Synopses & Reviews
The dramatic story of West Points class of 2002, the first in a generation to graduate during wartime
They came to West Point in a time of peace, but soon after the start of their senior year, their lives were transformed by September 11. The following June, when President George W. Bush spoke at their commencement and declared that America would “take the battle to the enemy,” the men and women in the class of 2002 understood that they would be fighting on the front lines. In this stirring account of the five years following their graduation from West Point, the class experiences firsthand both the rewards and the costs of leading soldiers in the war on terror.
In a Time of War focuses on two members of the class of 2002 in particular: Todd Bryant, an amiable, funny Californian for whom military service was a family tradition; and Drew Sloan, the hardworking son of liberal parents from Arkansas who is determined to serve his country. On the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, Todd, Drew, and their classmatesthe armys newest and youngest officerslead their troops into harms way again and again.
Meticulously reported, sweeping in scope, Bill Murphy Jr.s powerful book follows these brave and idealistic officersand their familiesas they experience the harrowing reality of the modern battlefield. In a Time of War tells a vivid and sometimes heartbreaking story about courage, honor, and what war really means to the soldiers whose lives it defines.
Bill Murphy Jr. worked as Bob Woodwards research assistant on the bestselling State of Denial. A lawyer and former Army Reserve officer, he reported from Iraq for The Washington Post in 2007. He lives in Washington, D.C.
West Point's class of 2002 is the first in a generation to have graduated during wartime. The students came to West Point in a time of peace, but soon after the beginning of their senior year, their lives were transformed by September 11. The following June, when President George W. Bush spoke at their commencement and declared that America would “take the battle to the enemy,” the men and women in the class of 2002 understood that they would be fighting on the front lines. In this stirring account of the five years following their graduation from West Point, the class experiences firsthand both the rewards and the costs of leading soldiers in the war on terror.
In a Time of War focuses on two members of the class of 2002 in particular: Todd Bryant, an amiable, funny Californian for whom military service was a family tradition; and Drew Sloan, the hardworking son of liberal parents from Arkansas who is determined to serve his country. On the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, Todd, Drew, and their classmatesthe armys newest and youngest officerslead their troops into harms way as they learned to do at West Point.
Bill Murphy, Jr.s meticulously reported, powerful book follows these brave and idealistic officersand their familiesas they experience the harrowing reality of the modern battlefield. In a Time of War tells a vivid and sometimes heartbreaking story about courage, honor, and what war means to the soldiers whose lives it defines. "In a Time of War is not a critique of the Bush administration's decision to go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is not a book such as Thomas E. Ricks' Fiasco (2006), bound to start arguments and end friendships. It is not a book that either candidate in the current presidential campaign is likely to grab as a prop to wave over his head at a town hall meeting. This is not a book for anyone whose opinion about American foreign policy is set in stone, never to be revisited or revised. This is a book for the rest of usfor those who aren't exactly sure how to feel about the war but who find ourselves wondering, at the end of the day, what kind of people devote their lives to military service, during a time of such controversy and uncertainty. The soldiers about whom Murphy writes were members of the West Point Class of 2002. Because that year marked the 200th anniversary of the service academy, this class ‘was constantly touted as the new face of West Point, the author notes, ‘linking two centuries of tradition with a bright American future. They arrived in 1998, when America was at peace. Then came Sept. 11, 2001. But there was something else that set this class apart, Murphy says. Something much subtler than a terrorist attack. By the time Todd Bryant and Drew Sloantwo of the soldiers upon whom the author focusesgraduate, 'the common measure of civic responsibility had shifted. A huge gulf had opened between those who served in the military and those who didn't. Americans no longer believed they had to serve their country in the military in order to be good citizens.' The book follows these soldiers and