Mini-Review: “Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman”
Posted Sunday February 14, 2010 at 10:30am in Mini Review
A few day ago I finally reading Jon Krakauer’s book: Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman. If you don’t know who Tillman was, allow me to quickly explain. Tillman was a safety for the Arizona Cardinals until the 2001-2002 season. After the events on September 11, 2001 he decided that playing football wasn’t enough. His nation was going to war, and he felt it was wrong to sit on his butt and play football. Pat Tillman enlisted in the army and became an Army Ranger. On April 22, 2004, Pat Tillman was killed.
Krakauer’s book is decent. Tillman has always been a hero of mine since the day he turned down a 3.6 million dollar contract to join the military. Not too many people (post World War II) would turn down a multi-million dollar contract to become a soldier and serve his country. Since he became a hero of mine, I knew a lot about him. For me, many of the things that Krakauer talks about (and many find surprising) I already knew because I had previously read a lot about Pat Tillman. For example, I knew that Tillman was a thinker, a bit of a thrill seeker, as well as a complex, smart, and generous individual. He was not the grunt, or football jock that many have labeled him as. That isn’t to say that I was still not surprised by what was included in Krakauer’s book at times.
The death and cover up of Tillman’s by the military is well described by Krakauer. I consider myself one who has become somewhat desensitized to the horrors of war and combat. I have read a lot of gruesome actions, seen it on TV, videogames, and on the news. Krakauer does a great job at detailing the events with brutal detail; so much so that I actually got a knot in my stomach. The level of detail is where Krakuer excels with his work, as he finds a way to put you into the mind of Pat Tillman.
For the most part, Krakauer uses one main source to convey the thoughts of late athlete and soldier. Tillman had kept a personal journal throughout a large portion of his life. Krakauer uses this journal to fill in the story of Tillman’s life by allowing Krakauer to add Tillman’s thoughts, fears, theories, and philosophies to the narrative. The journal proves to be a fantastic addition to the work as it helps to detail what Pat was trying to accomplish at certain points in his life. Without the journal that information would be forever lost. In addition, the journal adds credibility to the work because it is a primary source that would have been written soon after the events unfolded. Journals, unlike oral history accounts, don’t fade or distort what happened; for Krakauer to include the journal, as well as interviews and recorded statements, as the main driving points is commendable.
Although Krakauer used solid sources in his writing of the book, there are a few criticisms that must be mentioned. My first criticism is based on his end note section. Secondly, I must also be critical of Krakauer in regards to one aspect of his writing because he sometimes has chapters that have nothing to do with the work at hand. While sometimes they are interesting, other times they are distracting enough to make the reader ask “did I grab the wrong book? I am still reading that book on Tillman right?”
After spending some time pondering why these chapters on Jessica Lynch, friendly fire, Afghan history, other military mixups, and higher command snafus, that have nothing to do with the odyssey that is Pat Tillman, one can tell there is a considerable liberal bias. While Krakauer’s claims do not prove to necessarily be false but they are unnecssasry in elaborating on his thesis (that Tillman is more complex than your average football jock or military grunt). To me, it is sad that he uses Tillman as a vehicle for furthering his own political opinion. Tillman may have leaned liberal himself, there is no way to even prove if Tillman’s journal was used out of context. I am left asking why particular parts were actually included, and others were not. Since it is Tillman’s personal journal
One of the biggest criticisms I have of Krakauer’s book is with his endnotes. Krakauer never documents where he gets any of his information. He has a few footnotes in the later chapters however they are only explanatory. If one surveys the endnotes he does give the sources he used but he does not say when he used them. Because he doesn’t have true endnotes he could easily combine parts of chapters to give it more validity when it is not really from that source.
In the end, I give this book a 3 out of 5. Although Where Men Win Glory is an interesting book, the criticisms are actually quite significant. The book is useful in explaining the thoughts, and philosophies of Tillman and Krakauer is successful in proving that Tillman was a more complex individual than what most of the public precieved. If you followed Tillman closely however, there is little to learn. Krakauer should have left his personal feelings on politics out and he should have documented his sources much better. If he would have not used Tillman’s death for a vehicle against Bush and the military then this work could be taken much more respectfully as it would then be a great service to Pat Tillman and his family.
