**NATIONAL BESTSELLER - A "gripping book about this extraordinary man
who lived passionately and died unnecessarily" (USA Today) in
post-9/11 Afghanistan, from the bestselling author of Into the
Wild and Into Thin Air.
**
In 2002, Pat Tillman walked away from a multimillion-dollar NFL contract
to join the Army and became an icon of American patriotism. When he was
killed in Afghanistan two years later, a legend was born. But the real
Pat Tillman was much more remarkable, and considerably more complicated
than the public knew.
Sent first to Iraq--a war he would openly declare was "illegal as hell"
--and eventually to Afghanistan, Tillman was driven by emotionally
charged, sometimes contradictory notions of duty, honor, justice, 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. 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 family and the American public for five weeks
following his death. During this time, President Bush used 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.
Drawing on Tillman's journals and letters and countless interviews with
those who knew him and extensive research in Afghanistan, Jon 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.
This edition has been updated to reflect new developments and includes
new material obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