others, too, as they finish their training at West Point and head to war. They come across as ordinary Americansthat is, they're not great brains or super-athleteswho do one extraordinary thing: They decide to devote their lives to protecting and defending their country. Murphy's careful reporting and gentle storytelling style make Bryant, Sloan and all the others somehow more, not less, heroic. There's no bravado in this book, no flash. And that makes it far more memorable than it would have been had Murphy spiced it up with melodrama. When one of the main characters dies from his wounds, the sorrow is profound. We've come to know and like this soldier in the course of the book. Weve also come to understand West Point, which, despite the changes intended to make it less arduous and more attractive to a new generation of students, remains a place very much apart from the world."Julia Keller, Chicago Tribune
"In In A Time of War: The Proud and Perilous Journey of West Point's Class of 2002, the author convincingly describes the peril and the anguish of loss."Bing West, Forbes
"West Point continues to fascinate a line of good American writers. Back in 1989, Rick Atkinson gave us The Long Gray Line, covering West Point's class of '66 for two decades. Then in 2003, Rolling Stone's David Lipsky gave us Absolutely American, an upbeat look at life as a West Point cadet before 9/11. Now comes a worthy successor, Bill Murphy Jr., with In a Time of War, subtitled The Proud and Perilous Journey of West Point's Class of 2002. Murphy's book covers less time than Atkinson's, and it takes a lot less upbeat tone than Lipsky's. But like the two earlier works, it's fascinating reading . . . The author served as an Army Reserve officer, so he brings good credentials for siding with graduates who opt out of uniform after their five-year obligation. Old-time West Pointers who stuck it out in uniform for two or three decades tend to wrong their hands at this bleeding away of young officers. But when you listen to the officers and their wives whom Murphy interviewed, and when you read the letters and e-mails they exchanged between Iraq and Back Home, you sense that maybe for a nation at war, we are asking too much of far too few people. It's one thing to put one of those 'Support Our Troops' magnets on the back of your car. It's quite another to be one of those troops, far from your loved ones at home and facing a daily diet of roadside bombs and rifle-propelled grenades. In a Time of War ought to be required reading for the civilian leaders who make decisions that send young Americans off to war. For the rest of us, it's gripping reading."Harry Lewis, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"The West Point class of 2002 was the first in a generation to graduate into armed combat. Murphy offers remarkable insights into a handful of soldiers' lives during a time of upheaval and division, focusing on two members of the class of 2002 in particular: Todd Bryan, a witty Californian from a family with a military tradition, and Drew Sloan, the hardworking son of liberal parents from Arkansas. Drawing on more than 200 interviews with the officers, their families and the soldiers they served with, this is a sympathetic picture of the struggles faced by the military men and their families as they face separation, anxiety, fear, and pride."Maxwell Taylor Kennedy, Tucson Citizen
"Army 2nd Lt. Todd J. Bryant, of Jurupa, was just 23 when he died on Oct 31, 2003, after an explosive device hit his Humvee as it traveled on a road in Anbar Province in Iraq. Nearly five years later, the baby-faced West Point graduate, class of 2002, will gain a measure of immortality as one of the graduates profiled in In a Time of War by Bill Murphy Jr. Out of the class, three principles emerge: Drew Sloan, an infantry platoon leader; Tricia LeRoux Birdsell, a medical platoon leader, and Bryant. But it is Bryant's story that opens the book and dominates the first third. Drawing upon interviews with family, friends and fellow graduates and using Bryant's own words in the dozens of letters he wrote to his wife, Jenifer, Murphy tries to capture the young soldier's essence. The portrait that emerges is of a sunny, good-natured prankster who wanted to experience all the fun life had to offer and 'who believed a double-double burger from In-N-Out was nature's perfect food.' But Murphy presents a serious, thoughtful, impossibly romantic Bryant as well . . . At its core, the book is a harrowing look at the unrelenting violence soldiers face in the early days of the Iraq War, at the apparent poor planning by the U.S. military that sometimes put those soldiers in harm's way, and the effects of all this on those left behind in the United States."Sandra Stokley, The Press-Enterprise
