The compelling story of a continuing mission, rendered with sympathy and verisimilitude.
A savvy political observer presents his report on some veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan after they return home.
With characteristic episodic verve, Klein (Politics Lost: How American Democracy Was Trivialized by People Who Think You're Stupid, 2006, etc.) tells of a few stalwart fighters who apply the skills they learned in the military to address civilian needs worldwide. Now, their continuing mission (“Charlie Mike” in military jargon) is the easing of misfortune at home and abroad. The devotion to his fellow fighters is what impelled Eric Greitens, a potent Navy SEAL and Rhodes Scholar with an Oxford doctorate, to organize a veterans’ group called The Mission Continues. Reading of the earthquake and chaos in Haiti, former Marine Jake Wood formed Team Rubicon and outfitted a forward operating base, complete with relief supplies, in a matter of days. For these former soldiers, public service is always the objective, and they deliver those who are best trained to effectively organize, deploy, and accomplish truly difficult jobs. These include veterans of elite units, sniper schools, recon intelligence, and other military organizations, and they readily transfer their unique abilities to civilian needs. And they care. Klein’s brief personal stories of these extraordinary men and women whose lives were marked by war are enlightening and powerful. He graphically depicts their training, their war experiences, and their efforts to cope with civilian ignorance. PTSD is often rampant, and many are haunted by the losses of buddies during combat. The most common hazard at home is suicide. Romances sour, and friendships and family relations suffer. The fellowship is often all that mattered—that and the job. “What worked was work,” writes the author. Ever the insightful reporter, he captures the conversational rhythm and vernacular of these remarkable warriors who have refitted their service to civilian life.
The compelling story of a continuing mission, rendered with sympathy and verisimilitude.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4516-7730-0
Page Count: 300
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
This autobiography might almost be said to supply the roots to Wright's famous novel, Native Son.
It is a grim record, disturbing, the story of how — in one boy's life — the seeds of hate and distrust and race riots were planted. Wright was born to poverty and hardship in the deep south; his father deserted his mother, and circumstances and illness drove the little family from place to place, from degradation to degradation. And always, there was the thread of fear and hate and suspicion and discrimination — of white set against black — of black set against Jew — of intolerance. Driven to deceit, to dishonesty, ambition thwarted, motives impugned, Wright struggled against the tide, put by a tiny sum to move on, finally got to Chicago, and there — still against odds — pulled himself up, acquired some education through reading, allied himself with the Communists — only to be thrust out for non-conformity — and wrote continually. The whole tragedy of a race seems dramatized in this record; it is virtually unrelieved by any vestige of human tenderness, or humor; there are no bright spots. And yet it rings true. It is an unfinished story of a problem that has still to be met.
Perhaps this will force home unpalatable facts of a submerged minority, a problem far from being faced.
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 1945
ISBN: 0061130249
Page Count: 450
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1945
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
