Long Walk: The True Story Of A Trek To Freedom

This is one of my favorites!!! What an amazing well.told story. No.embellish chapters that were so.quick.and interesting to read. 5 star must read!

I couldn't put this book down. I think it was well written and had a very good progression. Some think that this story wasn't true, and I don't know why. Yes, they crossed through very harsh places but they were survivors and not everybody could have made it. In fact, they lost half of their crew in the process. It's hard to believe that 4 survived this ordeal, but there is no reason to doubt they did because other people have escaped from horrible conditions in this world, and walked for a very long time and suffered to reach freedom. Someone mentioned that this story can't be believed because the group had no compass to guide them. They didn't need one because they didn't have a map. The general direction they were going was South! They did have knowledge of the geography in general and weren't dumb about it. They kept saying they were going South. They encountered locals who helped and advised them how to avoid Lhasa by going West and entering India through Sikkim. Sikkim, as the rest of the Himalaya has very high peaks. But they made their way through the pass and the valley across Sikkim (I have trekked in this area). There are 3 passes between Tibet and India. They followed the most eastern one. They still had to tackle the pre Himalaya and one might wonder how they did it. But they did it. They didn't have to go over glaciers though. They were just pushed by their urge to make it to freedom, and were extremely resilient and strong. As far as the Yeti, well, many people have reported seeing them. Could be that at this point of their long journey they were hallucinating! But I remember that several years ago trekking operators would offer treks called "In search of the Yeti in the Himalaya"! Some say that the Soviets had released the Poles and that this story is invalid. Why believe the Soviets though? They would have said anything anyway. In any case this is a great book and the story not unlike other stories of escape by foot I have read before this one. These guys were pretty smart about what to do in some circumstances, and they were incredibly strong.

If you enjoy Human interest and Historical books, the autobiographical , The Long Walk, by Slawomir Rawicz is excellent! I could not put it down!! The story was almost unbelievable!! The Tale of capture, torture, transport, planning of escape and then the incredible journey to freedom and safety across Siberia , dessert and Himalayas is truly riveting! Many of the over 250,000 soldiers and 1 million civilians perished the rigours of the transport, bitterly cold winter and inhumane treatment at the hands of the Soviet captors and Siberian cruel winter. It is proof of the limits that some people have the physical and mental toughness to endure!! It has been made into a movie, called The Way Back, release Date 2011. The Way Back If you enjoy these kind of autobiographical books, I recommend two others below. Another autobiographical book of a similar but more complete and with "world perspective" on the case of WWII Soviet -Polish and Western Allies relations, is - An Army in Exile, by General Wladyslaw Anders. An Army in Exile: The Story of the Second Polish Corps (Allied Forces Series) He was the leader Polish 2nd Army Corp, reconstituted of the soldiers and civilians taken prisoner by the greatest Nazi Collaborators at the beginning of WWII-the Soviets. It too is a gripping tale, from a leader who had been wounded and captured by the Soviets in Sept 1939, imprisoned and tortured, finally released in 1941 when the Soviets were desperate for military help to defend against their former Nazi allies. It goes on to describe how they managed to leave the difficult conditions in Russia and bring with them some of thousands of starving young Polish Children, who had also been exiled to Siberia.... This leads to a recommendation for another excellent autobiographical account that demonstrates how these children, once out of Soviet control, survived. The book is Stolen Childhood by Father Lucjan Krolikowski Stolen Childhood: A Saga of Polish War Children Father Krolikowski himself had been captured by the Soviets in 1939 as a teenager. He was studying to be a priest at Franciscan Monastery. Sent to a labor camp. After their release, the orphaned , starving children were eventually settled in camps located in Africa. Father Lucjan later joined them, to be their priest and guardian, in well organized camps. These camps were set-up virtually in the jungle! After the end of the War, the camps were being closed and Fr. Krolikowski was one of the persons that were essential to get them safely from Africa to eventually to the province of Quebec, Canada to waiting adopting families. He describes vividly how he and other caring people had to work against the considerable reach of the Soviets, that were trying to gain control of the children they helped to make orphans again! I hope you enjoy these books about the inspirational resiliency of the human spirit and body! They also help provide insight to a more balanced world view! GeorgeZ

A real page turner. I just could not put this book down. Quite the amazing story and very well told.

fast delivery a great book everyome should read

A very enjoyable read and difficult to put down. This isn't a long book, only approx. 240 pages, but it is an amazing saga, truly an epic for the author and his fellow prisoners who escaped their Russian nightmare. A movie was made based on this book (which I haven't seen) titled The Way Out. There are many accusations against this book regarding its authenticity. Questions surrounding the author, one of the players, a Mr. Smith and many other issues. I personally don't really care. I feel it perfectly acceptable to believe that there have been thousands of successful escapes in the histories of war and imprisonment, many of which we'll probably never learn about. (There are many examples in our world of truthful individuals being discredited by those who have the power and will to do so). I also feel there are many circumstances described in this book which may very well be truthful and accurate. The author makes clear that none of them had a compass or any other tool or method to document their mileage, exact routes etc. Merely the sun was their guide and their horrific and many times deadly ordeal is most certainly experienced by the reader. A terrific and exciting read no matter what you believe. As a side note, I recently finished reading "Escape from Davao", also outstanding. In this case there was factual evidence and documentation of the escape, but nonetheless, some individuals had questions. Both books are excellent regardless.

