Three reasons to read "Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman"

[kid a]

Just finished it and in the midst of writing my curriculum rational and review for its addition to my HS senior World Biography class reading list.

1. Jon Krakauer presents a brief, easy to read, yet detailed history of Afghanistan with respect to the Taliban, bin Laden, al Qaeda, the CIA, the ISI, the Mujahideen, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Clinton, Bush, the USS Cole, 9/11, Richard Clarke, Rice, etc.

2. Its an inspirational story about the individual values, determination, hard work, duty, trials, tribulations and personal accomplishment of Pat Tillman.

3. Detailed, in-depth accounts of military battlefield communication, the final mission of Pat Tillman's platoon, and of the incident's political manipulation shed light on how war works (or doesn't much of the time).

I think I can make a good case for the relevance of this information for high school seniors.

[ellie]

1. Also, Jon Krakauer

is an excellent writer. Under the Banner of Heaven, Into Thin Air and Eiger Dreams were great books.

[applegrove]

11. Into Thin Air was a wonderful book. Really well written.

[crim son]

16. Seconded.

Though I haven't read "Eiger Dreams," I enjoy Krakauer's style very much. I'm looking forward to this latest book of his.

[Fumesucker]

2. I can think of a fourth.. You are an anger junky in need of a fix..

That stuff sends my blood pressure into the stratosphere, and it's already more than high enough to keep me working out several hours a week in order to mitigate it.

[RadicalGeek]

3. I Plan On Reading This

Be me borrowing it from the library, picking up in paperback or downloading it onto an e-reader.

[GirlAfire]

4. +1

Thanks for the recommendation!

[Fumesucker]

5. Didn't mean to imply someone shouldn't read it..

Just that I can't any more, it's just not medically advisable for me to do so.

[truedelphi]

6. I understand. I really do.

It is such a shame that young people want to put their extra energies into the battlefield rather than some other endeavor that doesn't involve killing (or being killed)

[Fumesucker]

9. The brainwashing starts really young..

By the time a kid is 18 they have had many years of indoctrination, it's very difficult to overcome that.

[RadicalGeek]

14. And Not Just the "Army Strong" Ads

There's the general culture of violence and war.

Young people today see war as a game, look at how popular games like HALO, etc are. The enemy becomes a blip on a screen.

But it could also be argued that through football, Mr. Tillman found a healthier outlet for some of that aggression.

[HelenWheels]

7. great book on CD too. nt

[HardWorkingDem]

8. Just started reading it....and...

my God, the parallels between this war and Vietnam are amazing and make one think about the history/doomed to repeat quote.


And to interject politics for a bit...imagine if Bush had been a Democrat and Tillman's death handled under that. I imagine the heads of conservatives would be exploding nationwide.

[Warren DeMontague]

10. "Values"???? Wasn't Pat Tillman a... gasp!... Atheist?

Everyone knows Atheists can't have values! :eyes: :sarcasm:

[niyad]

12. there was a thread somewhere here on DU within the last two days that said

that the book pointed out that mcchrystal (sp?) was one of those instrumental in the coverup in tillman's death.

[proteus_lives]

13. I'll check it out.

Thanks for the heads-up.

[yellowwood]

15. Refer to another post

This is really important
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6698464

[kid a]

17. excellent post - puzzling evidence and objectives

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

18. 4. Exposing McCrystal's role in the Tillman cover-up.