Rampage: MacArthur, Yamashita, and the Battle of Manila

"I first picked this book up because I was trying to learn more about the time and place in which my grandparents grew up and what they may have had to live through. I had heard stories from relatives, stories that made this book all the more painful to read. This was the hardest book I have ever read. I’m fighting back tears just trying to write a review on it. So many of the atrocities that were committed were beyond anything I could have fathomed possible for a human being to inflict on another. Even after reading hundreds of pages of it, I still can’t fathom it…There aren’t words in the English language that can adequately describe the horrors that occurred. To anyone considering reading this, please go into it knowing the author honors the victims by relaying their stories exactly as accounted. There are countless details and stories so horrific I had to stop reading every few pages and in some cases, every few lines. It took me eight months to finish reading it because of how emotionally difficult it was to read. It’s an incredible historical achievement to have pieced together this lesser discussed battle. There aren’t many books written about it. It’s a testament. Thank you, James M. Scott, for honoring those who so cruelly lost their lives, those who suffered loss, those who survived, and the Philippines as a whole. 🇵🇭"