Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman Author: Jon Krakauer | Language: English | ISBN:
B002L6HE3W | Format: EPUB
Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman Description
This edition has been updated to reflect new developments and includes new material obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.Pat Tillman walked away from a multimillion-dollar NFL contract to join the Army and became an icon of post-9/11 patriotism. When he was killed in Afghanistan two years later, a legend was born. But the real Pat Tillman was much more remarkable, and considerably more complicated than the public knew...
A stunning account of a remarkable young man's heroic life and death, from the bestselling author of
Into the Wild,
Into Thin Air, and
Under the Banner of Heaven.
From the Trade Paperback edition.- File Size: 4568 KB
- Print Length: 416 pages
- Publisher: Anchor; 1 edition (September 15, 2009)
- Sold by: Random House LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B002L6HE3W
- Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #47,832 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
A brief disclaimer to begin. Like Pat Tillman, I was a post-9/11 volunteer enlistee, and for that reason his story has always had particular resonance. That said, the similarities end quickly. I did NOT walk away from millions to enlist. I did NOT join an elite infantry unit, nor did I see any action in a theatre of combat - let alone engage in fire fights. Lastly, I DID make it home.
Krakauer takes up the Tillman story with a view to what made the NFL Safety turned Ranger tick. In some reviews, including Dexter Filkins' NYT review, the fact that it takes Krakauer more than 150 pages to get Tillman's boots into the Afghan sand is to the book's detriment. In my opinion, Krakauer's aim - if not the book itself -is better served by the time he takes in exploring Tillman's motives.
Those looking for either a behind-the-lines military tome with some added star power, or a pot-boiler about government and military propaganda and corruption, should look elsewhere. Instead, Krakauer spends most of his effort on trying to wrestle with a very common conflict in the hearts, souls and minds of many post-9/11 military volunteers. While visions of the towers tumbling compelled Tillman instictively to look for some way to help, he also couldn't help but retain the healthy skepticism of his government that had him concerned - in Krakauer's telling - that should he die on the battlefield, he might be used for propaganda purposes.
That conflict is a defining element of the all-volunteer force that is fighting these wars. So many of the men and women I served with loved their country, but joined to defend their families as much as to fight for their government. That might not be a logical or well-informed course of action - but, for many, like Tillman, it was an instinctive one.
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