Across the fence

"Across the Fence: The Secret War in Vietnam," was vanity-pressed by Real War Stories.com three years ago but, partly for that reason, and also because heroism books about Vietnam aren’t generally approved by the New York-based publishing industry, it went unreviewed. Comes now fulsome praise for it in a lengthy look at such books in the Aug. 24 issue of Atlantic.com. I haven’t read it yet, but I have ordered one. It’s available here for $15.95 plus shipping. Also, sort of, at Amazon which has it priced, used, at $127. Must be a typo. Sight unseen I will recommend it to my rare readers, especially combat veterans of any war. The author, J. Stryker Meyer (whose nickname was/is Tilt), is an old acquaintence I worked with in the late 1970s at a daily in New Jersey. He’s now married, has five kids (including one serving in Iraq) and is still an ink-stained wretch, for the North County Times, near San Diego, where, last fall, he outed a local pol claiming to have been in Special Forces. JSM, a MACV-SOG veteran, was always a good writer, and the review says he still is, calling his combat writing "pure grain alcohol." His is one of a bunch of recent books about Vietnam popular with Iraq and Afghan veterans. Try it. We can compare notes when we finish.

Thanks to the Seablogger for the pointer to the Atlantic.com article.