Where Men Win Glory

The Odyssey of Pat Tillman

De: Jon Krakauer

Narrado por: Scott Brick

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

Very Good

This was an amazing story. I just loved it.

Where Men Win Glory

totally absorbing, very well written and thought provoking. A Krakauer classic

Krakauer succeeds again

I highly recommend this book to admirers of Krakauer's previous exploration of the nonconformist mind, Into the Wild. Whereas Chris McCandless eschewed societal conventions to the point of wanting to abandon civilization entirely, Pat Tillman defied all expectations by embodying seemingly contradictory roles--the tough, celebrity football player and Army Ranger, but also the sensitive intellectual and homebody devoted to his wife. Not being a follower of football, I was only vaguely familiar with Tillman before reading this book, but I was moved almost to tears by his extraordinary dedication to his ideals and the struggle his family faced to find out the truth about his death.

I further recommend this book to any fans of books about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan along the lines of The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell or The Looming Tower (which is referenced several times by Krakauer). If you're a fan of narrator Scott Brick, you also won't be disappointed.

educational read, horrid narrator

Appreciated the insights into the Afghan conflict and the political machinations, and (apologies) I am a "leftist" and felt author's insights were very accurate. Hated the narration: was like listening to Ronald Reagan at his patronizing worst; then, I began thinking it was fun to listen to "Ronnie" espouse leftist ideals, so it got better. Krakauer is a favorite author, but I wasn't sure I could get into this book. I was wrong, and I am glad to have heard it and to know more about Tillman.

Eye opening, heartbreaking, and a must read.

Admirable, heartbreaking- and a story that needs to be told many, many times over for years to come.

Krakauer smoothly intertwined timelines, events and people in both Tillman's life as well as the middle eastern conflict, ultimately leading to Pat's untimely and tragic death.

The backstory to the events leading to the war help the reader to have a foundation to think on for the story- in culture where we are bombarded by media snips of what's happening over there- many of us don't know the actual root of the conflicts- and this book does a lot to remedy that. This also adds to the tragedy that is Tillman's death. Krakauer paints a hopeless picture that is the Middle East conflict- and we are forced to watch as Pat Tillman is tragically thrown into the mix.

Eye opening, and shedding a lot of light on the man Pat was- this book is a 10/10 for Krakauer's efforts- mainly because he stuck to who Pat truly was and told the real story- a heroes tale if there ever was one.