No comments about Unless Victory Comes: Combat With a World War II Machine Gunner in Patton's Third Army.

1 comments about Billy Mitchell: The Life, Times and Battles of America's Prophet of Air Power.

1. Billy Mitchell was a real war hero who did more for America than most people realize; and for those historians who are, in fact, aware of his pioneering achievements, they rarely pay him the full amount of credit he earned during his lifetime. After reading this book, one is awestruck by General Mitchell's ability to predict the future, and cannot but wonder why few took him seriously. Had the political leaders done so prior to WWII, thousands of lives subsequently lost in the Pacific would have been spared on both sides.

2 comments about The Ragged Rebel: A Common Soldier in W.H. Parsons' Texas Cavalry, 1861-1865.

1. This is the story of David Carey Nance, a young Texas farmer caught up in the Civil War as soldier in William H. Parsons' Texas cavalry. This not only the story of a Confederate soldier but it also sheds new light on one of the most famous mounted units in the service of the Confederacy.



2. Well I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it painted a very realistic picture of the mainstream people of the South, that they were good honest, God fearing people, and had more common sense than the people up North. Also, that they weren't cruel slave-beaters like most history books depict them to be. The man put 14 years of research into this book, and so the accuracy of it is unquestionable. I highly recommend anyone to read it, it is only 135 pages long, short enough for anyone.

5 comments about In the Footsteps of Alexander The Great: A Journey from Greece to Asia.

1. I'll keep this as brief as possible. The book is a well conceived mixture of the history Alexander the Great's Asian conquests and the story of author Michael Wood's quest to follow Alexander's voyage throughout Asia and film it all for a BBC miniseries. He not only draws on the traditional sources such as Arrian and Plutarch, but also on local legends in the areas Alexander captured. The photographs are beautiful, and the maps help give a geographical perspective to the reader. An easy, interesting read, the book can be read in one evening by devoting full attention to the book.
   The only criticism I have is one that is unavoidable by Wood. There are parts that tend to drag a bit, by giving casualty estimates and exact military strategies that would most likely not appeal to the average reader. The best aspect, however, is how Michael Wood gives insight to a brutal, raging alcoholic treated all too kindly by Arrian. It is worth the money to someone genuinely interested in history, but don't waste your time if you're not willing to give the attention this book deserves.



2. The story of Alexander The Great remains just as relevant today as it did when the "Alexander Romance" was published many centuries ago, consider that many of the areas he conquered such as Iraq and Iran are still international hot spots today when it comes to the current state of the world. Michael Wood's "In The Footsteps Of Alexander The Great" is an entertaining read because it plays like a cultural travelogue, documenting how the story of Alexander is still passed down from generation to generation in Greece and the Middle East. In some places he is a heroe, in others a ruthless barbarian, even a devil. Woods writes about his journey down Alexander's trek with vivid details, providing fascinating insights into other corners of the globe and the customs found therein. For readers who enjoy learning and reading about other countries and their traditions this will prove to be a fascinating trip. However, the only thing that makes Woods' book not the gem it should be is that in his actual writing of Alexander's history he subscribes to much of what has already been dismissed as propaganda by historians like Robin Lane Fox and authors like Mary Renault. It is no surprise that since Woods is after all making a TV program here, he indulges in the more wild, ear-catching legends surrounding Alexander such as the burning of a temple for the sake of doing something fun when drunk (eventhough Alexander, as was common in Macedon and Greece, enjoyed wine to excessive lengths) and the killing of Betis by dragging him from a chariot to imitate Achilles (this is ridiculous considering Alexander always honored opponents who fought bravely). Woods apparently likes using information gathered from writers like Cleitarchus, who is notorious for writing fictitous accounts with exaggerated numbers, events and even Socrates made fun of the guy for his flights of fancy. Luckily Woods is not writing a biography here but an account of the current state of the lands Alexander conquered and it's peoples. As a journey through these areas and as a look at how potent the image and story of Alexander are today there is no better book. But for an actual reading of the life and times of Alexander The Great, I recommend "Alexander The Great" by Robin Lane Fox and "The Nature Of Alexander" by Mary Renault, two others who write with a more serious sense of scholarship.



