Recent Reads

Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer:
Many have heard the basic story of Pat Tillman, the former NFL player who walked away from a multi-million dollar contract with the Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the Army after the terrorist attacks on 9/11/01. Tillman became an Army Ranger and was killed in action while serving over in Afghanistan.

That was the narrative I knew-I remember listening to the Jim Rome show the day after his death was announced and the three hours that was devoted to his passing and mourning his loss. I recall seeing snippets in newspapers and websites after his death, mentioning how his mother was fighting to discover the circumstances behind his death on the battlefield. But I did not delve further into the story until I cracked open this book.

Krakauer is the acclaimed author of books such as Into Thin Air, Into the Wild, and Under the Banner of Heaven. He aggressively writes about the topics he chooses and will unflinchingly criticize which has brought him controversy (particularly so for Under the Banner of Heaven). This book devotes itself to two main narratives-the life of Pat Tillman and the cover-up of his death due to "friendly fire" in Afghanistan.

The portrayal of Tillman reveals an incredible man and I feel describing him as such is even a disservice. Krakauer doesn't portray a flawless man-he recounts an incident in high school that landed Tillman in juvenile detention and nearly derailed his football career before it got started. As I read I discovered a flawed human who defied convention-he was an introspective jock, a NFL star who was devoted to his high school sweetheart, a soldier who doggedly avoided the limelight that the Army tried to shine upon him.

In contrast, the Army brass and White House officials involved in the cover-up of the cause of Tillman's death come off as manipulative, calculating, and shallow. As the author lays out, the cover-up began almost immediately as the attempt was made to cloak Tillman's death as a hero fighting off enemy forces when in reality he was inexplicably killed by members of his own platoon. Tillman's death was used as a rallying point for citizens back home, to support increasingly unpopular wars in the Middle East. That his death didn't fit the hero's narrative meant little to those scripting the story they wanted to present.

I finished this book awed and angry; awed by the man that Pat Tillman was and angry with the twist of politics that his death became.

The Help by Kathyrn Stockett
I didn't really expect to like this book. It was a book club selection for a group where I'm one of two male participants (and a plethora of middle-aged women). This book screamed femininity-the story centers upon two black housekeepers in Mississippi just before the civil rights movement. I went in with guarded expectations.

When I finished this compulsively readable novel, I was a bit stunned. It had been a long time since I had dove so deeply into a book, compelling me to pick it up whenever I had a free moment. The setting is rich territory and actually pretty predictable-on one side you have the overworked, underpaid housekeepers who work for the bigoted white women who themselves are constrained by the limitations of being a housewife in the 1950's. I've read some reader commentaries after I finished the book that call it an instant classic, but I don't think I'd go that far. Comparisons to To Kill a Mockingbird just don't feel like they will hold up over the years.

But that doesn't diminish the enjoyable read that this book provided. Looking into the window of life in Mississippi just prior to the civil rights era provides perspective that I will never experience and this book does a wonderful job of doing so, in a very accessible manner.