Flags of our Fathers-by James Bradley

Flags of our Fathers, by James Bradley, is a non-fiction book that accurately depicts the fighting of the U.S soldiers against the Japanese soldiers in World War II, specifically during the Battle of Iwo Jima, one of the Japanese strongholds in the Pacific. The mountainous terrain and the technology of rapid machine gun fire made the fighting almost impossible to win. As I read the book, I was horrified by the savage techniques used by the U.S. The soldiers had to resort to flame throwers in order to kill and slowly conquer the island. In any other war, using fire would have been over-the-top but in this war, since the Japanese were hiding and shooting from underground tunnels, the U.S had to use whatever they could think of to drive the Japanese out. This book is full of valorous moments, especially with the corpsmen running through cross-fire to save wounded soldiers. If I ever had to fight in a war because of a draft, I would do my duty to my country but I probably would be too scared to attempt anything extra--especially saving others’ lives. I would rate this book a 10 out of 10 because of the high amount of patriotism (especially the climax when raising the U.S flag on the highest point of Iwo Jima under surprise ambushes) of the soldiers. Anyone who loves war and history books, Flags of our Fathers is for you.

Ragtime-by E.L Doctorow

Ragtime, by E.L Doctorow, is a challenging book, in terms of vocabulary and content. Ragtime weaves together powerful themes such as poverty, family, anarchy, racism, love, and restlessness. This book captures the revelry of the early 1900s. In the book, I was angered when a black man’s car was vandalized by a white volunteer fire department. Racism toward blacks during this time is widespread toward both poor and well-to-do blacks. If racism between the two groups is this widespread, then in the 1960s, it probably was at an intolerant level (something had to be done to fix racism). Furthermore, it was very considerate of a white family to take in a black woman and offer her hospitality. At least there are some people who do not let racism blind their judgement and instead remain kind and welcoming to all races. This book may be hard to read, but one could put oneself in many of the situations and experience how the characters feel.