A cinematic survival story that features a bamboo airstrip built on a rice paddy, a mad British major, and a blowpipe-wielding army that helped destroy one of the last Japanese strongholds, The Airmen and the Headhunters is a gripping, you-are-there journey into the remote world and forgotten heroism of the Dayaks.
Several American airmen crash into the jungles of Borneo during WWII. The survivors' perils include leeches, starvation, infections, snakes, and the Japanese. Susan Ericksen's monumental task is to pronounce the hundreds of Indonesian names, objects, and places. Although few who hear the narration would ever know whether she's correct, they will notice she is consistent, fluent, and distinct. Having a woman narrate a story all about men puts Ericksen at no disadvantage--as she shows by singing the fliers' bawdy songs with gusto. The natives helped the Americans because their head-hunting had been ended by the Dutch Christian missionaries years before. The servicemen weren't captives of the aboriginals, but rather students of their foreign culture, diet, and language. J.A.H. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
Digital Rights Information
OverDrive WMA Audiobook
Burn to CD:
Permitted
Transfer to device:
Permitted
Transfer to Apple® device:
Permitted
Public performance:
Not permitted
File-sharing:
Not permitted
Peer-to-peer usage:
Not permitted
All copies of this title, including those transferred to portable devices and other media, must be deleted/destroyed at the end of the lending period.
The Airmen and the Headhunters
by Judith M. Heimann
