I've enjoyed many Leon Uris novels, but of them all, I consider Mila 18 to be his best. The Leon Uris trademark of a meticulously researched historic background coupled with one of the most action-packed stories he's ever written makes this book nearly impossible to put down. The novel focuses on the gradual tightening of the "Nazi noose" round the collective necks of the Jews of the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. The central character, Andrei Androfski, struggles with Jewish leadership, urging the Jews to fight before it's too late. Finally, when it is actually too late to hope for the survival of more than a handful, the Jews DO fight, and HOW THEY FIGHT!! What a story!!!

Mila 18 was one of the best novels I have ever read. As common as this phrase may sound, this novel is anything but uncommon. Trying to reach an audience that has little, if any, knowledge of the actual non-fiction events that led to the destruction of the Jewery of Warsaw, Poland is a monumental task within itself. As for someone who has read a considerable amount on the actual events that led to the uprising of the Jews of Warsaw, this work of fiction symbolizes the sheer humanity and will to live that every fighter posessed in a wonderful, historical manner. On a recent trip to Poland I found myself searching for the places Uris described so often in his book, only to be confronted with the disdain of many Warsaw Poles who wish to bury the existence of nearly 300,000 Jewish inhabitants (pre-war estimate) and shy away from the memory of the largest European Jewish community's destruction. The strangest thing about Poland is that children, when trying to insult one another, or adults, wishing to claim one soccer team's dominance over another's, use the word "Jew" to signify cowardice. Mila 18 is one work of fiction that should be read by the people of Poland as well as those in the United States in order to see the significance of struggle and to understand who the real cowards are. Finally, as an important side note, once you pick up this novel, the thought of putting it down will not occurr to the reader until the last page is turned. It was; it is an excellent work of historical fiction that is a must read.

Mila 18 is my other favorite Uris book (besides Trinity). The way he manages to convey the build-up of pre-war tension and then chart the inexorable Nazi regime and their persecution of the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto is incredible. The one warning I would give to anyone reading this book is that you become so caught up in the saga that it is a little difficult to return to "real life". You WILL get depressed - and yet the power and hope Uris embues in you for belief in human nature and man's ability to survive is wonderful. Have lots of Kleenex available.

Uris does it again! Regardless of the inaccuracies other reviewers find, this is a book that tells an important part of healing and history that few students hear in a classroom. Furthermore, Uris whets the reader's curiosity to learn the facts, to seek non-fiction sources and learn about post-War Germany and the power plays that were the first frost of the Cold War.

Uris is a master story-teller -- his characters come fully human, with strengths and weaknesses. His plot is gripping. His style is compelling.

It would be interesting to find out what was going on in the author's head and heart as he wrote the piece, as it evolved from his pen.

I agree that Uris is one of the best story tellers of our time.

Uris is able to thoroughly and magnificantly detail the events of the most pivotal period of the 20th century. The events in Germany from '45 to '49 are told in a writing style of which only Uris is capable. For 650 very quick pages, I was immersed in 1940's postwar Berlin. The characters were real, their feelings and actions believable, and thier inner conflicts convincing. His portrayal of the World Domination Seeking Soviets will anger you like no other book. In short, it is an extremely entertaining, thought provoking history lesson.

I've read all of Uris' work and believe him to be amongst the great writers of all time ... his descriptions of immediate post-war Berlin, the power struggles of 4power occupation and the Berlin Airlift were magnificent. Never has a book made me feel so much a part of the times and the struggles, nor given me agreater feeling for the emotions of the people who helped reshape the world after the worst of all wars. Positively brilliant ... a MUST read

Through the eyes of Mac, a Veteran Buck Sargeant, see the evolution of a platoon from recruits to killing machines. A "Full Metal Jacket in 1944", as direct but with a lot more depth.

As usual, Uris did a thorough research of his subject, to make us communicate with a various bunch of characters in real life soldiering. The inevitable writer also shows up in the group as in most of Uris' books.

It is a great book but I was expecting it magnificient. With the concept of the story coupled with the storytelling/no emotion journalistic style of Leon Uris, it should have been a masterpiece. It is just an excellent book.

What is usually the greatest strenght of Uris, which is to make the character so real that we travel through their footsteps and forget time and reality, does'nt appear with as much conviction than in the Haj or Mila 18.

Having said all that and being very difficult, it is a must read for any military history fan for it still goes beyond most of the genre in quality.

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Battle Cry puts the reader right inside the head of these young men as they prepare for war, leave loved ones behind, y end up in battle and die. I've read Battle Cry literally dozens of times and I still get choked up at the end.

It was the summer of 1991, I was bored and had already spent lots of money on magazines, you see there isn`t much to do when you are 20 miles from civilization and no TV. So I grabed a book, it just happened to be Battle Cry, and I got hooked. I couldn't stop reading, I would stay awake all night reading. Wouldn't go out, my god I did nothing but read for three days! Since then I have started reading continually, I can never not have a book. Leon Uris just tells the story so well I actually cared for all of the characters. I'm not going to tell you how it ends but I almost cried. Since then I have read this book 9 more times, and recommended it to all my friends. Thank you Leon Uris for the experience.

