About Face: The Odyssey Of An American Warrior

The memoir of a soldier's soldier who never expected to "check out of the Army any way but feet first," this is passionate testimony not only to the brutality and murkiness of war but also to the pettifoggery of bureaucratic war-making. (Hackworth's disenchantment culminated in a 1971 appearance on "Issues and Answers" that ended his career.) Yet his criticism is both intemperate and indiscriminate, leaving unclear exactly what lessons he draws from Vietnam, other than that the army is no better positioned now for the most likely wars-unconventional, messily political, limited conflicts in the Third World-than it was then.