows the socially mediated impacts of war. Children exposed to the same traumatic experiences may have different reactions and needs for psychosocial support. Further, psychosocial assistance to war-affected children often occurs not through the provision of therapy by outsiders but via support from insiders.

Each contributor has worked extensively with children in war zones in Europe, Africa, Latin America, and Asia. They refrain from common perceptions of children as victims of war-induced trauma to provide a holistic understanding of children's experiences. Each helps pinpoint ways to reduce further violence, foster well-being and nurture the kinds of social connections that can liberate children from the pathologies of war so that they can mature into healthy and well-adjusted adults.

Armies of the Young: Child Soldiers in War and Terrorism (The Rutgers Series in Childhood Studies)
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Child Soldiering complexified

Challenges the Paradigms of Children and War

Armies of the Young: Child Soldiers in War and Terrorism (The Rutgers Series in Childhood Studies)
David, M Rosen
Manufacturer: Rutgers University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0813535689

Book Description

"No thinking person, no media commentator, no political leader can afford to be without this book--not if they care about the truth and want to understand one of the more awful realities of our time. It will stir you to action on behalf of the world's vulnerable children." --Phyllis Chesler, author of The New Anti-Semitism Children have served as soldiers throughout history. They fought in the American Revolution, the Civil War, and in both world wars. They served as uniformed soldiers, camouflaged insurgents, and even suicide bombers. Indeed, the first U.S. soldier to be killed by hostile fire in the Afghanistan war was shot in ambush by a fourteen-year-old boy. Does this mean that child soldiers are agressors? Or are they victims? It is a difficult question with no obvious answer, yet in recent years the acceptable answer among humanitarian organizations and contemporary scholars has been resoundingly the latter. These children are most often seen as especially hideous examples of adult criminal exploitation. In this provocative book, David M. Rosen argues that this response vastly oversimplifies the child soldier problem. Drawing on three dramatic examples--from Sierra Leone, Palestine, and Eastern Europe during the Holocaust--Rosen vividly illustrates this controversial view. In each case, he shows that children are not always passive victims, but often make the rational decision that not fighting is worse than fighting. With a critical eye to international law, Armies of the Young urges readers to reconsider the situation of child combatants in light of circumstance and history before adopting uninformed child protectionist views. In the process, Rosen paints a memorable and unsettling picture of the role of children in international conflicts. David M. Rosen is a professor of anthropology and law at Fairleigh Dickinson University. A volume in The Rutgers Series in Childhood Studies, edited by Myra Bluebond-Langner, Rutgers University, Camden.

Customer Reviews:

Child Soldiering complexified.......2007-05-11

To date, most of the writing about child soldiers comes from the discipline of psychology or from the world of human rights. The psychology writing tends to assume that children involved in war will be traumatized and the rights literature tends to see soldiering as one of the worst abuses of children. Without downplaying the indisputable horrors of some individual's experiences, David Rosen, a professor of anthropology and law at Fairleigh Dickinson University, asks us to understand child soldiering from a political perspective.

He brings clear thinking to the field by daring to question the assumptions of the human rights regime. In so doing, he comes down firmly on the side of a growing number of scholars of childhood who insist on foregrounding child agency rather than always seeing them as hapless victims. Of course, there is a delicate line here. One does not want to run the risk of downplaying the violence children experience, but this is a necessary corrective to child protection discourses that almost completely remove any sense of agency in childhood.

How do we return to a focus on agency? Rosen makes clear that "Ethnography - particularly the methods of participant observation--has unsettled conventional concepts of childhood and remains the best way to study children. Observing and listening to the voice of the child in natural settings, where children are not disempowered by the regimes of formal interviewing, testing, and measurement, provide the clearest portraits of the competence of children" (133).

There are a lot of assumptions circulating in the world about what causes child soldiering, and very little hard evidence to back up those assumptions. One of the most often repeated is the notion that the worldwide traffic in small arms is responsible for the rise in child soldiers. The argument is that smaller guns mean that smaller people can now wield them. To me the most useful achievement of this book is the effective skewering of the small arms argument. The author also does an excellent job of situating humanitarian discourse on child soldiers within debates about "new wars" and about the vulnerability of children.

The core of the book is made up of three chapters on different historical and geographical examples of conflict and different models of youth participation in political violence. He looks at young Jewish partisans from World War II, the child soldiers of the recent civil war in Sierra Leone, and young Palestinians of the Intifada. The use of examples from the past is useful because the arguments become easier to follow when somewhat removed in time from the presently regnant child rights regime. He calls all of the young people in his case studies "child soldiers," in order to demonstrate that using today's lenses retrospectively forces us to look at the past differently, but also obliges us to acknowledge the constructed nature of the lenses. As a specialist on child soldiers of Sierra Leone, I noticed a few small factual errors in that section, though I would leave it to someone with a more nuanced understanding of the Middle East to judge the politics and accuracy of the chapter on Palestine.

The author is hardly the first to point out that child soldiering is not a new phenomenon, but he makes the point clearly and forcefully. The introduction includes examples of children's involvement in war from Western and non-Western societies, including the well-documented participation of children in the U.S. Civil War. He mentions the strangeness of the "straight 18 position," noting that, "for the rest of the world... it is by no means clear that all persons under age eighteen are or even should be deemed children." He directs our attention to the ahistorical basis of humanitarian discourse, noting, "Humanitarian advocacy shows little or no awareness that current humanitarian views about childhood itself are historically contingent and derive from a particular constellation of ideas and practices that began to emerge in Europe during the Middle Ages."

Most importantly, he understands the struggles over childhood as political (as have Sharon Stephens and others before him), stating, "the competing political agendas of humanitarian groups, sovereign states, and the United Nations and its constituent agencies have created a global politics of age, of which the child soldier issue is only one part." He concludes, "The child soldier `crisis' is a modern political crisis, which is only partly related to the actual presence of children in war" (157). This conclusion forces us to look more closely at the political underpinnings of a whole range of humanitarian discourses about children.

This book is appropriate for anyone who is thinking critically about the cultural politics of childhood, and could be used in courses on human rights, childhood, or conflict.

Challenges the Paradigms of Children and War.......2006-01-11

In this meticulously documented book, Rosen takes on the controversy over child soldiers on four sites -- the World War II partisans, the civil war in Sierre Leone, the Palestinian intifada, and the United Naitons agencies and affiliated non-governmental organizations that draft treaties. He exposes the myths that child soldiers are either wild demons or exploited angels, revealing children as surprisingly independent decison-makers, sophisticated thinkers, and rational, responsible yet eternally subordinate social actors, constrained by contexts of violence. Rosen, who is both an anthropologist and an attorney, has drawn on his own fieldwork and cultural and legal understandings, to create a book that is deceptively readable but so deeply analytical that you will never see the connection between children and war in the same way again. Evryone who has a child, or has been a child, or cares about our planetary future, should read it.

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