All American: Football, Faith, and Fighting for Freedom - Softcover

McGovern, Robert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061244155 ISBN 13: 9780061244155

Publisher: Harper Paperbacks, 2008

Synopsis

Captain Robert McGovern epitomizes all that is right and good in America. One of nine children growing up in a New Jersey family, he made local headlines as a high school football phenom before becoming a star linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the New England Patriots. When his illustrious NFL career was over, he earned a law degree from Fordham University and went to work for the New York City district attorney's office. From that vantage point he witnessed close-up the fall of the Twin Towers on that world-altering morning in September 2001—an event that inspired him to leave public life and join the U.S. Army to better serve the country he loves.

As a military prosecuting attorney, Captain McGovern has advised battlefield commanders on legal rules of engagement in Afghanistan and has prosecuted suspected terrorists in Iraq. A dedicated soldier and a man of faith who has been on the front lines of the War on Terror—both at home and in the Middle East—Captain Robert McGovern is an extraordinary American with a remarkable and important story to tell—one that every American needs to hear.

About this title

About the Author:

Robert P. McGovern, forty, was born in New Jersey just a few miles from the Meadowlands Sports Complex. After graduating from Holy Cross College, he surprised scouts and even himself by getting drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs. He made the team, and later played for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots. After his NFL days were over, he attended Fordham University's law school, went to work as a prosecutor, and brought those legal skills with him when he was assigned as a judge advocate general in the U.S. Army's 18th Airborne Corps. He helped prosecute the notorious case of Sergeant Hasan Akbar, accused of killing two army comrades in Kuwait. After tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq, McGovern is currently stationed in Virginia.

From Publishers Weekly:

God and football are justified by the author's Catholic education and his four-season stint as an NFL linebacker (with the Chiefs, Steelers and Patriots), full of gridiron pratfalls and hymns to teamwork, goal setting and perseverance. The war in Iraq is justified by his experiences as an army lawyer prosecuting terrorists and insurgents in Baghdad, which he elaborates with strident rhetoric—"we serve the cause for [sic] peace and life, while our enemy seeks only chaos and death"—and tendentious argument. McGovern's case is simplistic and one-sided. He blames the violence in Iraq entirely on foreign terrorists while ignoring the sectarian strife engulfing the country. He insists that Saddam was a "clear and present danger" who would have attacked America if he could. Instead of confronting critics of the Iraq War head-on, McGovern conflates them with unnamed straw men who allegedly want to coddle Osama bin Laden. It all merges into a manifesto, complete with broadsides denouncing drugs and supporting the death penalty, a touch of France-bashing and jockishly cloying salutes to lawyer colleagues ("Deep down inside, John is really just a big old Teddy bear"), revered coaches and other all-Americans. McGovern's stay-the-course cheerleading seems irrelevant to the agonizing quandaries confronting America in Iraq or the results of the recent elections. Photos. (Jan. 30)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0061244155
• ISBN 13: 9780061244155
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352