3. This is an outstanding book that covers the DVD of the same title.The pictures are wonderful.The reading itself is fascinating.It is divided into several sections that takes us step by step through Alexander's conquests, with ancient cities and today's actual names.
   Mr.Wood is a natural in writing ancient history.I hope he continues exploring and taking us with him,in places we cannot go.



4. Wood's book is problematic in a variety of ways, but it's predominant flaw is that it examines the actions and personality of a man who lived 2300 years ago through the prism of a thoroughly contemporary morality. Wood is fond of passing judgement, and does so with all the political correctness (and all the ancestral guilt) of a 21st century Anglo-Saxon man. To impose our world view on the world of Alexander and on the man himself is to disfigure them both. Behavior that seems odd, irrational or morally reprehensible to us had a completely different significance in Macedonian society (and Persian society) at that period in history. Alexander was acting within his reality -- he was a man of his time, and to lose sight of this leads Wood to misinterpret. He enjoys it rather too much for the account to feel balanced.
   
   The depth of his research one cannot vouch for, but however extensive it might have been, the story he presents to the reader is incomplete and his exploration of the material is shallow. The 'facts' he presents are sometimes incorrect, and when they are events whose truth remains in doubt, he fails to mention it unless it suits his agenda. He dispatches significant events in Alexander's life in a sentence or two, yet spends entire paragraphs on his own feelings about the journey and in freely imagining for the reader what a man from another culture was feeling and thinking over 2000 years ago. He takes account of biases in the source material rather selectively, and often does not even identify his sources.
   
   I have read better researched and better considered books on this subject. The photographs that accompany the book are excellent, and the maps quite good and easy to follow, but the content is best passed over.



5. If you pick this up, don't expect any in-depth or informative analysis of Alexander's life, conquests, tactics, motives or personality; expect a Junior High School reading-level synopsis of the route traveled by Alexander's army with brief, sporadic, uncohesive glimpses of major events along the way. The pictures add a bit of life to dehydratated and uninspired prose.

No comments about Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, Part 3.

5 comments about Rommel: The Trail of the Fox (Wordsworth Military Library).

1. David Irvings works are nothing short of exemplary, and this work is no different. History is written by the victors, but there are still a few to whom truth is more compelling than politics. David Irving is a great revealer of truth--pulling back the curtain of time for all of us to peer back into another era. This book is excellent. He does not re-hash the writings and opinions that already flood the bookshelves from this time period, he finds out for himself--from the original sources. Sometimes his findings are different from the popular ideas.

   His chief critic (Barbara Lipscomb) is from the same university which recently had a historian villified in the press (Michael Bellesiles) for systematically fabricating an entire volume about the second amendment towards a particular political view. See Newsweek May 20 page 76 "Gunning for a bad book" article about M. Bellesiles' real deceptions. I really don't need to say any more. Irving reminds me of the philospher Bruno-who was burned at the stake by the inquisition for not espousing their views and promoting the idea of heliocentrism which was the truth. Irving is the best--a must read. The politically-correct are really going all-out to destroy his career. Don't let truth be thrown to the dogs, you will really be missing out if you pass up this one.




2. The author of this fascinating, illuminating and utterly engrossing biography of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel have created a real true to life page turner that would make Tom Clancy proud. Drawing from copious research and rare documents, Irving works wonders humanizing one of the truly mythic characters to rise out of the ashes of the Second World War. Rommel was always dubiously viewed by the allied press and his Allied foes as a "Good German". Irving works extremely hard (and therefore, courts controversy) at painting Rommel as a brilliant soldier, philosopher and engineer who, had he surived the war, could have very easily played a critical peacetime role in the restructuring of Europe. This book belongs on the shelf of every person possessing even a casual interest in the history of the second world war. Guaranteed not to disappoint.



