BOOKS: OUR BROTHER'S KEEPER

"Powerful..."

OUR BROTHER'S KEEPER:
My Family's Journey through Vietnam to Hell and Back
by Jedwin Smith
(John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2005)

Sometimes a book comes along that is so powerful, and has such a personal impact, for whatever reason, it can be difficult to explain and describe such a book. It took me less than 24 hours to read OUR BROTHER'S KEEPER, yet more than a year to write the review, which is long overdue and perfectly appropriate for Father's Day (a great gift book for Dad).

As I told the author, Jedwin Smith, last year:
"I almost don't have the words to tell you how extraordinary it is...since I'm never at a loss for words, that's pretty extraordinary in itself..."
and "I have never cried so much reading a book."

OUR BROTHER'S KEEPER is a deeply personal memoir of the Vietnam War and the impact on one family, told for the brother who died in that war by the older brother who survived. Decades later, his own life in turmoil from unresolved grief and guilt, Jedwin Smith traveled to Vietnam with the Marines who were with his brother when he died, to find out what happened in March 1968, for closure and resolution for three generations of a family torn apart and broken by loss.

It's an amazing story, relevant to tens, even hundreds of thousands of people who were touched by the Vietnam War -- those who served (like my father), those who loved them (like my mother), and future generations -- the children and grandchildren who might not even have known them (like me), but live with the legacy. (There's that powerful, personal impact.)

As the men who served in Vietnam get older -- and yet it seems as if the memories remain painfully fresh for so many of the veterans -- OUR BROTHER'S KEEPER is an incredible tribute to their lives and their experiences, the sacrifices they and their families made on behalf of our country. It is also highly relevant to new generations in 2006, with so many of our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

OUR BROTHER'S KEEPER is an engrossing memoir, and more than that, through intimate, first-person, fast-paced writing, it becomes a gripping military adventure story all on its own. It also serves as a fascinating glimpse into military culture and life as a Marine that might help us understand the mind of military men and women in combat -- how mistakes and atrocities might occur, in light of current controversy and scandal concerning our Marines serving in Iraq.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jedwin Smith is a journalist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution who has twice been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. He is also the author of the acclaimed FATAL TREASURE: Greed and Death, Emeralds and Gold, and the Obsessive Search for the Legendary Ghost Galleon Atocha.