The Jungle is Neutral: A Soldier's Two-Year Escape from the Japanese Army

Book Description

THE JUNGLE IS NEUTRAL makes The Bridge Over the River Kwai look like a tussle in a schoolyard.

F. SPENCER CHAPMAN, the book's unflappable author, narrates with typical British aplomb an amazing tale of four years spent as a guerrilla in the jungle, haranguing the Japanese in occupied Malaysia.

Traveling sometimes by bicycle and motorcycle, rarely by truck, and mainly in dugouts, on foot, and often on his belly through the jungle muck, Chapman recruits sympathetic Chinese, Malays, Tamils, and Sakai tribesman into an irregular corps of jungle fighters. Their mission: to harass the Japanese in any way possible. In riveting scenes, they blow up bridges, cut communication lines, and affix plasticine to troop-filled trucks idling by the road. They build mines by stuffing bamboo with gelignite. They throw grenades and disappear into the jungle, their faces darkened with carbon, their tommy guns wrapped in tape so as not to reflect the moonlight.

And when he is not battling the Japanese, or escaping from their prisons, he is fighting the jungle's incessant rain, wild tigers, unfriendly tribesmen, leeches, and undergrowth so thick it can take four hours to walk a mile.

It is a war story without rival.

Customer Reviews:

Good introduction to insurgent warfare.......2007-06-06

This book could have been an excellent five star book had it kept up the action at the pace from page 1 to page 100. Those pages should be given to every western military college and used as a briefing on insurgent warfare. In a two week period the author of this book and two fellow soldiers blew up eight Japanese locomotive trains, numerous trucks, and miles of rail road tracks. This commando team killed well over 500 Japanese Army soldiers and - perhaps - were much more effective against the IJA than the weak and ill led Allied armies that surrendered to Japan in early 1942. The trouble with this book is he author becomes a training instructor for the communists and other non-regular soldiers fighting the IJA (Imperial Japanese Army). So, the book becomes more involved with the day-to-day running of camp life from about page 130 until page 330. So, from mid 1942 until early 1945 this excellent soldier tells about training insurgents, living in a camp, putting up with illness, and there is lots of writing on eating.

So, yes, I read this book. Is it worth it? Yes, he gives good leadership advise on conducting small unit leadership in a jungle type enviorment. The centralized location and ramdom attacks on enemy targets allows a very small group of soldiers to do massive damage to IJA operations. The bits on camp life and cooking get a little long. I'm not making this part up; on every three pages he will give a long description on a meal.

Past page 330 the book gets wildly interesting again. Liberator bombers are used as long range supply drop transports and they are seen operating all over the SE Asia area. The author makes contact and starts living the normal life of a soldier. He admits that he missed the main parts of the war. While he initially helped hinder IJA in 1942 and trained insurgents in late '42 to early '45 it was the other allied soldiers who fought and won from Burma to Stalingrad. The author admits that he sort of wishes that he had been part of that action.

But this is a fair war book and I'll give it a nice 3 star rating. It give insight into jungle operations and how to conduct insurgent actions.

I hope you enjoy this good book.

Interesting read.......2007-01-19

I had read a review on the "The Jungle is Neutral" over 30 years ago and finally found the opportunity to purchase and read the book. Book is written mostly as a chronicle of what happened to the author in what is now Malaysia during the Japanese occupation of WWII. It is an interesting read of that trying time and the author's nerve and tenacity (as well as a lot of luck) needed to survive in the "wild." Book is well-written but is often too interested in minutiae. Still, I enjoyed the read and the information conveyed.

Tom

Outstanding.......2007-01-01

This book could easily be overlooked as an outdated World War 2 yarn.
For years "The Jungle is Neutral" was regarded as the Bible of jungle warfare training.
For the 21st Century reader, it is an amazing,uplifting tale of the human spirit overcoming overwhelming odds.
A must read for the professional soldier.

Some amazing parts.......2006-02-22

Some of the descriptions of survival & evasion in the jungle were incredible. The first half of the book had my interest more & then I think it tailed off in the second half. Worth reading.

A very good book.......2004-01-12

The Malaysia theater of WWII has often been neglected, especially after the capitulation of the commonwealth at Singapore. This book was written by one the the operatives the Brits sent in to hassle the Japanese forces behind their lines. It is an interesting story that leads to many adventures and insite into a complex number of peoples fighting the Japanese.

