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Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman |  | Author: Jon Krakauer
Publisher: Doubleday
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
Buy New: $11.74
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Rating:  135 reviews
Sales Rank: 66
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 416
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.6
ISBN: 0385522266
Dewey Decimal Number: 958.1047
EAN: 9780385522267
ASIN: 0385522266
Publication Date: September 15, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
BRAND NEW HARDBACK
Amazon.com Review
Book Description
The bestselling author of Into the Wild, Into Thin Air, and Under the Banner of Heaven delivers a stunning, eloquent account of a remarkable young man’s haunting journey.
Like the men whose epic stories Jon Krakauer has told in his previous bestsellers, Pat Tillman was an irrepressible individualist and iconoclast. In May 2002, Tillman walked away from his $3.6 million NFL contract to enlist in the United States Army. He was deeply troubled by 9/11, and he felt a strong moral obligation to join the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Two years later, he died on a desolate hillside in southeastern Afghanistan.
Though obvious to most of the two dozen soldiers on the scene that a ranger in Tillman’s own platoon had fired the fatal shots, the Army aggressively maneuvered to keep this information from Tillman’s wife, other family members, and the American public for five weeks following his death. During this time, President Bush repeatedly invoked Tillman’s name to promote his administration’s foreign policy. Long after Tillman’s nationally televised memorial service, the Army grudgingly notified his closest relatives that he had “probably” been killed by friendly fire while it continued to dissemble about the details of his death and who was responsible.
In Where Men Win Glory, Jon Krakauer draws on Tillman’s journals and letters, interviews with his wife and friends, conversations with the soldiers who served alongside him, and extensive research on the ground in Afghanistan to render an intricate mosaic of this driven, complex, and uncommonly compelling figure as well as the definitive account of the events and actions that led to his death. Before he enlisted in the army, Tillman was familiar to sports aficionados as an undersized, overachieving Arizona Cardinals safety whose virtuosity in the defensive backfield was spellbinding. With his shoulder-length hair, outspoken views, and boundless intellectual curiosity, Tillman was considered a maverick. America was fascinated when he traded the bright lights and riches of the NFL for boot camp and a buzz cut. Sent first to Iraq—a war he would openly declare was “illegal as hell” —and eventually to Afghanistan, Tillman was driven by complicated, emotionally charged, sometimes contradictory notions of duty, honor, justice, patriotism, and masculine pride, and he was determined to serve his entire three-year commitment. But on April 22, 2004, his life would end in a barrage of bullets fired by his fellow soldiers.
Krakauer chronicles Tillman’s riveting, tragic odyssey in engrossing detail highlighting his remarkable character and personality while closely examining the murky, heartbreaking circumstances of his death. Infused with the power and authenticity readers have come to expect from Krakauer’s storytelling, Where Men Win Glory exposes shattering truths about men and war.
Amazon Exclusive: Jon Krakauer in Afghanistan Click on thumbnails for larger images  |  |  | Krakauer and First Lieutenant Eric Hayes on a foot patrol along the Afghanistan Pakistan border.
(Photo © Dennis Knowles) | Krakauer doing Humvee maintenance, 2007.
(Photo © Eric Hayesy) | Observation Post, Forward Operating Base Tillman |
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 135
 Not at all what I expected November 20, 2009
ges
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Pat Tillman was a more complex person than I expected and his journal entries, which Krakauer quotes extensively are fascinating. The author rehashes a lot of the history of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars but there is quite a bit of information that is new to me. It's interesting to see how many of the bad reivews (the 1's and 2's) are based on ideology, not the book's merits.
Nietzschean superman November 19, 2009
Brian D. Rudert (APO, AA USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The people that pan this book or call it "flat" are those that are offended by some of Krakauer's political comments. Do not get distracted by this as it is a riveting and well researched book that is hard to put down when you start it. Pat Tillman was an exceptional person that Krakauer elevates to a modern day Nietzschean superman status. He outlines all the characteristics practically from childhood that qualify him for this special status. What's troubling about the book is that Krakauer would have us believe that those that actually pulled the trigger and killed Tillman and the pilots of the US planes that killed 17 American soldiers in the Jessica Lynch rescue in Iraq have no remorse over their actions. I doubt that and certainly hope that it is not true.
Great Examination and Investigation November 19, 2009
ST (Washington DC)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Kraukauer does an excellent job with this investigation. His conclusion is very disturbing. By avoiding the truth, the family and the United States were misled. Kraukauer and the family would probably say we were lied to. The book describes the actions of many leaders, at the operational and strategic levels, that did not "race to the truth" and the consequences that were, and are, very detrimental to the American's confidence in former Secretary Rumsfeld and the military.
 Doesn't do justice to Tillman's compelling story November 19, 2009
Garrett T. Chamberlin (Portland, OR)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was looking forward to reading this book when I saw that Krakauer would be writing about Tillman. I knew of Tillman from his days at ASU while I was still living in Arizona. I felt like Krakauer was the right guy to give Tillman's story the proper treatment. In his other books, he had written compelling portrayals of thrill-seekers who flirted with danger and lost. It was left up to the reader to decide whether these men were victims of circumstances or just of their own recklessness.
It seemed like Krakauer would be the perfect author to articulate the complex character that Pat Tillman was.
Instead, I feel like I got too much of Krakauer's indictment of the war. The amount of space given to the military's failures takes away from what should have been a book about Tillman and why he walked away from that dream NFL contract.
I'm not sure that he did this story justice, and I would not recommend this book.
 Epic Failure November 17, 2009
1 out of 8 found this review helpful
I have really enjoyed Jon Krakauer's previous books and expected the same with this one. Boy was I wrong! This story of Tillman was a front to express his political views! If I wanted to read biased political commentary I would buy that type of book which I dont. Krakauer used Pat Tillman as a cover to go on a political rant. The book was disjointed and really poorly written. Big waste of money! I just feel bad for the Tillman family whose incredible story was the foundation for this junk. Shameless exploitation! I guess that will teach me to stay away from this author. I never ever felt compelled to write a review prior to reading this trash. I am still shocked that this was written. No conscience on Krakauer's part to use a remarkable man for his own monetary and political wants! I hope some other author can right this wrong.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 135
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