The Long Gray Line: The American Journey of West Point's Class of 1966
by Rick Atkinson

List Price: $17.00
Our Price: $2.49
You Save: $14.51 (85%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions

Book Summary Information

Book Reviews of The Long Gray Line: The American Journey of West Point's Class of 1966

Book Review: A Fine Line
Summary: 4 Stars

Atkinson shared anecdotes about many people, but he followed most closely the story of three. One was George Crocker, an army career man; then there was Tom Carhart, whose attitude towards the Vietnam War and the army went through peaks and valleys; and finally there was Jack Wheeler, who liked the army, but did not want to fight. To further flesh out our understanding of life in the army for the West Point graduate of 1966, Atkinson went into great detail on the lives of a couple of people who never served in the army. The two were a minister who worked at the West Point Chapel even though he was a civilian and a widow of an officer who survived Vietnam only to be killed in a border incident between North and South Korea.

The book was very well done, but it was not without flaw. Of course this problem might not have been possible to solve, given the scope of the work. As the lives of the graduates unfolded over the years, and Atkinson switched from one person's story to update another, it was sometimes hard to keep all the names straight. It was occasionally difficult to remember all the back story of someone and fit the new developments within the appropriate context. Again, this probably could not have been helped, since Atkinson wanted to cast his net as wide as possible to show us what life was really like for these people. He obviously could not narrow his focus without losing a part of the big picture.

This book was great for pleasure reading, but it was informative enough to serve as a wonderful resource for students of military history, Vietnam, and/or life in AMerica in the 1960's and 1970's.

20th Century Books

• Books > Subjects > History > Americas > United States
• Asia > Vietnam
• Military > United States
• Vietnam War
• World
• New & Used Textbooks > Humanities > History > United States