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Summary: Thanks to the readers for their generous comments.
Review: I would like to thank the readers who, over the past several months, have posted such generous comments about The Long Gray Line. Both hardback and paperback copies are difficult to find, now that nearly a decade has passed since initial publication. But I'm happy to say that another edition is likely to be published next fall.
Rating:
Summary: Thanks to readers for the generous comments
Review: I'm delighted that Henry Holt and Co. have brought out a new edition of THE LONG GRAY LINE, exactly a decade after the original appeared. I'm grateful to readers for their loyalty to the book and for their generous sentiments of praise. Writing the new afterword to this edition was a chance to update the fate of various characters, as well as the academy and the Army, over the past 10 years.
Rating: 
Summary: Good on many levels
Review: I'm not a West Pointer but knew several in Vietnam in 1968-69. Yes, this book is a great account of the West Point experience, but it also works well as history and as a story about the giant rift in my (b. 1944) generation of men, between those who went and those who didn't. Equally good is The Nightengale's Song by Robert Timberg. Well-written and keeps you reading up all night.
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Summary: Interesting look at the shared history of a group of people
Review: I'm puzzled by the complaint that this book is not a definitive look at the entire Viet Nam era, when the book specifically says itself that it isn't. What the book IS, as it says on the cover, is a look at the West Point class of 1966, their shared experience at the academy, and the subsequent paths of the members after they left the academy into the turning point of a war which was changing America's perception of itself and the world, and the impact this has had on them since. I read the book several years ago and was quite impressed by it. I came back now to check up on it, because Wesley Clark was one of the graduates discussed in the book.
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Summary: Duty, Honor, and Country
Review: My friend, whom graduated from West Point in 1991, recommended "The Long Gray Line" to me. My object for reading this book was that I wanted to learn more about the Vietnam War, what happened and why. I also wanted to understand more about the problems and turmoil that followed when the War was over. Further, I realised the book would be a great source of information about the West Point Academy, something I wanted to learn more about since my friend had attended the Academy. (A discussion with the same mentioned friend about the Vietnam War had left no doubt that I had considerable gaps in my knowledge of both West Point and the Vietnam War).I was completely fascinated with the story, and it soon became impossible for me to put the book down. I even wished for longer commute to work, so I could read more (I already have 1 hrs 20 min of commuting each way to work!). After I had finished the book I asked my friend "Was is really like that at West Point?" and he answered "The book gives a 'pretty accurate' description of what it was like".. The first part of this book is about the Academic life at West Point, and at times this part of the book is absolutely hilarious! It left me smiling and laughing for myself.. I love the way the author, Rick Atkinson, describes the different characters. I had no problems picturing the different events in my head and I finished the book feeling like I practically knew all these cadets. The latter part of the book is about the war and it's aftermath. This part of the book is incredibly moving. The author describes these young men's (and their families) trial and suffering so well that you almost feel it as if the pain was your own. This part of the book left me in tears more than one time. I finished this book with a deeper comprehension of the pain and distress which Vietnam Veterans has experienced both while fighting for their country, and later returning home. Anyone interested in history, reading about the events and ideas that strongly influenced America in the latter part of the 20th century, should read this book. The words "Duty, Honour, and Country" will never mean the same to you after reading this book. It is not often that I read a book, which so deeply touches my heart as this one did!
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Summary: The Long Gray Line
Review: One of the best books I have ever read, and I have read a lot of them. What a wonderful piece of work. The book describes in vivid detail what these professional soldiers went through at West Point, Ranger training, Vietnam and after the war. This book is written with such detail that I feel I knew George Crocker, Jack Wheeler, Tom Carhart and Jim Ford personally.
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Summary: Jaded, Bitter, Gloomy Prism of Vietnam Syndrome
Review: Rick Atkinson's father was an army officer and so his entire family ought to be thanked for living a relatively spartan life so that we civilians may enjoy freedom.
Mr. Atkinson's book is very well-written. You can gulp down page after page, particularly if you already have respect and reverence for the sacrifices that men of West Point have fought, bled, and died for to make the USA free and exceptional.
Mr. Atkinson deserves great credit for including, what I believe, is the heroe of the book: George Crocker, the tremendous ranger who fought through Vietnam, stuck with the Army during the wilderness years of the 1970s and helped spearhead the overthrow of the communist invasion of Grenada.
(ATKINSON, HOWEVER, HELPS DOWNPLAY GRENADA. GRENADA WOULD HAVE INCLUDED A MASSIVE CACHE OF WEAPONRY AND LANDING STRIPS FROM WHICH SOVIET CLIENTS LIKE CASTRO AND ORTEGA COULD ATTACKED FREE COUNTRIES ON OUR SOUTHERN BORDERS.)
It is also wrong, I believe, to view West Point through the prism of the Vietnam War. Mr. Atkinson's fatal error is that he uses American failures in the war TO CAST RADICAL DOUBT ON THE TRIPARTITE PRINCIPLE OF DUTY, HONOR, COUNTRY.
Once again, the reader is subjected to a journalist who portrays decent, honorable young American men who sign up to serve and are screwed by the American government. The West Pointers who sacrificed themselves in Vietnam, even rear echelon doubters, are VICTIMS or DUPES.
The reader is led to believe reality of West Point all caught up with its hype with Vietnam. BAD KARMA and PAYING THE PIPER - supposedly prove that the anti-war leftists had a valid point.
Ultimately, Mr. Atkinson uses these West Pointers battles to further the anti-Vietnam war argument. Too often, the protagonists are presented as haunted slaves of a system that holds principles that are super-human and unsustainable by ordinary men.
Once again, the reader is subjected to a journalist who uses military people to plant the seeds of radical doubt in our military institutions.
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Summary: My favorite book
Review: Simply the best book I have ever read. As a graduate of the US Naval Academy, I was amazed how completely Atkinson captured the essence of the service academy experience. 10 years after I read the book, I still find myself drifting back to thinking about it. For anyone trying to understand why young men and women dedicate themselves to military service in today's society, read this book.
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Summary: Inspirational, Tragic, Exceptional . . .
Review: So go the experiences of the honorable men of the USMA class of 1966. As someone who recently began the process of becoming an Army Officer, I approached this book with perhaps a heightened sense of curiosity . . . and I was overwhelmed. Mr. Atkinson has skillfully captured both the demons and angels of these brave men's lives. One moment you're struck by the horror of war (and, naturally, its aftermath) and the often difficult life of the young officer, the next you are inspired by acts of heroism and tremendous courage, or just the wonderful spirit humans can summon in extraordinary situations. With every page, "The Long Gray Line" proves engrossing and revelatory. Valuable for miltary personnel and enthusiasts, history fans -- and just about anyone who can appreciate an inspirational yet often tragic story exceptionally well told. Truly, an achievement worthy of the men of '66, their brothers in arms and all of their their sacrifices.
Rating: 
Summary: From an ordinary vet
Review: The author does a good job writing this book. If you are interested in the Vietnam era, it gives a West Point graduate's perspective. As an ordinary drafted vet, myself, I was left back then with the impression that most West Point officers who came through during Vietnam never seriously thought they would ever get caught in a real war when they went after getting that free education at West Point. Maybe that is why this book tends to be very negative and discouraging. It is discouraging enough to tend to make you feel sorry for the people in the book. It is so negative and discouraging that, if I work for the admissions dept at West Point, no way do I encourage applicants to read this book ----- in fact, just the opposite.
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