The Colonel of Tamarkan: Philip Toosey and the Bridge on the River Kwai - Brossura

Summers, Julie

Brossura

ISBN 10: 074349573X ISBN 13: 9780743495738

Casa editrice: Simon + Schuster UK, 2006

Riassunto

Alec Guinness won a Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of the dogmatic but brittle commanding officer in David Lean's film "The Bridge on the River Kwai". While a brilliant performance, it owed more to fiction than fact, as the man who actually commanded the POWs ordered to build the infamous bridges -- there were in fact two: one wooden, one concrete -- was cut from very different cloth. Lieutenant Colonel Philip Toosey was the senior officer among the 2,000-odd Allied servicemen incarcerated in Tamarkan prison camp, and as such had to comply with the Japanese orders to help construct their Thailand-Burma railway. With malnutrition, disease and brutality their constant companions, it was a near-impossible task for soldiers who had already endured terrible privations -- and one which they knew would be in the service of their enemy. But under Toosey's careful direction, a subtle balancing act between compliance and subversion, the Allied inmates not only survived but regained some sense of self-respect. Re-creating the story of this remarkable leader with tremendous skill and narrative flair, and drawing on many original interviews with Second World War POWs from the Asian theatre, THE COLONEL OF TAMARKAN is a riveting blend of biography and history.

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Recensione:

'Revealing' DAILY MAIL
'[Summers'] biography of this extraordinary man is a superbly crafted evocation of the privations he and his men endured as well as their courage and fortitude' SOLDIER
‘The author of THE COLONEL OF TAMARKAN, Julie Summers, Toosey’s grand-daughter, drew on family and other private archives and sought out survivors to produce a book which blends biography with the history of a horrendous time that remains vitally important to an understanding of what men engaged in war may encounter’
TRIBUNE
‘Julie Summers’ poignant biography does justice to the memory of a forgotten war hero’
Irish Times

L'autore:

Julie Summers is a writer, researcher and historian. Her books include Fearless on Everest: The Quest for Sandy Irvine, and a biography of her grandfather, the man who built the 'real' bridge over the River Kwai, The Colonel of Tamarkan. She lives in Oxford.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Simon + Schuster UK
• Data di pubblicazione: 2006
• ISBN 10: 074349573X
• ISBN 13: 9780743495738
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 432