"There are a number of remarkable elements in Bill Murphy's In a Time of War. First there is his uncanny ability to coax small, intimate details from his subjects. Second, his writing is outstanding. He weaves the tiny moments that make a life into an astonishingly well written and compelling tapestry. But most extraordinary is how he manages to avoid histrionics. As its title makes clear, this book is about sending some of our finest young men and women off to a war from which some will not return. Murphy is invisible here, and allows the simple yet eloquent words of the soldiers and their loved ones to take center stage; the book is more powerful for his restraint . . . The most heart-wrenching moment is when a recently widowed mother puts her young daughter to bed. And as she leaves the room, the young girl says to no one (seemingly) there: 'bye-bye daddy' . . . In the U.S., most of us are untouched by Iraq and Afghanistan. That will no longer be true for those who read this book."Curt Schleier, The Grand Rapids Press
“What Rick Atkinson did for the West Point class of 1966, Bill Murphy Jr. has had the courage, talent, and dedication to do for the class of 2002. With pencil, boots and tape recorder, Murphy has performed a national service: He sends the reader out among some of the bravest, most inspiring young people in the country, at one of the most pivotal times in our history. Prepare to be moved and amazed.”David Lipsky, author of Absolutely American
"In these days when most of America glides along, more and more oblivious to the conflict overseas, it is a remarkable achievement for any storyteller to reveal the tight, committed subculture that contends with war every day. Our military communityisolated, insulated and, indeed, emotionally segregated from the rest of the nationis fighting, suffering and, at times, dying. In a Time of War has paid attention and done so simply, beautifully and honestly. And attention is due."David Simon, Writer and Producer of HBOs Generation Kill
“A powerful, penetrating tale about the young officers who bear the burden of our 21st-century wars. The themes of In a Time of War are timeless: duty and sacrifice, love and death, heroism and fate.”Rick Atkinson, author of The Day of Battle and The Long Gray Line
"Brilliantly reported and elegantly written. In a Time of War is a story of courage, but it will also break your heart."Bob Woodward, author of State of Denial
"Bill Murphy Jr. has captured the idealism and the courage of the 'Golden Children' of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, West Point's bicentennial Class of 2002. Readers will be moved to tears and fierce pride by their spirit and sacrifice. In a Time of War is a heartfelt portrait of war and familya book that tore my heart out, and one that I will never forget."Lieutenant Colonel John Nagl (retired), author of Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife
“Here is the unforgettable story of the West Point class that bore the full burden of American policy in Iraq. Bill Murphy Jr. captures young officers at war in a classic account that is powerful but not overdrawn, and hauntingly sad yet never saccharinejust straight and true.”David Maraniss, author of They Marched Into Sunlight
"The heavy toll of fighting on two fronts, as experienced by the first United States Military Academy class to graduate into active combat since Vietnam. West Point's 2002 graduates were special, points out the author, a former Army reserve officer who reported from Iraq for the Washington Post in 2007. Their graduation coincided with the Academy's celebration of its bicentennial, but these new lieutenants were also headed for a war in progress. The Point broke with tradition by allowing the class of 2002 to stay in their original companies for all four years, instead of reassigning them to new companies halfway through. An unusual camaraderie and closeness was the result, Murphy notes. He plumbed these associations for several years to produce this slice of military life that focuses on a handful of 2002 classmates, most acquainted with each other, who endured as many as three deployments to the war zones in Afghanistan and Iraq. Affable Californian Todd Bryant opted for an armored brigade that the Army actually sent to Iraq without its tanks; married and a new father, Bryant died in a patrolling Humvee hit by an IED. Drew Sloan from Arkansas was luckier in Afghanistan, but wounds suffered in a Taliban attack required more than a year of multiple surgeries and left his face and body scarred. Murphy stresses that these young Army officers, often leading platoons into hostile territory day after day, made the sacrifices and suffered the brunt of a brutal, violent conflict that America tried its best to ignore, marked as it was by mismanagement at multiple levels and actively opposed by many from the start . . . effectively underscores the widely reported disaffection of recent West Point classes with the military."Kirkus Reviews
