This was a wonderful book about the six men immortalized in the picture of the flag raising over Iwo Jima in February, 1945. The author is the son of one of the men, and he wrote the book after his father's death. His father never really talked about his time on Iwo Jima, and James Bradley wanted to know about his father's experiences. Bradley also tells the story of the other five men in the photograph, three of who would not make it off of the island alive.

I thought this book did a remarkable job of humanizing men who have become such icons of the twentieth century. Bradley shows how harshly the war affected all six of the men, something that can be lost in official histories.

Bradley is a trained historian, so I would expect that he would know how to research, and he does. He also writes in an engaging way that is easy to read, an element many professional histories can lack. ( )

An excellent book, which tempers justified triumphant tones with the sadness of life's complexity. ( )

This book is a captivating war time novel about the grueling battle on Iwa Jima. Written by James Bradley this is a true book and all the characters are real people. ( )