Review: The Value Of This Book Escapes Me
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 02 4, 2013
Prison camp escapes are some of the most interesting and spellbinding tales of WWII. Everyone knows the saga of the Great Escape, even though the movie version is somewhat fictionalized. Still, there were other escape, equally daring and ingenious.  This book attempts to chronicle some of the more interesting.===The Good Stuff===* Freya Hardy writes in a lively and upbeat style, and the book is easy to read.* The book captures a number of incidents, including breakouts from "escape proof" Colditz and the saga of the Great Escape. Along the way we meet a few of the main characters, and get a brief glimpse into their motivations.=== The Not-So-Good Stuff===* The book is very short. The print edition is listed at about 100 pages, and it only took an hour or two to read. The book is very short on detail, and there is no in-depth analysis or discussion of anything. There is no technical discussion of what it took to dig a tunnel, how fake documents were created, or how prisoners managed to stockpile food and money before their escapes.* Likewise, there is no analysis or discussion of how successful prison escapees were in their stated attempts to tie up German resources, or to "drive the Germans nuts".* There are no references, notes or any indication of sources. It is unclear if the author is relating first or second person accounts, repeating tales heard at the local VFW, or summarizing other published works.===Summary===Unless you are somehow determined to read every book on the subject, I'd say this is a title to skip. It is a pleasant enough read, but just does not go deep enough into the subject, or cover enough ground to be interesting. If you want to read a more interesting first person account of life and escapes in a German POW camp, I'd recommendUnder the Wire: The bestselling memoir of an American Spitfire pilot and legendary POW escaper