ANNALS OF VIETNAM

Karl Marlantes wrote the magnificent Vietnam war novel Matterhorn. Now he has combined his experience as a Marine platoon leader with his new life as a best-selling author to produce a meditation on (as the title says) What It Is Like to Go to War. It's interesting just on the surface level of comparing the novel to his real-life experiences in Vietnam, which are scattered through the book. It's also a Platonic reflection on how a nation can develop a class of warriors who can fight fiercely, intelligently, and humanely, and thus come home without sullying the country's reputation and without damaging their own minds and hearts. (Mr. Marlantes is up front about his own emotional problems in civilian life.) The book isn't intended for the warriors but for those who send them into combat--and that includes you and me, the American voters. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford