With you-are-there immediacy, prisoner of war expert Robert Doyle provides a penetrating look at some of the most daring escapes in American history. From the American Revolution and Civil War, to the war in the Persian Gulf, to the undeclared war in Southeast Asia, these extraordinary true stories form a riveting history that reads like a rapid-fire thriller. Includes an exploration of the psychology of escape, as well as a look at escape in popular books and films.

A Prisoner's Duty : Great Escapes in U.S. Military History

History

Doyle, Robert C.

Military

Bantam]

Popularized by books and films like Andersonville, The Great Escape, and The Hanoi Hilton, and recounted in innumerable postwar memoirs, the POW story holds a special place in American culture. Robert Doyle's remarkable study shows why it has retained such enormous power to move and instruct us. Long after wartime, memories of captivity haunt former wartime prisoners, their families, and their society-witness the continuing Vietnam MIA-POW controversies-and raise fundamental questions about human nature and survival under inhumane conditions. The prison landscapes have varied dramatically: Indian villages during the Forest Wars; floating hulks during the Revolution and War of 1812; slave bagnios in Algeria and Tripoli; hotels and haciendas during the Mexican War; large rural camps like Andersonville in the South or converted federal armories like Elmira in the North; stalags in Germany and death-ridden tropical camps in the Philippines; frozen jails in North Korea; and the "Hanoi Hilton" and bamboo prisons of Vietnam. But, as Doyle demonstrates, the story remains the same. Doyle shows that, though setting and circumstance may change, POW stories share a common structure and are driven by similar themes. Capture, incarceration, isolation, propaganda, torture, capitulation or resistance, death, spiritual quest, escape, liberation, and repatriation are recurrent key motifs in these narratives. It is precisely these elements, Doyle contends, that have made this genre such a fascinating and enduring literary form. Drawing from a wide array of sources, including official documents, first-person accounts, histories, and personal letters, in addition to folklore and fiction, Doyle illustrates the timelessness of the POW story and shows why it has become central to our understanding of the American experience of war.

Voices from Captivity: Interpreteting the American POW Narrative (Modern War Studies)

Literature & Fiction

University Press of Kansas

Revelations of abuse at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison and the U.S. detention camp at Guantánamo Bay had repercussions extending beyond the worldwide media scandal that ensued. The controversy surrounding photos and descriptions of inhumane treatment of enemy prisoners of war, or EPWs, from the war on terror marked a watershed moment in the study of modern warfare and the treatment of prisoners of war. Amid allegations of human rights violations and war crimes, one question stands out among the rest: Was the treatment of America's most recent prisoners of war an isolated event or part of a troubling and complex issue that is deeply rooted in our nation's military history? Military expert Robert C. Doyle's The Enemy in Our Hands: America's Treatment of Prisoners of War from the Revolution to the War on Terror draws from diverse sources to answer this question. Historical as well as timely in its content, this work examines America's major wars and past conflicts―among them, the American Revolution, the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and Vietnam―to provide understanding of the United States' treatment of military and civilian prisoners. The Enemy in Our Hands offers a new perspective of U.S. military history on the subject of EPWs and suggests that the tactics employed to manage prisoners of war are unique and disparate from one conflict to the next. In addition to other vital information, Doyle provides a cultural analysis and exploration of U.S. adherence to international standards of conduct, including the 1929 Geneva Convention in each war. Although wars are not won or lost on the basis of how EPWs are treated, the treatment of prisoners is one of the measures by which history's conquerors are judged.

The Enemy in Our Hands: America's Treatment of Prisoners of War from the Revolution to the War on Terror

Americas

University Press of Kentucky

Revelations of abuse at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison and the U.S. detention camp at Guantánamo Bay had repercussions extending beyond the worldwide media scandal that ensued. The controversy surrounding photos and descriptions of inhumane treatment of enemy prisoners of war, or EPWs, from the war on terror marked a watershed momentin the study of modern warfare and the treatment of prisoners of war. Amid allegations of human rights violations and war crimes, one question stands out among the rest: Was the treatment of America's most recent prisoners of war an isolated event or part of a troubling and complex issue that is deeply rooted in our nation's military history?Military expert Robert C. Doyle's The Enemy in Our Hands: America's Treatment of Prisoners of War from the Revolution to the War on Terror draws from diverse sources to answer this question. Historical as well as timely in its content, this work examines America's major wars and past conflicts―among them, the American Revolution, the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and Vietnam―to provide understanding of the UnitedStates' treatment of military and civilian prisoners. The Enemy in Our Hands offers a new perspective of U.S. military history on the subject of EPWs and suggests that the tactics employed to manage prisoners of war are unique and disparate from one conflict tothe next. In addition to other vital information, Doyle provides a cultural analysis and exploration of U.S. adherence to international standards of conduct, including the 1929 Geneva Convention in each war. Although wars are not won or lost on the basis of how EPWs are treated, the treatment of prisoners is one of the measures by which history's conquerors are judged.

Beginning by introducing the foundational biblical themes in eschatology, this is followed by the development of thought on the subject from the second-century AD to the present. The book sets eschatological thinking against a wider theological framework, exposing deeper interconnecting structures of Christian thought.

Eschatology and the Shape of Christian Belief

Religion & Spirituality

Christian Books & Bibles

Authentic Media

Draws on official and private archives, letters, diaries, and memoirs to document extraordinary American escapes. Tells of sailors who escaped from English prison ships during the American Revolution, slaves on the Underground Railroad, POWs from the Civil War onward, and journalists and government officials eluding terrorists. Includes b&amp;w photos and illustrations. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

A Prisoner's Duty: Great Escapes in U.S. Military History

Naval_Institute_Press

Throughout our nation's history American servicemen and civilians have resisted captivity in every form, drawing on special powers of ingenuity, determination, and patriotism to escape-- sometimes repeatedly. Robert Doyle's penetrating look at some extraordinary escapes by Americans breaks new ground in escape psychology, shedding light on the types of people who try to breakout and those who do not. This engrossing study probes the personal and social impacts of escape, the many motivations that spur such acts, and the concept of the escaper as the ideal prisoner and the ultimate patriot.

Men of God, Men of War: Military Chaplains as Ministers, Warriors, and Prisoners

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Doyle, Robert C.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Doyle, Robert C.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Doyle, Robert C.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

A Prisoner's Duty : Great Escapes in U.S. Military History

Voices from Captivity: Interpreteting the American POW Narrative (Modern War Studies)

The Enemy in Our Hands: America's Treatment of Prisoners of War from the Revolution to the War on Terror

The Enemy in Our Hands: America's Treatment of Prisoners of War from the Revolution to the War on Terror

Eschatology and the Shape of Christian Belief

A Prisoner's Duty: Great Escapes in U.S. Military History

A Prisoner's Duty: Great Escapes in U.S. Military History

Men of God, Men of War: Military Chaplains as Ministers, Warriors, and Prisoners