Once an Eagle : A Novel
Author(s): Anton Myrer
“Once an Eagle is simply the best work of fiction on leadership in print.” —General Martin E. Dempsey, 18th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Required reading for West Point and Marine Corps cadets, Once An Eagle is the story of one special man, a soldier named Sam Damon, and his adversary over a lifetime, fellow officer Courtney Massengale. Damon is a professional who puts duty, honor, and the men he commands above self-interest. Massengale, however, brilliantly advances by making the right connections behind the lines and in Washington's corridors of power. Beginning in the French countryside during the Great War, the conflict between these adversaries solidifies in the isolated garrison life marking peacetime, intensifies in the deadly Pacific jungles of World War II, and reaches its treacherous conclusion in the last major battleground of the Cold War—Vietnam. Now reissued with a new foreword by acclaimed historian Carlo D'Este, here is an unforgettable story of a man who embodies the best in our nation—and in us all.
Review(s):
“Beautifully written. ...A masterpiece. .... Myrer’s descriptions of firefights are by far the best I have read.”
“Remarkable . . . utterly engrossing. Myrer is a superb storyteller.”
“An ambitious, magnificently vivid novel...compelling. The battle scenes are among the finest I have ever read.”
“Myrer was an excellent storyteller...Once An Eagle is that very rare thing, a genuine ideological novel. When one of these becomes standard issue to the Corps of Cadets we would be remiss if we ignored it.”
“A powerful, provocative and strongly-written novel...and an implied warning to the nation...One hopes that the Chiefs of Staff in Washington will read it with care.”
“Accurate and appealing. The most brilliant and moving description of men in battle I have read... Truly a great book.”
“At long last we have what critics have been saying was lost to modern novels--an honest-to-God hero...a natural.”
“I fully understand why Once An Eagle has become a classic novel of war and warriors. Sam Damon doesn’t preach, he lives his values and they are universal not only military.”
“I would pick up Once An Eagle rather than Norman Mailer any day for a clue as to what is going on in Vietnam.”
“In ironic contrast, the story moves from jungle warfare to drawing rooms on the Potomac, and back again...Goes to the heart of our century.”
ISBN: 9780062221629