Where Men Win Glory

In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, Pat Tillman gave up a flourishing career in US football to volunteer for his country’s armed forces. He made it through rigorous training to become a member of the elite Army Rangers. And then, in 2004, he was killed
in Afghanistan by one of his fellow soldiers.

This is a book about Tillman, Afghanistan, the 1979 Russian invasion, and the chaos that followed when the Soviet army withdrew. It’s about the rise of the Taliban, the War on Terror and Al-Qaeda. And it’s also about the cover-up that followed the news of Tillman’s death, when the Bush administration - looking for ways to put a positive, heroic spin on a war that wasn’t going the way they’d hoped – began spreading an alternative history. In their version, Tillman died a hero’s death fighting Afghan tribesmen. He wasn’t shot – accidentally – by one of his own men.

Members of my book club didn’t care for this; they found it heavy going. I think it’s a stunning piece of reporting, written with all Krakauer’s trademark skill and readability and I zipped through it in three days. Maybe not as good as his best book, Into Thin Air, but only by a fraction so small you couldn’t even begin to see it.