Great Escapes and Rescues: An Encyclopedia collects together true tales of rescues, ruses, capers, stratagems, devices and disguises used by prisoners of war, persecuted clerics, political detainees and even common criminals in effecting their escapes. The author concedes that there is no shortage of printed material on the themes of escape and rescue, but he feels that his book covers a wider angle than most, both historically and thematically. Furthermore, this book seeks to include more recent stories, such as Venuste Karasiras’ escape from the genocide that engulfed Rwanda in 1994, as well as updating older tales by including newly discovered facts.
The book makes fascinating reading and would appeal both to serious researchers and to the casual reader. It is very easy to “lose yourself” in the book simply by opening at a random page and starting to read. The entries themselves, arranged alphabetically, are written in a concise and entertaining way. The facts are clearly presented without resorting to sensationalism, and most entries contain references to original sources and cross‐references to related or similar entries within the book.
In reading this book one is struck by the ingenuity, cunning and sheer bravery employed by those seeking to escape from adversity or captivity. Examples of escapes described in the book include Hugo Grotius, who in 1681 escaped his Dutch captors concealed in a wooden chest measuring little more than three‐and‐a‐half feet in length, or Jacques Casanova, who in 1755 fled from a Venetian prison described as “escape proof”, before hiding in the house of the local police official who was out looking for him! More famous escapees include the Von Trapp Family Singers whose flight from the Nazis in Austria over the Alps to Italy was rather different from that portrayed in The Sound of Music, or Papillon (real name Henri Charrière) who escaped Devil’s Island on a raft, drifting over 25 miles in treacherous waters to the safety of Venezuela, where he wrote about his exploits. The book is not only about escapes from prisons or captivity. The stories of some of the many acts of bravery during the sinking of the Titanic are told, as is the escape of Lord Lucan from suspected murder. Also included are tales of escapees who were not so lucky, such as Peter Allan who in 1941 escaped from Colditz, managed to reach Vienna and went straight to the consulate of the still neutral USA. The consulate mistook Allen for a Gestapo agent and sent him packing. He was quickly arrested by Viennese police and sent back to Colditz.
The book contains a listing of all the individual entries grouped into categories such as civil prisoners or terrorism and terrorists, and there are an index and a bibliography at the back ‐ although there is at least one mistake in the index, with the entry for Taliban referring to p. 1, while the relevant article is on p. 2. All in all this is a thoroughly entertaining work of reference, and would be ideally suited for public library use.