3. Mr. Irving is certainly an unpopular character now, but I would agree with the distinguished historian Donald Keegan who once said, to the effect, that no matter what one thinks of Irving's politics he is without peer in his chosen field of study. Irving is a very good historian, and this is a very good book, written while Irving was still a young man, and perhaps not quite as clouded by his muddled feelings about Hitler. Irving's Rommel is a great commander, to a point. He has no grasp of logistics, but he is a "new" kind of commander, and therefore is more acceptable to Hitler than some of the more stuffy characters of the High Command. Rommel has an uncanny instinct for speed of movement, surprise, and terrain, as well as how to deal with the press. He is fully aware of his own legend, and the need Hitler has for an infallible German war-God. Unlike other German commanders (especially those on the Eastern front) Rommel is a scrupulously clean fighter. He does not massacre POWs or slaughter civilians. He ignores orders to execute all Jewish fighters and commandos. When white South African officers demand to be segregated from their black soldiers, Rommel denies them this request, the blacks fought and died wearing the uniform, and are soldiers like everyone else. Rommel comes to distrust Nazis like Himmler and others, who are involved in massacres, and, in the end, loses some faith in Hitler. Rommel wanted peace with the West and for the Western powers to turn with Germany against the Soviet Union. It was a naieve belief, certainly, but Rommel was no politician. Irving maintains Rommel was loyal to Hitler until the end, but the fact that a professional solider would offer an ultimatum to his Fuhrer, either you seek peace with the West or I will, shows that he had no illusions about Hitler's competence, or his methods of waging war. Irving makes a good case that Speidel, Rommel's chief of staff, himself a full-blooded anti-Hitler conspirator, threw Rommel to the dogs to save his own skin, and crafted Rommel's anti-Hitler pedigree after the war only to fully de-Nazify himself. Unlike what another review states, there is no mention of the "crime" of trying to assassinate Irving's "precious" Fuhrer, rather, Irving seems to feel dubiously about a man who was apparently so underhanded and sly (poor Rommel never stood a chance). At the very least, Rommel showed that in a brutal confilct without comparison in human history, a military commander could still fight honorably and with a humane concern for his men and nation.



4. I bought THE TRAIL OF THE FOX when it first hit book store shelves in 1977. Back in those days, as a novice World War Two enthusiast, I was temporarily hooked on the war in the desert. My interest in the war in North Africa was stirred by reading Desmond Young's THE DESERT FOX. I started reading additional books about the North African campaign. In buying TRAIL OF THE FOX I broke new ground in that it was the first time that I went out of my way to splurge for the hard cover edition.
   
   There is no denying that David Irving's volume is steeped in research. As reviewers of other Irving books have noted, David Irving delves deep into archives that are largely ignored. He also has the ability to charm his way into key participant homes and his hosts go so far as to offer him unpublished diaries and other documents. From this often untapped information pool the Rommel story evolves.
   
   The book captures the Erwin Rommel as ambitious officer pursuing the covetted Pour Le Merit with a reckless abandon similar to that of the fictional World War One character Staechel in THE BLUE MAX. We find the military Rommel with flashes of brilliance, moments of self doubt and depression, awkward in civilian clothes, and as a demanding and often disappointed father.
   
   Rommel was brilliant. He was also reckless. He was dynamic in leading from the front. However, his cavalier jaunts to the front lines frequently caused command crises in the rear. In one case Rommel's unpredictable dash to toward the sound of the guns coincidentally prevented his capture or death at the hands of British commandos. As Irving points out, dash and daring is fine when an army holds the initiative, but at the moment when the surge has reached its high tide the advantage goes to the army with superior logistics and planning. In this respect Panzer Armee Afrika faltered.
   