"The West Point cadets Murphy follows through their baptism by fire are an admirable sample of young American men and women: intelligent, ambitious and intensely patriotic. Most come from career military families and hold conservative opinions. Murphy describes their four years at West Point with respect even when discussing their love lives and marriages. All yearn for battle, and most get their wish. The book's best passages describe the confusion of moving to Iraq or Afghanistan and fighting insurgents, for which they lack both training and equipment. All feel something is not right but concentrate on the job at hand; some inevitably die or are grievously wounded . . . [t]his work stands out from much current military reporting by avoiding editorializing about war. He confines himself to a skillful journalistic narrative of events that are gripping enough to hold any reader's attention."Publishers Weekly
Review
“What Rick Atkinson did for the West Point class of 1966, Bill Murphy Jr. has had the courage, talent, and dedication to do for the class of 2002. With pencil, boots and tape recorder, Murphy has performed a national service: He sends the reader out among some of the bravest, most inspiring young people in the country, at one of the most pivotal times in our history. Prepare to be moved and amazed.”—David Lipsky, author of
Absolutely American "In these days when most of America glides along, more and more oblivious to the conflict overseas, it is a remarkable achievement for any storyteller to reveal the tight, committed subculture that contends with war every day. Our military community—isolated, insulated and, indeed, emotionally segregated from the rest of the nation—is fighting, suffering and, at times, dying. In a Time of War has paid attention and done so simply, beautifully and honestly. And attention is due."—David Simon, Writer/Producer of HBOs Generation Kill
“A powerful, penetrating tale about the young officers who bear the burden of our 21st century wars. The themes of In a Time of War are timeless: duty and sacrifice, love and death, heroism and fate.”—Rick Atkinson, author of The Day of Battle and The Long Gray Line
"Brilliantly reported and elegantly written. In a Time of War is a story of courage, but it will also break your heart."—Bob Woodward, author of State of Denial
"Bill Murphy Jr. has captured the idealism and the courage of the 'Golden Children' of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, West Point's bicentennial Class of 2002. Readers will be moved to tears and fierce pride by their spirit and sacrifice. In a Time of War is a heartfelt portrait of war and family—a book that tore my heart out, and one that I will never forget."—Lt. Col. John Nagl (ret.), author of Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife
“Here is the unforgettable story of the West Point class that bore the full burden of American policy in Iraq. Bill Murphy Jr. captures young officers at war in a classic account that is powerful but not overdrawn, and hauntingly sad yet never saccharine—just straight and true.”—David Maraniss, author of They Marched Into Sunlight "The story Murphy has written is alternately inspiring and heartbreaking....as combat veterans grow more rare in American society, books like Murphy's become more important."--Andrew Exum, The Washington Post
Synopsis
The “inspiring and heartbreaking” story of West Points class of 2002, the first in a generation to graduate during wartime (The Washington Post)They came to West Point in a time of peace, but soon after the start of their senior year, their lives were transformed by September 11. The following June, when President George W. Bush spoke at their commencement and declared that America would “take the battle to the enemy,” the men and women in the class of 2002 understood that they would be fighting on the front lines. In this stirring account of the five years following their graduation from West Point, the class experiences firsthand both the rewards and the costs of leading soldiers in the war on terror.
Meticulously reported, sweeping in scope, Bill Murphy Jr.s powerful book follows these brave and idealistic officers—and their families—as they experience the harrowing reality of the modern battlefield. In a Time of War tells a vivid and sometimes heartbreaking story about courage, honor, and what war really means to the soldiers whose lives it defines.
Synopsis
They came to West Point in a time of peace, but soon after the start of their senior year, their lives were transformed by September 11. "In a Time of War" tells a vivid and sometimes heartbreaking story about courage, honor, and what war really means to the soldiers whose lives it defines.