Average customer rating:

interesting but too much socialism
Eye-opening look into the past
Forced to read this and did so in three days!

The Jungle (Cliffs Notes)
Richard P. Wasowski
Manufacturer: Cliffs Notes
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0764586750

Book Description

The original CliffsNotes study guides offer expert commentary on major themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and historical background. The latest generation of titles in this series also feature glossaries and visual elements that complement the classic, familiar format.

With help from CliffsNotes on The Jungle, you explore one of the first American social protest novels. At first look, the novel is a gritty investigation into the meatpacking industry; however, it evolves into a challenge to the policies and beliefs of our political organizations at the beginning of the 20th century.

This concise supplement to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle helps you understand the overall structure of the novel, actions and motivations of the characters, and the social and cultural perspectives of the author. Other features that help you study include

Chapter-by-chapter summaries and analysis
Character analyses of major players
A character map that graphically illustrates the relationships among the characters
Critical essays
A review section that tests your knowledge
Glossaries of key words and terms

Classic literature or modern modern-day treasure — you'll understand it all with expert information and insight from CliffsNotes study guides.

Download Description

On one level, The Jungle is a gritty investigation into the meatpacking industry. On another, it is a serious book of the times, challenging the policies and beliefs of our political organizations at the beginning of the century. This is one of the first American social protest novels.

This concise supplement to Sinclair's The Jungle helps students understand the overall structure of the novel, actions and motivations of the characters, and the social and cultural perspectives of the author.

Customer Reviews:

interesting but too much socialism.......2000-01-14

The first chapter was a little boring as the first chapter of most books are, but then it got a lot more interesting. It was very interesting, but also quite depressing because of the hopelessness of their lives and so many people die. It gets really boring at the end, though, when all it talks about for several chapters is how wonderful socialism is and how terrible capitalism is. These last few chapters are the reason I didn't give this book 5 stars.

Eye-opening look into the past.......1999-11-10

This book was wonderful. I was forced to read it for my Sociology class at Michigan State University. The first chapter dragged on, and I was wondering what I was forced into. Then as the chapters ran on, they became more and more interesting. I didn't want to put it down! Review: gorry, mind-opening, fantastic, almost unbelievable as to what those people had to endure at the turn of the century in Industrial America

Forced to read this and did so in three days!.......1999-02-26

Over one weekend i was forced to read the Jungle, and in three days i had completed the literary work, followed by a five page essay on why it is propaganda...some of the book was alright, but by the time i got "into" it, the story was completed and the last fifty pages of propaganda merely dragged on...

The Village in the Jungle (20th Century Classics)

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The Village in the Jungle

The Village in the Jungle (20th Century Classics)
I. Woolfe , and Leonard Woolf
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0192813129

Customer Reviews:

The Village in the Jungle.......1999-11-24

The Village in the Jungle, a fictional novel by Leonard Woolf, associates a series of catastrophic stories with one another. The predominant figures are Silindu (a hunter) and his two daughters Punchi Menika and Hinnihami. This story itself is based upon several different significant themes, including fate, love and tragedy. Personally, I found the book an absolute delight to read, being both suspenseful and interesting. Although the book cover jacket will most likely lack appeal to many people, this is most definitely a situation where one should not "judge a book by its cover". The title, The Village in the Jungle is nothing short of appropriate to the theme and plot of the novel. The plot, in a nutshell, is about a man named Silindu, who lives in the jungle and resists fate at every turn. He is an excellent hunter with cunning eyes, hunched-up shoulders and a small dark face all pinched. His ability of traveling around the jungle exceeds those of the animals. The incredible descriptions Woolf utilizes in the story allows the reader to clearly picture Silindu and his quest. The climax of the story is about Silindu's journey, having caught an "eccentric" disease. He didn't allow his daughter Hinnihami to marry a man from Vederala in the first place. Thus it was said that the disease he has is actually an evil spell. No matter how much effort he tries to cure himself it won't happen unless he willingly lets his daughter marry the man. The plot itself is really exciting throughout the entire book, with a few parts that are fairly slower in pace. "Leafless trees, hot humid air, rigid branches, and spider leg stems" is a portion of Leonard's description of the Jungle. All of his descriptions are perfectly arranged throughout the story, in which it makes the readers fall into the fabricated jungle described in his plot. "The air is heavy with the heat beating up from the earth. There is a fear everywhere: in the silence and in the shrill calls and the wild cries, in the stir of the scattered leaves and the grating of branches, in the gloom, in the startled, slinking, and peering beasts." (Pg 6, Woolf) This is one of the best lines taken out of the novel, because it gives the reader a full picture of the setting in the story. I highly recommend this novel to anyone looking for a hero's novel, although copies are exceedingly rare to locate as there were initially only a limited amount of copies printed. Through this story we can evidently see Silindu's courage in facing problems in unfavorable circumstances. I personally believe he is a true hero, because he really did have the spirit in surviving and staying alive no matter what happened. Overall, this novel is definitely an extraordinary thrilling book for anyone, providing hours of entertainment for people of all ages.