   Rommel was quick to heap responsibility on Rome and Berlin for lack of supplies and diversion of combat power to the eastern front. What supplies did set out for Libya were heavily attrited by the Royal Navy and RAF. Rommel never quite understood that his army's mission was one of tying down Allied forces and keeping them from setting foot on the continent. As such, he was expected to work with what he had available. When the Germans and Italians hurled themselves at El Alamein, they put themselves in a position where they quickly consumed the resources that were designed to last for a longer and less intense delaying action.
   
   Still the Italian navy and Luftwaffe were able to safeguard deliveries of troops and heavy equipment to Tunisia for the last stand of Panzer Armee Afrika. Here too there is some debate as to whether or not Rommel squandered his forces in counterattacks rather than settling down for a lengthy holding action.
   
   At this point in THE TRAIL OF THE FOX, we are then presented with an Erwin Rommel who is no longer the darling of Wolf's Lair. Rommel's health deteriorates and speculation begins as to what constitutes a real illnes and what boughts were convenient exits from the battlefield. Rommel is treated as more of a has-been. He is shuttled around from commands in Italy to Greece more for his name than anything else. It is in France that Rommel, who originally disdained fixed fortifications, finds himself overseeing the construction of the Atlantic Wall. Realizing he does not have the mobile forces under his direct command to throw back an invasion -- as well as an almost total lack of Luftwaffe support -- Rommel adopts the fortified beaches as the sole hope of repelling the Allies.
   
   The book also explores Rommel's involvement with the plot against Hitler. Unlike other books that paint Rommel as either an active or unwilling participant, Irving shows Rommel's association as one where he is torn between his loyalty to the regime and realities of the battlefield.
   
   THE TRAIL OF THE FOX is an important work on Erwin Rommel, however as with any subject, it should be read in conjunction with other books on the subject.



5. Having finished this very interesting book, I think that Irving did a first rate job. He seems to have interviewed many of the principals involved on the German side and that in itself is very valuable for future analysis of both the Normandy and Afrika campaigns. Hopefully many of the unpublished diaries and letters (unpublished at least at the time of publication of this book) will eventually be published or otherwise made available to the general public. I was quite disappointed in the role of General Seidel in the demise of Rommel but it seems to me that Rommel's ideas of generalship would have resulted in his own demise on the battlefield eventually. I was also amazed at the degree of disorganisation of the German high command in France at the time of the D-Day invasion (including Rommel's own absence from the front). I believe that David Irving did excellent research, even though it painted a much different picture of Rommel than I had been led to believe. Rommel was indeed a great general, but his lack (at times) of comprehension of the some of the strategic aspects of the German war effort show that he had some flaws as all generals do. Rommel's suicide had the beneficial effect of probably accelerating the collapse of the German Western front in WWII, but Hitler's strategy was fatally flawed in any event. Some of Irving's conclusions are arguable in any event, but he has done an excellent job of presenting his conclusions in a clear and effective manner. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the Allied effort in Europe in WWII.

1 comments about Militant Mediator: Whitney M. Young Jr..

1. Whitney Young was a very effective leader in the fight for equal rights for everyone. He was effective both in fund-raising and in resolving conflicts. He learned to speak the language of the whites he had to deal with, so that they preferred to deal with him rather than with more militant black leaders who were unable or unwilling to speak to whites in terms whites were used to. He had the knack of knowing how far he could push whites toward fairness to blacks without getting their backs up, but never taking a straight "no" for an answer. He would accept less than what he really wanted, but always more than the other side really wanted to give. He made good use of the fact that prejudiced whites would generally prefer to compromise with him rather than deal with the more confrontational black leaders.
   
   Dickerson recounts Young's life from birth to death. It is a story well worth reading, of a brilliant and dedicated person who made a substantial contribution to the progress of racial relations, and whose methods future leaders could do well to study and emulate.
   
   Unfortunately, the narrative drags at times. Young brought to each new challenge the same impressive list of strengths; enumerating them yet again eventually becomes tiresome.
   
   
   watziznaym@gmail.com

1 comments about Yearning to Breathe Free: Robert Smalls of South Carolina and His Families.

