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| We Die Alone: A WWII Epic of Escape and Endurance | 
 enlarge | Author: David Howarth
Creator: Stephen E. Ambrose
Publisher: The Lyons Press
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $6.71
You Save: $10.24 (60%)
New (36) Used (23) Collectible (1) from $6.59
Avg. Customer Rating:  73 reviews
Sales Rank: 17873
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 232
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7
ISBN: 1599210630
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.547243
EAN: 9781599210636
ASIN: 1599210630
Publication Date: June 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New may have remainder mark or slight shelfware
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
If this story of espionage and survival were a novel, readers might dismiss the Shackleton-like exploits of its hero as too fantastic to be taken seriously. But respected historian David Howarth confirmed the details of Jan Baalsrud's riveting tale. It begins in the spring of 1943, with Norway occupied by the Nazis and the Allies desperate to open the northern sea lanes to Russia. Baalsrud and three compatriots plan to smuggle themselves into their homeland by boat, spend the summer recruiting and training resistance fighters, and launch a surprise attack on a German air base. But he's betrayed shortly after landfall, and a quick fight leaves Baalsrud alone and trapped on a freezing island above the Arctic Circle. He's poorly clothed (one foot is entirely bare), has a head start of only a few hundred yards on his Nazi pursuers, and leaves a trail of blood as he crosses the snow. How he avoids capture and ultimately escapes--revealing that much spoils nothing in this white-knuckle narrative--is astonishing stuff. Baalsrud's feats make the travails in Jon Krakauer's Mt. Everest classic Into Thin Air look like child's play. In an introduction, Stephen Ambrose calls We Die Alone a rare reading experience: "a book that I absolutely cannot put down until I've finished it and one that I can never forget." This amazing book will disappoint no one. --John J. Miller
Product Description
A World War II chronicles of Jan Baalsrud's escape from Nazi-occupied arctic Norway.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 68 more reviews...
 An usual mix... October 7, 2008
There are so many 5-star reviews that I thought I'd add a little detail so potential readers can know more about this before diving in like I did.
The story starts out as a plan for espionage againsts Nazis. This part is brief. The main guy, Jan, ends up almost dead and staggering into a home with extreme frostbite. The interesting parts of this story are the familes that helped him, risking death to themselves. So the parts of the book where the author could interview people that helped Jan are interesting from a human drama, sacrifice, courage standpoint. However, Jan was out of it for most of the story, so the potentially interesting time when he was alone, burried under snow towards the end of the book - we know almost nothing about. Jan doesn't know, and nobody was there. So we don't get a survival tale like Into Thin Air, other than learning about him cutting his toes off. Then near the end of the book, they are taking him with reindeer toward Sweden. They get shot at, and start running toward a big lake (forget the name), but the ice has started to thin because they took longer than planned (it is now Spring, versus Winter) to get there. Then the book ends, except an eplogue about once they got across the border it was some distance until they got him to a hospital. This would have been an exciting part of the story if told. Why tell details of him cutting his toes off and contemplating suicide, only to leave out an exciting chase. So this is not an exciting escape/outwit Nazi WWII story. This is not detailed man against nature because when he is alone, he is so near death he does not remember what happened so that is not told here. It is tidbits told about the people who helped this guy. So 3 stars of interest about their bravery, but this wasn't very exciting (chase scenes, Nazi's close behind), nor was he surviving based on extreme wit, luck (well, sometimes), or training. Enjoyable, but easy to put down. I feel let down by how things transpired - seems the author took too much time on some areas, and skimped on more interesting/exciting areas. At least this one is not fabricated like "The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom
by Slavomir Rawicz". So exciting and fake (The Long Walk) or true but only moderately interesting (We Die Alone). What a choice!
 we die alone August 22, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
i have read the book but was not happy just because is almost the same as the book ( AS FAR AS MY FEET CAN CARRY ME).
some pages were exactly the same , word by word.
it look like it was a copy of the other book( as far as my feet can carry me)
i was very sorry that i bought the book and lost interest very fast.
 An amazing story. July 13, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I first read this book when I was about eleven, over thirty years later I bought it again, and the story was just as amazing to me as an adult as it was when I was a child. Jan's story has to be read to believed.
A beautiful lesson in heroism July 10, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The will of a Norwegian resistance during World War II, who injured will fight to survive in extreme conditions. What lesson of heroism! The victory at the end of suffering is a lesson of humanity. Great book.
Phenomenal, Unforgettable Book June 16, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
My husband and I both read this book after seeing a History Channel documentary of this man's story. It is hard to believe that the book is a true story, though, of course, it is. This book is not only the tale of an incredibly brave man who would defied death again and again, but it is also, and of equal interest, a testament to the people of Norway and their courage during the Second World War. I am buying this book for everyone on my Christmas list this upcoming year.
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