SELECTED BY MILITARY TIMES AS A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR * SELECTED BY THE SOCIETY OF MIDLAND AUTHORSâ AS THE BEST NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR
The New York Times bestselling author of In Harmâs Way and Horse Soldiers shares the powerful account of an American army platoon fighting for survival during the Vietnam War in âan important bookâŠ.not just a battle storyâitâs also about the home frontâ (The Today show).
On January 31, 1968, as many as 100,000 guerilla fighters and soldiers in the North Vietnamese Army attacked thirty-six cities throughout South Vietnam, hoping to dislodge American forces during one of the vital turning points of the Vietnam War. Alongside other young American soldiers in an Army reconnaissance platoon (Echo Company, 1/501) of the 101st Airborne Division, Stanley Parker, the nineteen-year-old son of a Texan ironworker, was suddenly thrust into savage combat, having been in-country only a few weeks. As Stan and his platoon-mates, many of whom had enlisted in the Army, eager to become paratroopers, moved from hot zone to hot zone, the extreme physical and mental stresses of Echo Companyâs day-to-day existence, involving ambushes and attacks, grueling machine-gun battles, and impossibly dangerous rescues of wounded comrades, pushed them all to their limits and forged them into a lifelong brotherhood. The war became their fight for survival.
When they came home, some encountered a bitterly divided country that didnât understand what they had survived. Returning to the small farms, beach towns, and big cities where they grew up, many of the men in the platoon fell silent, knowing that few of their countrymen wanted to hear the stories they lived to tellâuntil now. Based on interviews, personal letters, and Army after-action reports, The Odyssey of Echo Company recounts the searing tale of wartime service and homecoming of ordinary young American men in an extraordinary time and confirms Doug Stantonâs prominence as an unparalleled storyteller of our age.
magnus
2023-02-26
Stark skildring, spÀnnande och intressant lyssning. I klass med Chickenhawk!
pÄlle
2021-02-10
SÄ otroligt gripande. Vietnamkriget och deras mÀnniskor blir levande i denna bok. Jag utmanar alla att hÄlla tillbaka tÄrarna i scenen med den lilla flickan och burken med persikor.