Anton Myrer (1922–1996)

This book is an absolute tome -- 1300 pages in print. That length was a little daunting, but I decided to read it because of the very good reviews, and because it's used as a text for West Point cadets. I was curious why.

It's an excellent book on leadership, contrasting Sam Damon (the guy everyone wants to be) and Courtney Massengale (the guy most folks don't). I imagined, before I started, that each of them would be a caricature. That's not the case. Each is an interesting and complex character, though that's truer of Damon than of Massengale. The two are surrounded by interesting friends, family and colleagues, and those relationships are deep and nicely drawn.

Damon's military career begins just before WWI, and the book closes in the run-up to the Vietnam War. Damon is the central character throughout. It could, maybe, have ended earlier, but it kept me engaged all the way to the end. There's come casual racism and sexism in the book, but Damon (and Myrer) are ahead of their time in their challenges to those tropes.

I never served in the military and have certainly never seen combat. I found the combat scenes in the book absolutely gripping. I bet that Myrer did a good job capturing life in the Army in general, including the time Damon served during peacetime.

If you're wondering whether this book is for you, I think that Steinbeck's East of Eden is a reasonable comparison -- sweeping, generational, complex characters working against the cultural and social backgrounds of the time. The characters are equally interesting, I thought, and the story every bit as gripping.… (more)