“Beautifully written, touching, disturbing, encouraging, spiritually enlightening, and tremendously upsetting, this account of a true American hero’s seven and a half years of imprisonment in Vietnam will exhaust every human emotion that the reader possesses. I read this book from cover to cover without stopping to breathe.”
That’s one of just dozens of similar reviews of “When Hell Was In Session,” by Adm. Jeremiah Denton, who died Friday at age 89.
Currently the No. 1 military bestseller on Amazon.com, Denton’s book is considered one of the most iconic and important classics of our time, a fact noted in many of the articles memorializing Denton since his death.
“It has affected me – in a lasting way – more than almost any other book I’ve ever read,” wrote WND Managing Editor David Kupelian in his memorial piece, “When Jeremiah Denton met God.”
And judging by reviews on Amazon – which currently is sold out of “When Hell Was In Session” (although WND, the book’s publisher, does have the book in stock) – most readers feel the exact same way:
- “About five years ago, I picked up Denton’s book with intentions of quickly skimming through it – I was hoping to grasp enough of it to write a report on it for my high school history class. But after reading just the first chapter of it, I knew that there was no way I could just skim through it. Denton’s experience is riveting – so absolutely gripping and heart-wrenching that at times I read through it with eyes blinded by tears. I could not put it down. Upon completion, I was left with a feeling of overwhelming pride and passion for my country …”
- “Makes me proud to be an American and read about what others had to go through to obtain freedom which we take for granted every day.”
- “When I was 15 my father came into my bedroom and threw a small paperback book at a sleepy unmotivated teenager. He didn’t say anything: just left me to think. I got around to reading this book when I was a searching young 18-year-old and it changed my life and the direction it was taking. Mr. Denton … has put down in words what every heart yearns to understand. He taught what honor is and how much the human spirit can endure.”
- “One tends to forget just how our country is different from others, what kind of backbone it takes to be a man that loves what this country stands for – and is principled enough to pay any price to keep our ideals alive.”
- “… It shows how belief in God along with doing what is right can and does give man the strength to persevere and survive extremely hellish conditions and do it with honor. God did in fact bless America with such courageous patriots.”
- “This book was the best book that I have ever read. In my opinion, Jeremiah was one of the greatest war heroes. He was strong and courageous in the eyes of the enemy and he never backed down. He endured the torture, agony, loneliness, and so much more for so long. I cannot even begin to imagine myself in any of those situations. I have such great respect for that man. My words cannot begin to describe the feeling that you will have while reading this book.”
One of modern America’s greatest heroes, Adm. Jeremiah Denton was introduced to the nation in an extraordinary TV interview in 1966 in which, as a prisoner of war, he blinked in Morse code the word “T-O-R-T-U-R-E” to alert military intelligence to his plight at the infamous Hanoi Hilton during the Vietnam War.
Denton, whose Navy jet was shot down over the North Vietnamese stronghold of Thanh Hoa, recounted his remarkable struggle to survive almost eight years of brutal captivity in “When Hell Was In Session.” When WND Books republished it in 2009, Denton said he wanted to include a major new section he wrote for today’s generation.
In the expanded new version of “When Hell was in Session,” Denton not only tells the remarkable and inspiring story of his time as a POW in North Vietnam, but goes on to describe the shock he experienced upon his return to the United States in 1973 to find his beloved nation had drastically changed since his capture in 1965.
“I saw the appearance of X-rated movies, adult magazines, massage parlors, the proliferation of drugs, promiscuity, premarital sex, and unwed mothers.”
That scenario, he writes, was coupled with “the tumultuous postwar Vietnam political events, starting with Congress forfeiting our military victory, thus betraying our victorious American and allied service men and women, who had won the war at great cost of blood and sacrifice.”
See the ABC News report with video of Denton’s 1966 “T-O-R-T-U-R-E” interview, as well as his stirring comments upon touching down back in America after 8 years in captivity:
[jwplayer LuFdc6lY]
Denton, who eventually attained the rank of rear admiral, didn’t just talk, however, forming a foundation to engage America’s cultural and national-security ills and winning a seat in the U.S. Senate in 1980 to work with President Reagan to end the Cold War and quell the spread of communism in Latin America.
The new material in “When Hell was in Session” includes an inside account of a little-known, but highly influential and intriguing chapter in the nation’s battle against communism, in which he assisted President Ronald Reagan in formulating a strategy for confronting communism in Latin America.
 Jeremiah Denton after his return to the U.S. in 1973 |
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