As I write this review on 18 October I have just listened to a bulletin on the radio during which a comment was made that it is sixty years ago that the Nuremburg Trials took place. At the same time a question was raised as to what, if anything, they would mean to us today. One answer to that question is given in this excellent and exciting book by Don Stephens. One of the short biographies is of Henry Gerecke, the chaplain who ministered to the condemned war criminals in the prison at Nuremburg and who testified of the grace of God displayed in what can only be called the conversion of a number of those men as they faced and went to the gallows on 16 October 1945. You will need to read the book to find out more!
The book is made up of thrilling stories of twelve men and one woman from all sides during the two World Wars of the twentieth century and how God’s grace was magnified in them. Who can grasp the grace of God when the Japanese leader of the Pearl Harbour Raid met with an American airman in the Doolittle reprisal raid and together they shared a pulpit in Japan at the end of the war and together preached the Gospel which had saved them. Did you know that the inspiration for the James Bond 007 films was Charles Fraser-Smith, a Christian civil servant in the Ministry of Supply Clothing and Textiles Department during World War II? Many have heard and probably read of William Dobbie during the siege of Malta but what a wonderful background he had as a Christian and fighter during World War I. So one could go on. I found, as Stuart Olyott has written in the cover blurb, ‘Once you start this book you will not want to put it down. It is a collection of remarkable stories told by a master story-teller.
Don Stephens knew and had contact with most of these men personally and gives a very helpful outline of his information sources at the end of each short chapter which can be used to follow up his writing. One can only say that this is one of the most relaxing yet thrilling reads one has had for a long time. If you want to excite and challenge young men as to what it means to live as a Christian under pressure then get this book and give it to them. It will make a fine Christmas gift for all ages and reading abilities.

Howard Sayers
Grace Magazine
December 2005