A prisoner's duty

"Concentrating on the American character held hostage, Doyle combed official and private archives as well as unpublished diaries, letters, and memoirs to find exciting stories of individuals, famous and unknown, who risked their lives and those of others to escape." The escapes range from the American Revolution, the Mexican War, the Civil War, "wars of the twentieth century, and the smaller conflicts." He also includes accounts of the Underground Railway, settlers and traders escaping Indians, and journalists and government officials eluding terrorist captors all over the globe."--Jacket.