Quotes:

Quotes:

Read's style is savage: unliterary, undecorated as a prosecutor's brief...Alive is thunderous entertainment: I know the events by rote, nonetheless I found it electric. And important. Alive should be read by sociologists, educators, the Joint Chiefs of Staff. By anyone, in fact, whose business it is to prepare men for adversity., The New York Times

Read's style is savage: unliterary, undecorated as a prosecutor's brief...Alive is thunderous entertainment: I know the events by rote, nonetheless I found it electric. And important. Alive should be read by sociologists, educators, the Joint Chiefs of Staff. By anyone, in fact, whose business it is to prepare men for adversity., The New York Times

[Read] records a despair so real it seeps through the pages, while the narrative rarely pushes an image of straightforward heroism. These are recognisable human beings, not saints: peevish, petulant, prone to feuds, rage and selfishness. It makes their survival all the more moving, but what lingers are the moments of ingenuity, and the resilience of the human spirit., The Guardian

[Read] records a despair so real it seeps through the pages, while the narrative rarely pushes an image of straightforward heroism. These are recognisable human beings, not saints: peevish, petulant, prone to feuds, rage and selfishness. It makes their survival all the more moving, but what lingers are the moments of ingenuity, and the resilience of the human spirit., The Guardian

Read has risen above the sensational and managed a book of real and lasting value., Rolling Stone

Read has risen above the sensational and managed a book of real and lasting value., Rolling Stone

A classic in the literature of survival., Newsweek

A classic in the literature of survival., Newsweek

A masterpiece...it is inconceivable to me that this story could have been better told., Graham Greene

A masterpiece...it is inconceivable to me that this story could have been better told., Graham Greene