Tales From The Jungle: A Rainforest Reader

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A great intro to what the rainforest is like as a newcomer

Tales From The Jungle: A Rainforest Reader
Daniel R. Katz
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0517881608
Release Date: 1995-03-14

Book Description

The organizers of the Rainforest Alliance present an anthology of compelling, powerful, and sometimes irreverent fiction and nonfiction from the best writers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, ranging from Edgar Rice Burroughs to Douglas Adams. Tales from the Jungle is a diverse collection of stories by famous authors, biologists, and environmentalists who have been inspired by their experiences exploring jungles from South America to Polynesia. Selections include fiction by, among others, Graham Greene and Joseph Conrad, historical accounts of exploration and adventure, descriptions of rare plants and dangerous wildlife, stories that are frightening and others that are hilarious -- and some that are both. Passionate observations by such rainforest experts as David Quammen and Norman Meyers emphasize the need to conserve the rainforests -- sources of life and renewal for the future.

Customer Reviews:

A great intro to what the rainforest is like as a newcomer.......2001-03-10

Arthur Conan Doyle (Author of Sherlock Holmes), EO Wilson (famous tropical biologist), W. Somerset Maughm, Joseph Conrad, Alfred Russel Wallace (of Wallace's Line), and Henry Morton Stanley (excerpt from "The Finding of Livingstone") are to name but of few of the all-star authors featured in this book. Contains a huge number of excerpts from fiction novels, non-fiction books and essays, most of which are well-written (see above) and ALL of which are well-chosen. I will be teaching a tropical field course for high school students, and this is a perfect literary journey to help them with theirs.

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True Tales from the Jungle

Manufacturer: Steck-Vaughn
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0739808532

Baby Soniat: A Tale from the Jazz Jungle

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Baby Soniat: A Tale from the Jazz Jungle
Neal Holland Duncan
Manufacturer: St. Luke's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 091851875X

Leaves From the Jungle: Life in a Gond Village

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Leaves From the Jungle: Life in a Gond Village
Verrier Elwin
Manufacturer: OUP India
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Through the Jungle of Death: A Boy's Escape From Wartime Burma

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A family's escape from the Japanese.
A great tale of survival and the human spirit
From Paradise to Purgatory
Paradise to Purgatory
A magnificent glimpse of the extremes of humanity

Through the Jungle of Death: A Boy's Escape From Wartime Burma
Stephen Brookes
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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A GRIPPING SURVIVOR STORY OF ONE FAMILY'S FLIGHT FROM BURMA DURING THE JAPANESE INVASION

"As uplifting a testimonial to human courage as any to emerge from World War II."—Daily Mail (London)

"A tale of hair-raising adventure, survival, love and loss, shot through with rage, polemic, unlikely humour and a rare spiritual sensibility."—Telegraph Magazine (London)

"Unique and heartfelt . . . a tale of human resilience and bravery in the most desperate circumstances."—The Irish News

"Written with simplicity, understanding, and surprising good humour. It deserves to be read."—The Times Educational Supplement (London)

Customer Reviews:

A family's escape from the Japanese........2004-02-19

This was an enjoyable and quick read. Brookes as a boy escaped with his family from wartime Burma. During the trek north to China, back to Burma, and then ultimately India, Brookes lost his father and saw his family become sick because of malnutrition and malaria. However the boy became a man, and came to understand the struggle of life after seeing death every day. This is a true story of endurance, and why people should never give up.
There is both a sad and happy end to this true story. Brookes becomes a man and raises a large family. His childhood family is destroyed by the war. After the war, his mother goes back to Burma with one of his brothers. He goes to live in Great Britain. The war basically destroyed the family he loved.
This is a great read for those that need to understand the tragedy of war.