I found an old copy of this in the library, but the library no longer has it. (They sell old books from time to time). Leon Uris returned to Israel with a Greek photographer. It is basically an album of black-and-white photos with some interesting history.
I liked the book, since I like Jewish and Israeli history, and I really appreciate "old" photos. Most of the information seems to come from people with whom he spoke, so I doubt the accuracy of all the history. For example, one person he photographs comes from--if I remember this right--the only family that has lived in Jerusalem since maybe the Roman destruction.
The photos though are priceless. I know the book is out of print, as is the case with many books on Israeli history. Too bad.

It is strange to me to read the other reviews posted on this page and compare their views of the middle east to my own. As one who as been a part of the Middle East conflict for a long time, from an impartial perspective (or at least as impartial as one can be), I am willing to say that Uris' charaterizations of both ethnic groups are strikingly accurate. It is easy for those of you sitting in America to assume that if the book bad-mouths Arabs, it must be slander and racism. But why not take a look at the empirical evidence? How do you explain that Israel's economy is five times as large as Syria's, although Syria has a far greater population and is 20 times the size? There are two ATM machines in all of Syria. More Israeli companies IPOed on the Nasdaq last week.

Or perhaps you would care to visit southern Israel, where most of the Middle East's agriculture is grown in the barren desert. I defy you to find a rich plain in the Arab world which is half as fruitful.

Uris accurately depicts the Palestinian situation. There are good people, and they are overcome by a decaying and backward culture. The truth can hurt, but decrying it as inaccurate, with no evidence to the contrary, does a disservice to Uris as a writer and to anyone interested in learning about the remarkable confluence of strange cultures that has led to the current Israeli-Palestinian crisis.

The Haj by Leon Uris is a great read for understanding many of the situations in the Middle East today and as they affect the world.

Written from the viewpoint of an Arab, one sees the many problems facing the Arab and Israeli. Arabs cannot trust their fellow Arabs as is demonstrated in the book and sometimes the only people and Arab can trust is a Jew, heaven forbid.

Arabs fighting Arabs is as pertinent today as it was back through history. President Bush and his concerns of WMD in the hands of an unstable Sadaam Hussein is not only dangerous to the United States and Israel but to the rest of the Arab world, as Sadam aptly demonstrated in his war with Iran, his attack on Kuwait and then his systematic genocide aginst his own people, the Kurds, after the Desert Storm War.

The United States and the rest of the world must convince the Arab-Muslims that true peace lies in working together for the benefit of all mankind. Religious differences must not hold us hostage to Weapons Of Mass Destruction and threaten world annilation. No one will win if this type of war breaks out!

The Haj is typical of an Uris novel: engrossing, well narrated, exhaustively researched, and thickly plotted. The book offers a brilliant, if a bit biased, look at the formation of the Jewish state of Israel in the Palestine from the viewpoint of an intelligent Arab boy. The story is very deep, yet flows smoothly, avoiding the common, and dare I say it, Michenerian tendency to get too caught up with details and research. I found myself amazed at the volume of really good, historically accurate information that I was absorbing from the plot. The Haj, like other Leon Uris novels, is a bit Judeo-centric, but that can't be counted as a fault. In fact, what really draws me to his novels is that when I look at my shelves to choose my next story, I know that if I pick one of his, I'll see an old situation in a wonderful new light. Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable read.

I loved Trinity. I was psyched to see there was a sequel. Man, the first 200 pages are disappointing. I like the review that said it was a long book report. That's exactly it. Just summary. Booo Leon Uris. You could have done so much more.

Redemption is a good book that is well written with good use of language and history. The characters are well developed, real, and likable. All in all, it is an excellent book to read instead of watching television. The story follows three protagonists in their attemps to win Ireland its freedom from England. The characters are Rory Larkin, Atty Fitzpatrick, and Countess Caroline Hubble. These three honerable people face hardship and devestation in the hopesof realizing their dream of a free Ireland.
Despite its many good qualities, I found this book rather disappointing. Leon Uris has written many outstanding novels. Redemption wasn't quite up to par with some of his earlier works. The main problem with it is that it is a sequel to Trinity. Trinity was one of the best books I have ever read. Unfortionly, Redemption hides in its shadow. Trinity was a magnificient tale of fighters for the freedom of Ireland. The whole story was wonderful from the first page to the last with tons of history and characters that were wonderful, believable, and just short of super human. The problem is that thte subject was so involved that it was about used up when Trinity made its triuphant ending. I think that Uris realized this when he wrote Redemption and tried to compensate. The first three hundred and fifty pages are just a summary of Trinity from different view points. Except for the first two chapters, these pages should be skipped by anyone who has read Trinity. After these pages, the novel starts to pick up where Trinity left off and succeeds with a good story line. The characters are excellent, but they are lessened in the reader's eyes because they refer so much to the greatness of the Trinity characters. They fear that they will never measure up, so that, in the reader's eyes, they don't.
My suggestion would be to read Redemtion first then Trinity. The book will then seem great and the characters greater. Still, I do not mean to belittle this novel. It is very entertaining and contains excellent material. Even if it fails to overtake Trinity, it is nonetheless a masterpeice of writting.

