Where Men Win Glory

The Odyssey of Pat Tillman

By: Jon Krakauer

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

The bestselling author of Into the Wild, Into Thin Air, and Under the Banner of Heaven delivers a stunning, eloquent account of a remarkable young man’s haunting journey.

Like the men whose epic stories Jon Krakauer has told in his previous bestsellers, Pat Tillman was an irrepressible individualist and iconoclast. In May 2002, Tillman walked away from his $3.6 million NFL contract to enlist in the United States Army. He was deeply troubled by 9/11, and he felt a strong moral obligation to join the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Two years later, he died on a desolate hillside in southeastern Afghanistan.

Though obvious to most of the two dozen soldiers on the scene that a ranger in Tillman’s own platoon had fired the fatal shots, the Army aggressively maneuvered to keep this information from Tillman’s wife, other family members, and the American public for five weeks following his death. During this time, President Bush repeatedly invoked Tillman’s name to promote his administration’ s foreign policy. Long after Tillman’s nationally televised memorial service, the Army grudgingly notified his closest relatives that he had “probably” been killed by friendly fire while it continued to dissemble about the details of his death and who was responsible.

In Where Men Win Glory, Jon Krakauer draws on Tillman’s journals and letters, interviews with his wife and friends, conversations with the soldiers who served alongside him, and extensive research on the ground in Afghanistan to render an intricate mosaic of this driven, complex, and uncommonly compelling figure as well as the definitive account of the events and actions that led to his death. Before he enlisted in the army, Tillman was familiar to sports aficionados as an undersized, overachieving Arizona Cardinals safety whose virtuosity in the defensive backfield was spellbinding. With his shoulder-length hair, outspoken views, and boundless intellectual curiosity, Tillman was considered a maverick. America was fascinated when he traded the bright lights and riches of the NFL for boot camp and a buzz cut. Sent first to Iraq—a war he would openly declare was “illegal as hell” —and eventually to Afghanistan, Tillman was driven by complicated, emotionally charged, sometimes contradictory notions of duty, honor, justice, patriotism, and masculine pride, and he was determined to serve his entire three-year commitment. But on April 22, 2004, his life would end in a barrage of bullets fired by his fellow soldiers.

Krakauer chronicles Tillman’s riveting, tragic odyssey in engrossing detail highlighting his remarkable character and personality while closely examining the murky, heartbreaking circumstances of his death. Infused with the power and authenticity readers have come to expect from Krakauer’s storytelling, Where Men Win Glory exposes shattering truths about men and war.

©2009 Jon Krakauer (P)2009 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Jon Krakauer has done his job well; Where Men Win Glory is a tough read...[He] has tackled a task that required the distillation and organization of volumes of disparate information. That he has fielded a coherent narrative is a victory. that he has made it compelling and passionate is a difficult blessing...In mining Tillman's life and death, Krakauer uncovers a story much more compelling than anything that could be spun." - The Denver Post

"Krakauer -- whose forenseic studies of the Emrsonian Man in books such as Into Thin Air and Into the Wild yield so much insight -- has turned in a beautiful bit of reporting, documenting Tillman's life with journals and interviews with those close to him...Must be counted as the definitive version of events surrounding Tillman's death." --The Los Angeles Times

"In this wrenching account of the life and eath of NFL star Pat Tillman, killed in friendly fire in Afghanistan in 2004, Krakauer brilliants turns investigative reporter...Krakauer will break your heart recounting how the military lied about Pat's death to his parents and fellow soldier Kevin." -- People

Pretty good right up until the end

Most of this book plays to Krakauer’s strengths as a writer, showing all the dimensions of Tillman’s personality while giving a pretty good background on the war in Afghanistan and early-2000s American foreign policy. For whatever reason though it takes a weird turn in the last fifteen minutes of the epilogue. It seems to be a combination of Krakauer’s need to put a bow on the narrative and his odd semi-materialist/semi-Washington consensus analysis of geopolitics. It reaches some ok conclusions but he also goes down this weird nietzchian rabbit hole that feels out of place from the rest of the book. Overall though it’s a decent mix of what can be described as Into the Wild meets Seymour Hersh.

What can I say it's Krakauer

I learned so much from this book. Thank you John Krakauer for being objective and telling the truth.

I'm speechless...

This should be required reading. I rarely read non-fiction but I will listen again.

Friendly fire is not so friendly

A must read for those interested in hearing the truth about friendly fire during war.

Interesting perspective on a complex individual

Enjoyed the fact that it used much of Tillman's own words as reference. Very complex man, who lived an extraordinary life and met a tragic death which was sullied by bureaucrats. I challenge anyone that reads this to not be impressed and inspired by Tillman's incredible story, regardless of your political perspective.

Panoramic history of the conflict

Both the story of Pat and how the conflict in Afghanistan came about were very compelling

Eye-opening

Wonderfully read and written. A true picture of not only Pat Tillman's life and legacy, but the cover-ups that our government and military have done and still do.

Aaron Rogers Recommends

Outstanding book! Very enlightening and motivating book. Thanks to the Pat Mcafee Show for providing this platform.

Beautiful and Heartbreaking

Wonderful book that details the life of an incredible person who was more than a professional athlete. A man of conviction, and a person who wanted to do no more than what he felt was right. It is heartbreaking that our government, and military, do not hold these values with the same devotion…

FOB Tillman Veteran

I was in Afghanistan when Pat was killed in 2004. On my next tour in 2006-2007 (16 months) I was stationed at the Forward Operating Bas named after him. Although I never met him. The men that I served with everyday on the eastern outskirts of Afghanistan are mentioned in this book. I have been deployed 4 times to Afghanistan. That was my 2nd tour. It was by far the most brutal. This book depicts some of that. Thank you.