Now the Hell Will Start: One Soldier's Flight from the Greatest Manhunt of World War II

I read this book as the last in a 3 part series of history books about the Asia/Pacific Theater of WWII. I started with "The Rape of Nanking" by Iris Chang, then I read "Retribution" by Max Hastings, which is probably the most thorough book you'll ever find about the last 12 months of the War in the Pacific (and disputes the figures of Chang's work, interestingly enough). Finally, I saved this book "Now the Hell Will Start" for very last, since I knew it would be a more personal tale about a very small and insignificant aspect of the greater War in the Pacific. Initially, I was not enthusiastic about this book...I kinda thought that this would be, at best, a light read about some minor incident in a backwater theater of operations during WWII. Boy was I surprised. Though I knew about The Burma Road in the air AND the Ledo Road on the ground from other history books, I could not have prepared myself for the horrifying story of what it was like to actually work on the Ledo Road for our guys. I did not know that it was mostly built on the backs of Afr. Am. troops, along with a native slave workforce, toiling away in what was (and still is) an insurmountable region...A land that time forgot. In fact, if you are looking for an example of mankind's hubris in regards to Mother Nature, this is the perfect tale for you. And yet, in the overall scheme of things, the Ledo Road was a complete waste of time! Koerner does a very good job of telling the backstory about the reasons why the Ledo Road was created, and how it ended up being a worthless commitment made by the U.S. to China in the hopes of getting Chiang Kai Shek and his nationalist govt. to help fight Japan. Dropped into this world is Herman Perry...an Afr. Am. soldier that has to experience not only the worst that Mother Nature has to offer, but also has to endure continued segregation and discrimination along with many non-white "engineers" assigned to building this road to no-where. It's amazing that more black soldiers didn't snap under the kind of pressure Perry experienced...in fact, about the only issue I might have with this book is how it glosses over the psychological affects of racism and discrimination. But that would be a book unto itself, and Koerner may have deliberately avoided that topic on purpose to keep the narrative from getting stale or sidetracked too long. Koerner is not a military history writer or author...but by not being an expert on WWII history and militaria, Koerner is able to give a freshness to Perry's story that anyboby can appreciate, whether you love military history or not. He's able to give a sense of immediacy that many writers fail to do when attempting to tell personal histories about WWII (e.g. Flags of Our Fathers, Ghost Soldiers, etc.), a problem which typically leads me to not finishing a book due to a lack of interest. That's never an issue with Koerner's work. It's an entralling story that anyone can enjoy, and I highly recommend thi

Among the many strange and sad tales of World War II, one of the most peculiar ones is that of Private Herman Perry, who died in the jungles of Burma, one of the Americans sent there for the expensive and doomed Ledo Road that was to link India and China. Perhaps his story has been forgotten because of the futility of that particular expedition; perhaps it was because Perry was executed as a murderer; perhaps it is because his story is part of the shameful Jim Crow attitude of the Army, and of the nation, at that time. Whatever the reason, there are many important aspects of history surrounding Perry's story, and Brendan I. Koerner has done an admirable job covering a previously untold story in _Now the Hell Will Start: One Soldier's Flight from the Greatest Manhunt of World War II_ (Penguin Press). Although Koerner has written most extensively on technology, he was researching military executions when he came across Perry's story, and became obsessed with telling it. He has produced an insightful book of history, in addition to telling Perry's sad and forgotten tale. Perry was drafted after Pearl Harbor, but there was a delay in his entry because the Army didn't have enough segregated facilities to train black enlistees. He was one of the fifteen thousand American troops assigned to Burma to build the Ledo Road, whose ostensible purpose was to keep supplies flowing into America's Chinese Allies. Perry and the other soldiers worked sixteen hours a day. They got rations of corned beef and rice, and water with bacteria in it. Most of them got malaria. They fought off leeches and lice. Some were mauled by tigers. Perry's carefree disposition would not last in such an environment. He shot and killed a Lt. Cady when Cady attempted to arrest him, and he fled into the jungle to join a camp of Naga tribesmen, headhunters who had a mistrust of the strange newcomers to their region. When he was caught, he was sentenced to hang, but he escaped, and successfully eluded capture by the Army, tantalizing them with near-misses. His eventual capture was inevitable, and he was driven to the gallows on 15 March 1945. The Army worried that since Perry had symbolized the frustrations of the black soldier, there might be an attempt to attack the convoy, and the officers were told that in such a situation, they were to kill Perry before defending themselves. There was no such attack. Perry's family in Washington knew little of what was happening to him on the other side of the world. They were bewildered by what they knew of his situation, his trial, and his death. They did not know even where he was buried, but Koerner has played a role last year in bringing Perry's ashes back to his remaining sister. There was a China-Burma-India Veterans Association until attrition closed it in 2005; anyone who served three weeks in the region could join, but not one black was seen at the meetings, for it seems they had no nostalgia for their time there. Perry'

The dilatory effects of racial politics inform this exceptional book--with the message that discrimination hurts everyone. After Perry committed his 'crime,' the first thing military officials thought was to search for him in Calcutta because that was were a black man would go for easy pleasures--a thousand plus miles from the Indo-Burmese border site of Perry's Army camp. As the book details this racism so well--black soldiers, apart from being simple of mind and able to see in the dark, could only think about women. Of course, that was the last thought on Perry's mind as he fled. By story's end, the military establishment realized how smart and resourceful Perry was. In point of fact, a more informed worldview would have prevented the entire tragedy. (Perry in Europe or North Africa as a thoughtful solider could have saved lives--but deep bias prevented such assignments.) Virtually every assumption Military Police made about Perry was false--all based on ignorance--allowing for his brief freedom after an unfortunate situation that the Army helped produce. That said, this book is so richly detailed, beautifully written and a complete page-turner. Now I have to read more about World War II and the Chinese theatre; the Bengal famine; the Naga people; Truman's courage in ending segregation in the U.S. military; and, the present political climate in Burma/Myanmar. (To my mind this is the hallmark of an excellent book--it keeps you reading and thinking further a field.) An earlier review suggested this should be a movie. I don't see how a filmmaker could capture the richness of this book--although, it would still be a great piece of cinema in the right hands. Any readers interested in military history, World War II, India, Burma, African American history, seemingly lost tribes in a modern world or just plain great reporting should consider this book. Koerner's five years of research and writing pay off beautifully.

Brendan Koerner is a friend of mine, so you can take this for what it's worth. But I think "Now the Hell Will Start" is fantastic. It is a truly unique book. On the one hand, it's a thriller about a killer who goes on the lam in the Burmese jungle and dodges U.S. Army officers by living among headhunters. (This really happened.) On the other, it's a really rich history--a portrait of World War II and its forgotten backwaters unlike any I'd ever read. Call it a historical thriller. Or maybe a thriller historical. Buy it and experience the greatness yourself.

This book is great -- it's got action and adventure, crazy intrigue, fascinating characters, plus is filled with amazing facts about WWII and Burma. I learned so much reading this thing, and had a lot of fun along the way. It's an important story about war, race, American history, and what it means to be human during a time of conflict -- topics everyone should be reading about these days. Highly recommended.