Memorial Day weekend, 1975. Decades removed from his death-defying battlefield experiences on Iwo Jima and post-war Marine Corps occupation of China, Bill "Reddog" Olson is now a successful engineer anticipating a holiday in the sleepy beach town of Belmont Shore, California. Unknown to Olson, a letter would summon once familiar ghosts and trigger a new episode of post-traumatic stress, not least the long-buried secret killing of a prominent colonel in Mao's insurgent army. Wartime reflections will fray his resolve to secure a professional opportunity to return to China in a U.S. government operation. A new war of wits, ingenuity, and strategic leadership. A war the Communists may yet win. In a story broadly characterizing the resilient, self-taught, imperfect men who comprise one of America's greatest generations, Olson is an intriguing case study, one that by and large captures his generation's education. A generation that felled fascism, outdistanced brutal Soviet-style communism, and helped to engineer remarkable rising economic prosperity and political freedom around the world. Author Steven Loomis offers a tale and sharp insight concerning the kind of education and leadership responsible for much of that prosperity and freedom, as well as a penetrating afterword regarding the corruptible yet widely popular type of thinking presently undermining it.
ThriftBooks sells millions of used books at the lowest everyday prices. We personally assess every book's quality and offer rare, out-of-print treasures. We deliver the joy of reading in recyclable packaging with free standard shipping on US orders over $15. ThriftBooks.com. Read more. Spend less.