1. The book Yearning to Breathe Free is biographical novel which pertains to the life of Robert Smalls of South Carolina and his family. I enjoyed reading this book because it includes lots of factual information regarding to the over all purpose of Robert Smalls as being an influential person in history. I have read several other biographical novels about the lives of slaves, congressman and even statesmen. Those books failed to acknowledge evidence about the individuals life because they were mostly opinionated books about slavery and its importance. In Billingsley, Yearning to Breathe Free he includes numerators amounts of accounts of Smalls life which proves ideas stated about Smalls as being true and factual information. Additional to the factual information he includes a bibliography and index that reference all the sources required for him to right the biography on Robert Smalls of South Carolina. This will help readers like myself further my knowledge and understanding about Robert Smalls go don't be afraid to purchase it today on Amazon.

4 comments about Sammy: The Autobiography of Sammy Davis, Jr..

1. This book tries to cram together Yes I Can and Why Me? and in the process the humor and emotions which made those books great, especially Yes I Can, is lost. There is VERY LITTLE new material here. This book is a waste of time to anyone who already knows about Sammy and if they don't this isn't the place to start.



2. I gladly give the life of Sammy Davis Jr. 5 stars, however, the Boyers have done this bright icon who came into their lives a disservice by simply expanding on Sammy's two previous autobiographies with more & longer details without any attempt to focus his memories or put order into the reading & that is why I give the book only 2 stars.

   Sammy Davis Jr. rose from childhood stardom in vaudeville to become one of the most famous African-Americans of the 1950s & 1960s. At the same time his career, friends & lifestyle were surrounded by controversy & his experiences as a black performer in segregated America.

   Of all the celebrities in the American star-studied panoply, Sammy Davis Jr., crossed over more lines. He converted to an unpopular religion; he had no fear of dating & marrying beautiful white women; he was close to the Kennedys & the Nixons; he was a member of Frank Sinatra's notorious Rat Pack & he played with alcohol & drugs.

   It's amusing to read his opinions of the two songs he liked the least as they became best-sellers - going platinum to his amazement.

   I think an Index of his best-selling songs, his legendary Las Vegas performances, his world-wide concerts & his movies & television shows should have been included. Sammy Davis Jr., was also a spokesperson for his people & an Index of the movers & shakers of the Civil Rights Movement & the politicians of his time with whom he consulted & for whom he worked, is vital.

   There isn't even a curriculum vitae! Do check out my full review of this & other biographies.




3. For beginners, this isn't bad. But those who are familiar with "Yes I can" and "Why Me?" (the Davis bios that this book was edited from) will not be happy. Too much of the good stuff from "Yes I Can" is missing, such as Sammy's guilt over his treatment of James Dean and his own mistreatment at the hands of other children and teenagers. Those were some of the most moving parts of that book and they should be included here. Oh well, you can always read the original.



4. I thought this book was very inspiring. This book was very good, and kept me very interested. I like how they put in pictures, and exact dates of when things happened to Sammy Davis Jr. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about an all around performer.
   
   Reviewer: Samantha, Cisneros

5 comments about The Brutality of War: A Memoir of Vietnam.

1. Gene Dark's "The Brutality of War A Memoir of Vietnam" is one of the most honest, sincere books the reader has read about our young soldiers going to war. Dark did not make sarcastic remarks or light of his tour of duty with the Marine Corps.
   
   At the age of nineteen, Gene felt he had no direction in life and really wanted to get out and experience the world. He talked another young man in signing up for the Marine Corp with him. During the grueling training at boot camp and advanced training he vowed he would never "run away." This was something his father had taught him.
   
   When he arrived in Vietnam he was not ready for what he saw or felt. No amount of training could have prepared him for what was about to happen to him. During his tour he realized that none of the young men were ready. Watching his close friends die in his hands or look for their body parts was so traumatic he couldn't let it go. Dark relates during this story that he wishes those in power would have the same experience all of the soldiers did so they could realize what it was like for the young innocent men.
   