Great literature... perhaps not. As the the great nephew of an ANZAC killed on Gallipoli, and the grandson of his brother severely wounded in the assault on Hill 60, I feel that Uris brings more of the history and humanity of Gallipoli than any official record or contemporary history such as Pugsley's. He does for the ANZACs what 'Battle Cry' does for USMC. I am buying a second copy for my children and grand-children..

While conducting business in Greece during WWII, American writer Mike Morrison is trapped by the German advance. When he comes into possession of a secret list of Greek patriots who are pretending to be collaborators, he must go on the run to escape the enemy forces that have been assigned to retrieve the information. This is the only book by Leon Uris that I have read. I was under the impression that he was a writer who researched his subjects meticulously. Perhaps this was one of his first books, because there is very little local color here, nothing that one couldn't glean from watching movies and skimming a few travel books. Worse than that, the characters and situations are cliché from start to finish, and the prose is dull. It reads like a treatment for a typical 50s WWII flick.

While the book is an entertaining war novel it is dispointing by Uris standards and does not compare to such greats as Exodus,Mila 18,Trinity,the Haj and Armageddon Mike Morisson is similar to Uris' other American heroes -Gideon Zadok in Mitla Pass and Sean O Sullivan in Armageddon.Spoiled men used to the good life who show great courage in battle but lack any moral courage.They take love for granted and cruelly hurt the women who love them.They are highly egocentric and unlike Ari Ben Cannan in Exodus,Andre in Mila 18 and Connor in Trinity,the American heroes have little real commitment to any cause If you looking for an entertaining war read go for it but dont expect profound literature

Uris is one of America's treasures as a fiction author. In this novel he takes a break from the horrors that he usually records to such delicious detail (you know, the Holocaust, Jihads and sectarian violence). He covers the escapades of a clueless reporter in Greece just when the Allies are leaving it to the German army. Said reporter has a list of Greek partisans fall into his lap and it becomes his duty to hand over this list to the OSS or British intelligence or some such body so that support for the Greek underground can be developed.

Yeah, sounds like a hackneed plot but, hey, it was written in the 1960's! These types of plots were commonplace then - and it was ok. The book is a joy to read if for no other reason than for the nostalgia of a quaint caper with the breathtaking backdrop of Greece at war.

But Uris shows he's got growing room to do in this one. He tosses off characters - especially female ones - after a few chapters. Just when you think the protagonist is starting to develop a love interest he moves on. And the 'interest' is never mentioned again. Surely, we would have seen these people tied together better in other Uris works. I was a bit surprised.

None the less, the book reads quick. And is fun.

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After reading Leon Uris since I was in High School more than 25 years ago, I was so grossly disappointed by this book that I had to rethink my feelings of all of the Uris books of my past. I actually wonder if he really wrote this book or if some liberal pupil of his from Columbia conned him into letting him use his name for this worthless, poorly edited, cartoonishly poor work of strawman arguments. The "author" (yeah, right) is obvious in his desire to grind his politically liberal axe in the face of the average western American male. Mixed metaphor? Of course.

Every character becomes a sterotypical caricature. The liberal politics are obvious. The editing is amateurish. And the story isn't even very interesting.

Pretend Mr. Uris stopped writing after Redemption. Pretend he died with thoughts of the Irish free of politcal and religious turmoil and his notoriety will be saved.

I would have given this less than one star were that an option. There is nothing kind I can say about this pointless book. I question if Leon Uris even read this book let alone wrote it. I did finish it and kept waiting for something to catch my interest but that never happened.

In "A God In Ruins" Uris ventures into Jeffrey Archer territory, telling the story of two families leading up to the 2008 election. Unfortunately, Uris filters his characters through enough layers of rediculousness to completely destroy any credibility they may have. Uris may have a great handle on what makes an interesting character (Quinn O'Connell sounds like a fascinating individual), but his grasp of technology is hideously tenuous (anyone who can make the claim "I control the Internet" deserves to be laughed out of a b-movie), his view of America's reaction to a potential Jewish leader woefully out of whack (particularly in view of Senator Lieberman's nomination), and his political viewpoints horribly skewed to an extent that would be laughable in a lesser writer, and depressing for one of his abilities.

The storyline moves along, and if you can stifle a gag reaction every 30 pages or so, you may well find yourself enjoying this book more than it deserves. There *are* redemptive moments where you'll find yourself drawn into the naarative, and if you check your credulity at the door, you'll find glimpses of what all the fuss is about Uris. By and large, though, you'd probably do better with the classic Uris books.