by Peter Maslowski and Don Winslow Finished Sa 3/5/11
I spent about ten hours reading and skimming this very long biographical novel about the most highly decorated veteran of The Vietnam War. Joe Hooper should be as famous as Sargent York or Audie Murphy, but for some reason, he's the most famous American that nobody has ever heard of. This epic work is broad in scope, and provides an excellent history of the reasons and motivations for this highly contested Southeast Asian conflict. Many reviewers have said that this book is, "anti-military", but in light of the facts, I don't know how you could share this opinion. At the end of the book, I wondered if 'flawed' wars produce 'flawed' heroes, but as the book says...*War Is Hell, but Actual Combat Is A Motherfucker". And, the men who engage in this 'Hell' clearly need more than a medal and a parade when they exit the war zone, and, more than likely, require serious help to reintegrate into society, and Mr. Hooper clearly did not get this much needed attention. Drink, drugs, homelessness, and violence seem to be the fate of many of our heroes, and that is an unfortunate fact for all patriotic Americans to consider.
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