   One of the most striking things the reader got out of the book was you can go home but never leave the war behind. So many soldiers came back with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and psychology didn't know what to do with them. Families had a hard time dealing with the nightmares, anger and depression. Soldiers returning were treated with hate, anger and threats. Was this something that a person who put their life on the life expected?
   
   This is a must read for all of those in the helping field, as well as for families of our Vietnam veterans. It may not answer everything one wants to know, but it will give one an idea of what each individual soldier faced. An excellent read.



2. Reviewed by Carol Hoyer for Reader Views (1/08)
   
   
   "The Brutality of War: A Memoir of Vietnam" is one of the most compelling, honest accounts of how the United States sent innocent, vulnerable nineteen-year-olds into a war they knew nothing about. At a time when patriotism was high, young men visualized honor and fantasies about war and conquering the enemy; little did they know that there was a big difference between fantasy and reality.
   
   Gene Dark was one of those innocent nineteen-year-olds who had no direction in his life and due to boredom joined the Marines. His father always told him regardless of what job, you have to do the best you can and never run away from a challenge. He never did, even though he saw his friends die one by one in Vietnam. The Marines taught him to become a killer and he played the role very well. For those who survived Vietnam there was no hero's welcome-- no one seemed to care what they had sacrificed. These young men kept what they saw and did deep within a hole within their mind. No one offered therapeutic help, compassion or understanding.
   
   Gene Dark did an excellent job in this sad but true memoir. He is brutally honest and does not add humor or flowery words to describe his and other Marine's year in Vietnam. He does not question what his job was, even when he came close to death.
   
   "The Brutality of War: A Memoir of Vietnam" is an opportunity for those of us who want to understand what happened to these young men-- at least some idea of what they encountered in Vietnam. It will not tell us what is deep within their souls, that which they cannot talk about. It may not be reading for everyone, especially for Vietnam veterans who have yet to come to grips with their tour of duty. It does make you think when we send young, innocent soldiers into war, who are we doing it for? Is it worth the lost lives and heartbreak for families left behind?



3. THE BRUTALITY OF WAR
   
   A memoir of Vietnam
   
   by GENE R. DARK
   
   We make choices, dramatic life choices, and we make them for many different reasons. Whether the moon is waxing or waning, in full bloom, or vacant like the parking lot in K-mart, we make these life altering decisions in our youth.
   
   A nineteen year old decides to join the Marine Corps, survive a year in Vietnam, save his money, then go back to college on the G.I. Bill. He returns a bitter, disillusioned young man, haunted by the war his country sent him to.
   
   I picked up the THE BRUTALITY OF WAR, in the hopes it would shed light on the demons that have followed me since my return. When I laid it down, it had left me bruised, depressed, and hopeful that others would read this and feel THE BRUTALITY OF WAR without experiencing it.
   
   I relived the sights, sounds and smells that Gene R. Dark puts into his personal war, a conflict that took him years to resolve. Leaving all veterans and their families and loved ones to make an assessment of their roles not only on the battlefield, but long into the `after-life.'
   
   THE BRUTALITY OF WAR starts with his decision to join the Marines on the `Buddy System,' where he endures the hell of `boot camp' and specialty training--then on to the War. A stinking, teaming jungle where a soldier spends most of his thoughts on his own survival.
   
   Gene Dark is honest and straightforward in his appraisal of life as a combat soldier, and with his own relationship within this ugly war. "Man's inhumanity to man," is depicted in this haunting memoir of a `fighting soldier' bent on his own personal survival, yet willing to do everything to protect his fellow comrade.
   
   "They told me it would disrupt my life less if I got killed sooner."--Joseph Heller
   
   Gene R. Dark's memoir will leave you thinking--not only of past wars fought, but hopefully, of ways to prevent these youthful tragedies, for no worth is worth the price.
   
   Dennis Leppanen
   
   Free-Lance Journalist and Reviewer
   
   Author of: WHOO??