Synopsis
The dramatic story of West Point's class of 2002, the first in a generation to graduate during wartime
They came to West Point in a time of peace, but soon after the start of their senior year, their lives were transformed by September 11. The following June, when President George W. Bush spoke at their commencement and declared that America would take the battle to the enemy, the men and women in the class of 2002 understood that they would be fighting on the front lines. In this stirring account of the five years following their graduation from West Point, the class experiences firsthand both the rewards and the costs of leading soldiers in the war on terror.
In a Time of War focuses on two members of the class of 2002 in particular: Todd Bryant, an amiable, funny Californian for whom military service was a family tradition; and Drew Sloan, the hardworking son of liberal parents from Arkansas who is determined to serve his country. On the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, Todd, Drew, and their classmates--the army's newest and youngest officers--lead their troops into harm's way again and again.
Meticulously reported, sweeping in scope, Bill Murphy Jr.'s powerful book follows these brave and idealistic officers--and their families--as they experience the harrowing reality of the modern battlefield. In a Time of War tells a vivid and sometimes heartbreaking story about courage, honor, and what war really means to the soldiers whose lives it defines.
Bill Murphy Jr. worked as Bob Woodward's research assistant on the bestselling State of Denial. A lawyer and former Army Reserve officer, he reported from Iraq for The Washington Post in 2007. He lives in Washington, D.C.
West Point's class of 2002 is the first in a generation to have graduated during wartime. The students came to West Point in a time of peace, but soon after the beginning of their senior year, their lives were transformed by September 11. The following June, when President George W. Bush spoke at their commencement and declared that America would take the battle to the enemy, the men and women in the class of 2002 understood that they would be fighting on the front lines. In this stirring account of the five years following their graduation from West Point, the class experiences firsthand both the rewards and the costs of leading soldiers in the war on terror.
In a Time of War focuses on two members of the class of 2002 in particular: Todd Bryant, an amiable, funny Californian for whom military service was a family tradition; and Drew Sloan, the hardworking son of liberal parents from Arkansas who is determined to serve his country. On the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, Todd, Drew, and their classmates--the army's newest and youngest officers--lead their troops into harm's way as they learned to do at West Point.
Bill Murphy, Jr.'s meticulously reported, powerful book follows these brave and idealistic officers--and their families--as they experience the harrowing reality of the modern battlefield. In a Time of War tells a vivid and sometimes heartbreaking story about courage, honor, and what war means to the soldiers whose lives it defines. In a Time of War is not a critique of the Bush administration's decision to go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is not a book such as Thomas E. Ricks' Fiasco (2006), bound to start arguments and end friendships. It is not a book that either candidate in the current presidential campaign is likely to grab as a prop to wave over his head at a town hall meeting. This is not a book for anyone whose opinion about American foreign policy is set in stone, never to be revisited or revised. This is a book for the rest of us--for those who aren't exactly sure how to feel about the war but who find ourselves wondering, at the end of the day, what kind of people devote their lives to military service, during a time of such controversy and uncertainty. The soldiers about whom Murphy writes were members of the West Point Class of 2002. Because that year marked the 200th anniversary of the service academy, this class 'was constantly touted as the new face of West Point, ' the author notes, 'linking two centuries of tradition with a bright American future.' They arrived in 1998, when America was at peace. Then came Sept. 11, 2001. But there was something else that set this class apart, Murphy says. Something much subtler than a terrorist attack. By the time Todd Bryant and Drew Sloan--two of the soldiers upon whom the author focuses--graduate, 'the common measure of civic responsibility had shifted. A huge gulf had opened between those who served in the military and those who didn't. Americans no longer believed they had to serve their country in the military in order to be good citizens.' The book follows these soldiers and others, too, as they finish their