A great tale of survival and the human spirit.......2002-10-23

Stephen Brookes has written an engrossing account of his Anglo-Burmese family's flight before the Japanese army in 1942. Plagued by monsoons, starvation, disease and personal tragedy, harassed by the desperate remnants of the Chinese army, and abandoned by the British authorities, it is amazing that anyone survived the long circuitous trek from Burma to India. Scores of thousands did not. Brookes does an excellent job of recounting the horrific journey from the viewpoint of a young boy, but it most definitely is not a children's book. It is a book for anyone who appreciates a fascinating tale of survival in the face of incredible adversity.

From Paradise to Purgatory.......2001-05-28

Expecting a rather grim trek through familiar territory I found instead a remarkable story of loss and endurance told with a surprisingly lyrical and at times humorous touch. A twelve year old Anglo-Burmese boy tells of the flight of the Brookes family from the advancing Japanese army in Burma during the second world war. Fleeing first to China then back through Burma and on to India young Stevie tells of his frustration and anger at being dragged along not knowing what was happening or why.

There were several attempts at escape,each thwarted by events or the stubborness of one or other parent,eventually leading into the mountains of Upper Burma. Walking knee deep in mud, fighting off ambushes by renegade Chinese soldiers, or just surviving the malarial conditions of the monsoon jungle, the family trekked and starved along with thousands of others on the same journey, Worse was to come as they eventually reached the so-called safety of a British controlled village. There Dr Brookes came up against colonial racism when he was refused help by an acquaintance he had entertained in happier days - a Burmese wife was acceptable when offering hospitality but not apparently when the roles were reversed. Meanwhile the child had a man's responsibility thrust upon him as he struggled to provide food and medication for his ailing family as his father died. A harrowing tale of tragic mismanagement but also telling of the blitheness and strength of a young boy who had to learn the hard lessons survival yet managed to retain a joy and wonderment at the miracles of nature A brilliant read; even if you only buy one book this year make sure it is this one.

Paradise to Purgatory.......2001-05-28

A magnificent glimpse of the extremes of humanity.......2001-05-07

This book makes clear from the outset that suffering, pain and grief are sure to come. What comes as a pleasant surprise is the ability of the author to convey the process by which the human spirit adjusts to that pain and above all how compassion and love can be found and shine out even when humankind reveals its darkest depths. The mismanagement of the wartime retreat from Burma is one of the greater injustices the British were able to consign to anonymity but Mr Brookes goes a great way to lighting a memorial flame for both his family and the thousands of others who set out on the road to India and safety. His extraordinay journey is punctuated by moments of pure magic - further proof that when approached with an open mind life has many many mysteries still to reveal to us.

Alongside the misery (and the magic), there is a sense of a vanished way of life, not just that of Empire but also of the lost opportunity for a different reality for so many nations that demanded the integrity of independence at the cost of an increasingly fragmented social order.

A heartrending story but an inspiration to us all about just how magnificent and strong the human spirit can be - feed your soul and read this book.

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Henri Rousseau's Jungle Book (Adventures in Art)
Doris Kutschbach
Manufacturer: Prestel Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Art | Biographies | People & Places | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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Henri Rousseau: Dreams of the Jungle (Pegasus Library Paperback)

ASIN: 379133302X

Book Description

In this delightful introduction to the art of Henri Rousseau children explore a tropical jungle while they learn about the colors and themes that make the artist's paintings masterpieces of deceptive simplicity. As a customs official, Henri Rousseau escaped the boredom of his job by creating colorful paintings of a fantastic dream world—a place where apes and lions cavort, snakes slither, flamingoes stroll, tigers hunt, and enigmatic figures entice unsuspecting visitors amid lush, tropical plants and flowers. This book draws children into Rousseau's most famous works, pointing out the many elements and symbols he incorporated, and helping them understand the use of perspective and color that were his trademarks. Biographical information reveals the importance the natural world played in Rousseau's life and the playful text encourages further investigation into the power of imagination and creativity.

The Kenneth Anderson Omnibus Vol 1: Tales from IndianJungles, Man-Easters and Jungle Killers, Call of the Man-Eater

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The Kenneth Anderson Omnibus Vol 1: Tales from IndianJungles, Man-Easters and Jungle Killers, Call of the Man-Eater
kenneth anderson
Manufacturer: rupa publisher
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Kenneth Anderson Omnibus

ASIN: 8171674550

Product Description

Reprint of three well-loved books, on experiences in Indian jungles, interaction with tigers and leopards, perspectives on wild animals. beautifully written and informative

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