4. Gene R. Dark waited twenty-five years to write his intensely visceral response to his experience as a Marine in the Vietnam disaster, and then was forced to wait another frustrating twelve years to publish it. The author's commitment to tell his story and his dedication to getting it into the publics' hands was worth the wait: THE BRUTALITY OF WAR is the most honest recounting of the Vietnam War, both in its description of the brainwashing preparation of the kids that were sent there and the grisly realities of the 'non-Hollywood' version of the truth about the fighting men, and in the evaluation of America's angry response to that war to the abuse of the soldiers as veterans that continues to this day. 'The cruel truth became obvious. America only accepts winners, and in the eyes of America, Vietnam was a loser, and those who fought were losers.'
   
   While many very fine authors, such as Tim O'Brien, have gained wide readership for novels about the Vietnam 'conflict', making Vietnam the background draping for their novel/dramas, Dark very simply and very honestly reports on the way it was. From his induction into the USMC with all the high hopes of the teenager testosterone-driven dreams of being a hero, through the brutality of the training preparations in being taught to kill, to the actual day by day experiences of engaging the enemy in their ubiquitous positioning, to the extreme hardships of living through the monsoons with the misery of gross skin infections from the filth that could not be cleansed, to the moments of seeing friends blown apart by enemy fire and in response to those sights, finding the killer within - the fire of hate and vengeance with which war soils the mind - it is all here, written without apology, without over-the-edge dramatics, and at all times with the keen-eyed observation of a human being becoming a murderer. 'We were living day to day with an enemy trying to kill us and we were trying to survive by killing them. We saw death often. Don't be quick to judge unless you've had the wet, sticky blood of a friend etched into your skin. And make no mistake - killing is brutal and there is nothing civilized about it.'
   
   One of the most poignant moments in a book that hits the heart with a bayonet on every page is Dark's sharing a small gesture on the commercial airline flight home after he had survived Vietnam: the flight was overbooked and an insensitive stewardess told Dark she didn't have sufficient food trays to give him one, but instead gave him peanuts - and no one offered to share his food with a Marine returning from the horrors and hungers of America's guilty war. It affected Dark deeply: his recounting of the incident reflects the reader profoundly.
   
   So why did Gene R. Dark persist in finally writing and publishing his memoirs? For the healing effect of putting that horrid time and experience in the past - or at least in perspective. There are many damaged veterans from the Vietnam War, as well as the Iraq War, who desperately need public understanding for their sacrifice. They only ask America to look at the effects of wars and to address the impact and the aftermath, pleading for changes to be made. Dark accomplishes this as well as any writer this reader has read. Grady Harp, February 08



5. I missed the Vietnam War by approximately two years. However, I knew several local young men who were conscripted into the war, one of which did not come back. My parents were working class and initially supported the war. However, when the young men came back from the war as old men, their stories turned my parents against it. Those stories did not describe a country where the North Vietnamese and their Vietcong allies was the enemy and the South Vietnamese people simply wanted freedom and democracy. They talked about how they could trust no Vietnamese person and that they were forced to kill simply to survive another day. The endemic corruption of the South Vietnamese and the futility of expecting an American victory were clear in their statements.
   This memoir is one that is of course unique to the author yet could be the story of tens of thousands of American soldiers. It is similar to the stories I heard with rapture when it seemed that it would soon be my turn to fight and maybe die in Vietnam. The terror, the ferocity of the fighting and the fundamental understanding of the foot soldiers that they were not part of a noble mission are all clear in the memoir. Violent death or dismemberment could come calling at any time and it wore many different guises. Every day brought new challenges but the fundamental challenge remained the same. To do everything they possibly could to keep everyone in their unit alive for one more day.
   The author patriotically volunteered to go to war; he was a Marine and a good soldier. However, as happens so many times, the failure was not on the military end, the problem was political. The war was launched and executed under false pretenses, something that has not remained confined to the past. Dark presents a side of the Vietnam War that only the people whose boots were on the ground would know. It was brutal, uncertain and they could never forget.