| Description |
1 online resource |
| Summary |
"Becoming a man is difficult--even in the best of circumstances--but when it must be done in 1968 with the Year of the Monkey set to explode onto the cities and battlefields of a war-torn Vietnam, it is only the very best who make the grade. A Common Virtue has the immediacy and punch of today's fears as it draws on yesterday's headlines. When the armies of Ho Chi Mihn push across the demilitarized zone on a scale never thought possible and simultaneously strike at hundreds of targets, American Marines are at the forefront--dependent on information from a special reconnaissance force that is the only thing that can stop Hanoi from using a New Year's opportunity to seize the country. Unfolding against this background is the story of Marine Paul Jackson, the sole survivor of a hillside massacre. A sniper and reconnaissance innovator, his epic march through the annals of the horrific bureaucracy that is the U.S. military in 1968 is the heart of this story. As an eighteen-year-old Marine he learns at an early age what he must do to survive; what he must do to excel; and what he must do to fit into the most exclusive military fraternity in the world. A Common Virtue is about the other half of heroism, the part that pits a warrior against an American public that despises his uniform, against internal factions that brand him a "coward," and against a beautiful woman who wants nothing more than for him to stay home and love her. It is about growing into manhood in a toxic America and a world gone mad. Tough choices, painful experiences, and an instinct for survival work to create a leader of legend. Exciting, historical, and far reaching, A Common Virtue is an ambitious and explosive creation; one that could only have been written by one who was there"-- Provided by publisher. |
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"When the armies of Ho Chi Mihn push across the demilitarized zone on a scale never thought possible and simultaneously strike at hundreds of targets, American Marines are at the forefront. Unfolding against this background is the story of Marine Paul Jackson, the sole survivor of a hillside massacre. A sniper and reconnaissance innovator, his epic march through the annals of the horrific bureaucracy that is the U.S. military in 1968 is the heart of this story. As an eighteen-year-old Marine he is pitted against an American public that despises his uniform, against internal factions that brand him a "coward," and against a beautiful woman who wants nothing more than for him to stay home and love her. It is about growing into manhood in a toxic America and a world gone mad"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Note |
Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher. |
| Subject |
Vietnam War (1961-1975) (OCoLC)fst01431664
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Marines -- Fiction.
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Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Fiction.
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Bureaucracy -- United States -- Fiction.
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FICTION / War & Military.
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Bureaucracy. (OCoLC)fst00841702
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Marines. (OCoLC)fst01010044
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United States. (OCoLC)fst01204155
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| Chronological Term |
1961 - 1975
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| Genre/Form |
War stories.
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Fiction. (OCoLC)fst01423787
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| Other Form: |
Print version: Hawkins, James A. Common virtue Annapolis, Maryland : Naval Institute Press, 2014 9781612517964 (DLC) 2014027055 |
| ISBN |
9781612517940 (electronic bk.) |
|
1612517943 (electronic bk.) |
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