I read The Long Walk never once doubting that it was a true story. The book was recommended to me by a friend and I took it at face value. Reading it from this perspective I was sucked in like an bug caught in the rays of light. After finishing it, however, I did research and discovered the story may not be true. OUCH. OUCH!!! If you read some of the other reviews here you will see that some claim the tale is absolutely UNTRUE. Some base their opinions on a documentary done by the BBC in 2006. I suggest you Google the documentary. You can listen to it yourself. You'll find that validity of the story is "controversial" but it can't be proven one way or another whether it's true. At this point I tend to think it's not, however. There are too many holes in the story which I DID notice while reading it, but just passed them by believing that since the author wasn't a writer it was just his lack of "writing details" that was the problem. (a common problem with amateur writers) The biggest holes in the story are: going 12 days without water, never once having a map and no description of even looking at the sun for guidance, the author never again seeing his travel mates after the journey (for the next 60 years). How convenient. There's many more holes. Ahh... I'm very disappointed. If you haven't read the book, and decide to, you'll enjoy it a lot more if you believe every word. I read it thinking it was true. I loved it. If you have any doubts you won't enjoy it. If you want to read a gripping story in which every word is an out and out lie, check out The Find by James J Valko. :-)

This was a very exciting account of an escape by several inmates of the Soviet Gulag during WWII. before Hitler invaded Russia. The book was actually dictated to the person who wrote it down by Rawicz, who had been a Polish military officer prior to his capture by the Russians on trumped up spy charges (he had the misfortune of growing up close to the Russian border). The first part of the book describes his capture and the first of his long marches to the gulag, partly by mechanized transport and partly on foot in the dead of winter. The second part describes his calculated escape on foot during the dead of winter, in heavy snow, his long walk with his companions to the Russian border (acquiring a young girl refugee in the process), and his continued grueling experiences walking across Mongolia, China, The Gobi Desert,Tibet and thence into India. By then, half of the escapees and the young girl had died of thirst, hunger and exposure. The book ends with Rawicz being rescued by the British in India. This was a very exciting book to read, although the nature of the prose is not very sophisticated. Its value is in the story, however. I found myself frustrated with Rawicz's and his companions in their choice of route, which led to disaster for half the group. So paranoid were these escapees that they did not fully realize that they were essentially safe once outside Russia (this was when China was still not Communist and an ally of the US). As a result they bypassed the safety of a small caravan which undoubtedly would have led them to a sizable Chinese city, and chose to march across the most horrendously difficult terrain imaginable. Although Rawicz had no idea that Hitler had turned on Russia during his flight, Instead the fugeatives spent another year walking and suffering across unbelievable terrain. I was disappointed that he did not elaborate on his reactions upon being rescued and on his eventual sanctuary in Britain where he met his wife (his original wife and children died in the war by the time of his capture). That alone could have made a wonderful story. Still, it is a story highly worth reading.

割とよくある話ですが、逃亡して歩く先々で、助けをさしのべる各国の民族の特徴が描かれていて、興味深いものがありました。また、狩猟をして肉は食べるのだが、野菜を摂取することの大事さに気付かされます。

Completed this book yesterday, really amazing. I felt i was travelled with them. 3 years before i watched the movie The Wayback which one inspired from this book.

Commencé avec appréhension, en craignant relire une version itinérante de l'archipel du goulag, j'ai avalé cette aventure avec passion, sans pouvoir m'arrêter. Terrible, impressionnante aventure humaine qui commence avec ces premiers wagons plombés, que notre société essaye d'occulter au "profit" des suivants, et qui nous entraîne à travers un monde glacé puis minéral où des rencontres humaines admirables les aideront à accomplir leur "ordeal". Magnifique.

Every now and again one comes across a book which though is so clearly the experience of the author it nevertheless beggars belief. It is, though, almost impossible to believe that anyone could make up so many elements of this epic. The author is a man who writes compellingly; I truly found it hard to put down, almost led on by the horror and relentless suffering as by wanting to know what happened next. Please don't be put off by that statement, though. The horror was real, is real as you read it, but the dominating feeling is one of the towering human Spirit that overcomes the incredible adversity this man and his friends endured. This book inspired me and left me wondering how on Earth anyone could get through this, and how would I fare under those conditions? The truth is I don't know but I fear nowhere near as well. If you want a book that is inspiring and leaves you breathless, this is one to buy. Some months later . . Since writing the review above I have come across criticism and a heated debate over the possibility that this book was not written by the author but plagiarised from another's work and dressed up considerably. The thought this may be so was disappointing but on examining the evidence I find myself still believing in the authenticity of this book and the author. There are too many questions of a fundamental nature that even the author's detractors do not address and some take on controversial elements in the book and use prejudice as part of the argument to undermine the whole thing. The author is no longer around to defend himself - how many times does THAT happen! - and so it is ultimately left to the reader to decide and then it becomes a matter of opinion. I do, however, believe in the book, the story and the author and the more I consider it the more I find reasons to. Unfortunately detractors find the sounds of their own voices preferable to reasoned and considered thought. Buy this book, be inspired and be moved.

I couldn’t put this book down. An amazing story of determination and courage. It is one the best books I’ve read.