Now the Hell Will Start: One Soldier's Flight from the Greatest Manhunt of World WarII

This was a very engrossing read about one of the lesser known aspects of ww2, the presence of American soldiers in north east india. The author also brings out the huge racism within the us armed forces towards black soldiers. However the main plot of the book is a thrilling story of a young black soldier on the run from the law which is crying out to be made into a movie or a thriller. A must read for ww2 buffs and for those who enjoy thrillers.

Excellent book . This book describes very well about American road building efforts in remote North East India and upper Assam during world war two. Very informative book on Ledo road construction.

I love learning about the hidden histories of WWII, and this book goes deep into the poor treatment of Black Americans in the military during that time period. Brendan I. Koerner’s years of research has really paid off in creating his work. His fantastic storytelling has given me a deeper understanding of who Herman Perry was as a human being; I definitely felt a lot of empathy towards him as he did his best to survive in the chaotic Burmese jungles. From birth till his execution, Brendan documents every detail of Herman’s life. I read that Spike Lee purchased the film rights of this book, and I really do hope that the project for making the film is still going forward! I would love to see a film adaptation of “Now the Hell Will Start.” Readers will learn in depth about the Indo-Burmese wilderness and what role black soldiers played there during the perils of WWII.Unfortunately, there have been people who have recently stolen Brendan’s work. For those who think that they can get information from authentic non-fiction books and turn it to a mere podcast series, SHAME on you. You know who you are, but you don’t know the research, extensive interviews, accurate documentation, investigative travel, and overall hard work that was involved and done in order to put this amazing book and other works of his together. I hope this doesn’t discourage Brendan from writing more non-fiction and historical thrillers. He has an incredible gift in telling other people’s stories though innovative insight. I hope to read more of his future work soon.

I bought this book to learn more about Burma but found myself shocked and horrified by the racism of the US army and the horrendous treatment of black soldiers. Meticulously researched and written in a way that really brings the past to life

I thought this book was the perfect combination of suspenseful and informative. It provided me with a clear understanding of the role of African Americans in World War II, Army policy relating to African American conscripts, the Allied actions in China, Burma, and India, and then of course Herman Perry, the soldier the book is about.The book is an excellent and well-written thriller (despite being non-fiction), but more than anything, it is an eye-opening look at the treatment of blacks in the American Army at the time. A lot of the well-known literature on this subject relates to the Harlem Hellfighters (infantry) or the Tuskegee Airmen (pilots), but "Now the Hell Will Start" discusses the Jim Crow mentality of the Army and the fact that the overwhelming majority of black men in the military were relegated to manual labor, since they were deemed unfit for combat due to the racist science of the time that suggested blacks were mentally incapable of handling anything else.The book is also an excellent introduction to the Burmese jungle, which I previously knew nothing about. The author explains the role of Burma, China, and India in World War II, and Herman Perry was deployed to Burma to work on building a road that ultimately ended up being mostly pointless. I found the detail about the perils of the Burmese jungles and the monsoon season to be both fascinating and horrifying.Some people have claimed that this book paints Herman Perry in a sympathetic light despite the fact that he killed an officer. While I agree that he was painted in a sympathetic light, I do think it is warranted. The disparities between the treatment of white soldiers and black soldiers were glaring, particularly with regard to soldiers who exhibited any degree of mental instability, as Herman Perry did. This combined with the fact that everyone (white or black) working in China, Burma, and India was essentially ignored by the Army brass made me wonder why more people did not end up in the same situation.I definitely recommend this book, though the descriptions of life in the Burmese jungle are not for the faint of heart.Also, I bought this book on the Kindle. I found that the footnote links worked well and that the pictures (there were only a few) were easy to see on my black-and-white Kindle. There were a lot of missing spaces, though - so every few pages some words were combined. Otherwise a good book to read in the Kindle format.

This is a well-researched and written book. It was compelling; I could hardly put it down.

Herman Perry's story is well worth reading. The events that led to his death have been repeated throughout the history of Black soldiers from the Revolution through Vietnam.