Alvin Townley

Literary Merit: Great
Characterization: Great
Grade Level: Middle and High School
Recommended: Yes

This memoir recounts the time Jeremiah Denton spent as a Prisoner of War in the Vietnam War. Denton's aircraft was downed and he was made to live in several different war camps throughout the time he was imprisoned. While there, his rank allowed him to "command" the other prisoners in the camps. They devised a way to communicate with each other through a variation on Morse code. Denton encouraged his men to abstain from talking with their captors, resulting in the torture of the POW's. Denton takes comfort in and promotes a strong sense of patriotism to his comrades to help maintain this silence and protect the homeland. Give this title to young people interested in war history, POW's, or memoirs.… (meer)

Defiant is a not to be missed book! If you really want to know what it is like to be a prisoner of war (POW) in another country then you should read this book. While I am not very versed in what the United States does in regards to the POWS that we have in regarding to the different torture techniques as this would be top secret, I can just assume that we treat the POWS here in the United Statesway better then the men featured in this book endured in North Vietnam.

In fact, this book is so intense that at times I had to put it down to clear my head. If reading this book you don't get close to these men then you must not be human. I could picture everything that that the men went through including what they must look like with their injuries and broken bones. When the men were finally able to reunite with their families, I cheered. It was both a happy but sad reunion. It is reading things like this and what the other countries do that makes me not sorry about the things that the United States does to our POWs. It is all in the name of war and freedom… (meer)