Reconciliation Road: A Family Odyssey of War and Honor - Hardcover

Marshall, John Douglas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 081560274X ISBN 13: 9780815602743

Publisher: Syracuse University Press, 1993

Synopsis

A famous grandfather, one of America's foremost military historians, a brigadier general. His grandson, a new Army Infantry lieutenant. Vietnam. A stand against war. A family ripped apart. This is Reconciliation Road, the story of one man's lifelong commitment to the fight, another man's refusal to fight, and the price they both paid. S. L. A. Marshall's place in history seemed secure. The author of thirty books about war (including Pork Chop Hill and Men Against Fire), a television commentator and syndicated columnist, "Slam" Marshall was said to have seen more combat in the twentieth century than any other American from his own days as a World War I doughboy in France to his several visits to the killing fields of Vietnam. Then, a decade after Marshall's death, a national controversy called his reputation into question. A major article in American Heritage magazine charged him with fraudulent research and falsifying his past, allegations also featured on the front page of the New York Times. Members of the Marshall family were outraged and urged John, S. L. A.'s grandson, to investigate the story. But John Douglas Marshall hesitated, remembering how his grandfather had disowned him after his honorable discharge from the Army as a conscientious objector. Their once-close relationship had become yet another casualty of the war. Reconciliation Road is the story of John Douglas Marshall's odyssey across America in search of the truth about his grandfather and the roots of their bitter split. It resonates with intriguing encounters of people (General William C. Westmoreland, CBS's Mike Wallace, Vietnam writer Larry Heinemann) and places (Fort Benning, the University of Virginia, theMarshall archives in El Paso, Texas, the grave of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., in Atlanta, the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.). Reconciliation Road is one of the few published accounts of a Vietnam conscientious objector, and much more. Part family memoir,

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

A journalist's self-absorbed and ultimately pointless report on his search for the truth about a celebrated forebear who'd disowned him. Seattle Post-Intelligencer correspondent Marshall is a grandson of the late S.L.A. (``Slam'') Marshall (1900-77), a highly regarded military historian. In 1989, an American Heritage article accused Slam, among other things, of fabricating the field research for an influential work on how US soldiers performed in combat during WW II (Men Against Fire, 1947). The mainstream press picked up the story and kept it alive long enough for outraged kinfolk to enlist the aid of John Douglas in clearing Slam's name. Having been drummed out of the family corps by Slam after surviving an honorable discharge from the Army as a conscientious objector in 1971, the author had mixed feelings about undertaking any such campaign. Eventually, though, he set out on a cross-country trek that took him to archives in El Paso, Fort Benning, and the nation's capital, as well as to the home of General William Westmoreland, to frequent reunions with family members, meetings with Slam's disciples and antagonists, and elsewhere. Beyond learning that the elder Marshall's most vociferous critics had personal axes to grind and that Slam may have exaggerated certain aspects of a muddy-boots career ranging from WW I through Vietnam, the author uncovers no evidence that conclusively diminishes or rejuvenates his grandfather's status as a preeminent annalist whose texts have had an enduring impact on battlefield doctrine. Also, unfortunately, Marshall doesn't explain very thoroughly the CO convictions that ruptured his ties to a well-loved grandparent--and without perspectives of this sort, the author's account of his long march seems a weaker effort to set a record straight or to come to terms with yesteryear's troubles. Notes from a reluctant sojourner whose trip through the past yielded remarkably few insights worth sharing. (Eighteen photographs) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

YA-Military historian General S.L.A. Marshall's groundbreaking book, Men Against Fire, revolutionized military training. He was advisor and confidant to generals from Eisenhower to Westmoreland to Moshe Dayen. After his death, however, an article in American Heritage strongly attacked his scholarship and effectively called his conclusions lies. Now, his grandson, an investigative reporter, tries to find out the truth. John Douglas Marshall was honorably discharged from the army in 1971 as a conscientious objector. Immediately thereafter, his grandfather irrevocably disowned him. John hesitated to clear the man's name, but his father's entreaties finally moved him to try. Thus begins a journey both in miles and in spirit that brings the author to a deeper understanding not only of his grandfather and the military establishment, but also of himself, his family, and his contemporaries on both sides of the Vietnam divide. The resulting account is compelling and well written. This important story will reveal to YAs, relatively impartially, much of the agony and emotion of the 1960s and 70s, as well as provide a good mystery and some history lessons. As a bonus, a clearer insight into the eternal generation gap evolves, and astute readers will begin to see the importance of intergenerational communication.
Susan H. Woodcock, King's Park Library, Burke, VA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Syracuse University Press
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 081560274X
• ISBN 13: 9780815602743
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 296