Fortunate Son: The Autobiography of Lewis B. Puller, Jr

Rating:
Summary: Sad But True Legacy
Review: this is a hard read but worth it. Details the life of one who had expectations put on him he may not have wanted or been able to live up to. His Dad set the expectations knowingly or unknowingly and the Son followed the path without the tools. The only thing I struggled with in the book is the hero part. The poor guy unwittingly stepped on a major land mine that blew him up after four months in Nam. He did nothing great there but he did show us some incredible courage after. He gave us the reality of what war can be like after the shooting stops. Well worth reading from the human interest side and for the courage of a man and woman alone. Tough but worth it.

Rating:
Summary: This book will change the way you see the world
Review: What separates a good book from a great book is its ability to change the way the reader perceives the world and himself. Lewis Puller, Jr. has accomplished this difficult feat with his autobiography. Fabulously written and lavishly detailed, it takes the reader on a journey from Puller's hometown to the rice paddies of Vietnam and back. Lewis Puller, Jr's pain can be felt when the booby-trapped howitzer round erupts beneath his feet and when he struggles to learn how to use prosthetics in a military hospital. His emotional suffering is also felt when he loses the Virginia congressional election, and when he deals with both alcoholism and his growing bitterness for the war he gave so much to. Then, after all he fought through, after everything he accomplished, Lewis Puller, Jr. committed suicide three years after publishing his book. The book was powerful, but the knowledge that he could not, in the end, survive the horrors of a war that ended nearly twenty years earlier is truly moving. This book provides insight into what war really is, and into the lives of the everyday men and women that comprise our armed services. It is a lasting memorial to the sacrifice of those soldiers that offered their lives to protect our country, and to the shame all Americans should feel because of the way those veterans were treated when they returned to the States. I am convinced that Mr. Puller would still be with us today, sharing his incredible gift and influencing the world if the American people had been more supportive of his sacrafice in the years following Vietnam. He and those like him did not, after all, direct the war and the make the mistakes that lost it. Their country called and they answered, for better or for worse, and because of that we should have a great deal of respect for all veterens.

Rating:
Summary: This book will change the way you see the world
Review: What separates a good book from a great book is its ability to change the way the reader perceives the world and himself. Lewis Puller, Jr. has accomplished this difficult feat with his autobiography. Fabulously written and lavishly detailed, it takes the reader on a journey from Puller's hometown to the rice paddies of Vietnam and back. Lewis Puller, Jr's pain can be felt when the booby-trapped howitzer round erupts beneath his feet and when he struggles to learn how to use prosthetics in a military hospital. His emotional suffering is also felt when he loses the Virginia congressional election, and when he deals with both alcoholism and his growing bitterness for the war he gave so much to. Then, after all he fought through, after everything he accomplished, Lewis Puller, Jr. committed suicide three years after publishing his book. The book was powerful, but the knowledge that he could not, in the end, survive the horrors of a war that ended nearly twenty years earlier is truly moving. This book provides insight into what war really is, and into the lives of the everyday men and women that comprise our armed services. It is a lasting memorial to the sacrifice of those soldiers that offered their lives to protect our country, and to the shame all Americans should feel because of the way those veterans were treated when they returned to the States. I am convinced that Mr. Puller would still be with us today, sharing his incredible gift and influencing the world if the American people had been more supportive of his sacrafice in the years following Vietnam. He and those like him did not, after all, direct the war and the make the mistakes that lost it. Their country called and they answered, for better or for worse, and because of that we should have a great deal of respect for all veterens.