Most Succinctly Bred
by Alex Vernon /
2006 / English / PDF
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A memoir on being a soldier
A memoir on being a soldier
“At this moment, the nation seems interested in soldiering. Not
the politics that complicate the very act of service, but the
dirty business of being a soldier. No one, except soldiers, knows
much about the aftermath of such service.
“At this moment, the nation seems interested in soldiering. Not
the politics that complicate the very act of service, but the
dirty business of being a soldier. No one, except soldiers, knows
much about the aftermath of such service.most succinctly
bred
most succinctly
bred opens the experience to those who want to know more
without having to sit inside the sweltering temperatures of the
tank’s turret, without having to face day after day the real
threat of dying.”―Pat C. Hoy II
opens the experience to those who want to know more
without having to sit inside the sweltering temperatures of the
tank’s turret, without having to face day after day the real
threat of dying.”―Pat C. Hoy II
Like Susan Griffin’s
Like Susan Griffin’sA Chorus of Stones: The Private Life of
War,
A Chorus of Stones: The Private Life of
War, Alex Vernon’s
Alex Vernon’smost succinctly bred
most succinctly bred explores
war by exploring around war, by operating in the margins. Vernon
records his ongoing relationship with war and soldiering―from
growing up in late Cold War 1980s middle America to attending
West Point, going to and returning from the first Gulf War, and
watching, as a writer and academic, the coming of the second Iraq
war. Not merely a collection of essays, this book has a
trajectory, and the chapters, appearing in rough chronological
order, loop in and out of one another. It is not a narrow
autobiography that attempts to account only for the writer’s
life; it uses that life to illuminate the lives of its readers,
to tell us about the time and place in which we find ourselves.
explores
war by exploring around war, by operating in the margins. Vernon
records his ongoing relationship with war and soldiering―from
growing up in late Cold War 1980s middle America to attending
West Point, going to and returning from the first Gulf War, and
watching, as a writer and academic, the coming of the second Iraq
war. Not merely a collection of essays, this book has a
trajectory, and the chapters, appearing in rough chronological
order, loop in and out of one another. It is not a narrow
autobiography that attempts to account only for the writer’s
life; it uses that life to illuminate the lives of its readers,
to tell us about the time and place in which we find ourselves.
War has seasoned this reluctant soldier; it has wounded him as it
wounds all soldiers. But war has not stopped Alex Vernon’s life.
A large part of what we read here is a fascinating story of
recovery. He dares to tell the stories of recuperation without
naming them as such, without being in the least maudlin about his
experiences or his suffering. Full of surprises,
War has seasoned this reluctant soldier; it has wounded him as it
wounds all soldiers. But war has not stopped Alex Vernon’s life.
A large part of what we read here is a fascinating story of
recovery. He dares to tell the stories of recuperation without
naming them as such, without being in the least maudlin about his
experiences or his suffering. Full of surprises,most
succinctly bred
most
succinctly bred tells all of the truth tells all of the
truth Vernon can muster in a language that is lively, rich,
suggestive. This is a book that aims high in an artful, subtle
way.
tells all of the truth tells all of the
truth Vernon can muster in a language that is lively, rich,
suggestive. This is a book that aims high in an artful, subtle
way.
