Defiant: The POWs Who Endured Vietnam’s Most Infamous Prison, the Women Who Fought for Them, and the One Who Never Returned

The plight of the American pilots and other air crewmen shot down over North Vietnam and held prisoner in the infamous Hanoi Hilton is one of the best-known and widely written-about aspects of the Vietnam War. Many books, including memoirs by former POWs, have appeared since the men were released en masse in 1973. Townley (Fly Navy), drawing heavily on the previous body of POW literature, delivers an engaging account that focuses on about a dozen of the captives; he also relates the oft-told story of their wives at home who, against long odds, successfully lobbied the government on their husbands’ behalf. Much of the narrative looks at two of the longest-held and renowned POWs, James Bond Stockdale and Jeremiah Denton. Townley recounts in detail how Stockdale, Denton, and the other POWs endured years of almost unimaginable physical and mental torture, and the ways the men coped with the physical pain and emotional torment. In a fast-flowing narrative replete with reconstructed dialogue, Townley writes reverently of these POWs, whom he calls “American stalwarts,” “defiant patriots,” and “corralled incorrigibles.” 22 b&w photos. Agents: Jack Scovil and Russell Galen, Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency. (Feb.)