training at West Point and head to war. They come across as ordinary Americans--that is, they're not great brains or super-athletes--who do one extraordinary thing: They decide to devote their lives to protecting and defending their country. Murphy's careful reporting and gentle storytelling style make Bryant, Sloan and all the others somehow more, not less, heroic. There's no bravado in this book, no flash. And that makes it far more memorable than it would have been had Murphy spiced it up with melodrama. When one of the main characters dies from his wounds, the sorrow is profound. We've come to know and like this soldier in the course of the book. We've also come to understand West Point, which, despite the changes intended to make it less arduous and more attractive to a new generation of students, remains a place very much apart from the world.--Julia Keller, Chicago Tribune
In In A Time of War: The Proud and Perilous Journey of West Point's Class of 2002, the author convincingly describes the peril and the anguish of loss.--Bing West, Forbes
West Point continues to fascinate a line of good American writers. Back in 1989, Rick Atkinson gave us The Long Gray Line, covering West Point's class of '66 for two decades. Then in 2003, Rolling Stone's David Lipsky gave us Absolutely American, an upbeat look at life as a West Point cadet before 9/11. Now comes a worthy successor, Bill Murphy Jr., with In a Time of War, subtitled The Proud and Perilous Journey of West Point's Class of 2002. Murphy's book covers less time than Atkinson's, and it takes a lot less upbeat tone than Lipsky's. But like the two earlier works, it's fascinating reading . . . The author served as an Army Reserve officer, so he brings good credentials for siding with graduates who opt out of uniform after their five-year obligation. Old-time West Pointers who stuck it out in uniform for two or three decades tend to wrong their hands at this bleeding away of young officers. But when you listen to the officers and their wives whom Murphy interviewed, and when you read the letters and e-mails they exchanged between Iraq and Back Home, you sense that maybe for a nation at war, we are asking too much of far too few people. It's one thing to put one of those 'Support Our Troops' magnets on the back of your car. It's quite another to be one of those troops, far from your loved ones at home and facing a daily diet of roadside bombs and rifle-propelled grenades. In a Time of War ought to be required reading for the civilian leaders who make decisions that send young Americans off to war. For the rest of us, it's gripping reading.--Harry Lewis, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The West Point class of 2002 was the first in a generation to graduate into armed combat. Murphy offers remarkable insights into a handful of soldiers' lives during a time of upheaval and division, focusing on two members of the class of 2002 in particular: Todd Bryan, a witty Californian from a family with a military tradition, and Drew Sloan, the hardworking son of liberal parents from Arkansas. Drawing on more than 200 interviews with the officers, their families and the soldiers they served with, this is a sympathetic picture of the struggles faced by the military men and their families as they face separation, anxiety, fear, and pride.--Maxwell Taylor Kennedy, Tucson Citizen
Army 2nd Lt. Todd J. Bryant, of Jurupa, was just 23 when he died on Oct 31, 2003, after an explosive device hit his Humvee as it traveled on a road in Anbar Province in Iraq. Nearly five years later, the baby-faced West Point graduate, class of 2002, will gain a measure of immortality as one of the graduates profiled in In a Time of War by Bill Murphy Jr. Out of the class, three principles emerge: Drew Sloan, an infantry platoon leader; Tricia LeRoux Birdsell, a medical platoon leader, and Bryant. But it is Bryant's story that opens the book and dominates the first third. Drawing upon interviews with family, friends and fellow graduates and using Bryant's own words in the dozens of letters he wrote to his wife, Jenifer, Murphy tries to capture the young soldier's essence. The portrait that emerges is of a sunny, good-natured prankster who wanted to experience all the fun life had to offer and 'who believed a double-double burger from In-N-Out was nature's perfect food.' But Murphy presents a serious, thoughtful, impossibly romantic Bryant as well . . . At its core, the book is a harrowing look at the unrelenting violence soldiers face in the early days of the Iraq War, at the apparent poor planning by the U.S. military that sometimes put those soldiers in harm's way, and the effects of all this on those left behind in the United States.--Sandra Stokley, The Press-Enterprise
There are a number of remarkable elements in Bill Murphy's In a Time of War. First there is his uncanny ability to coax small, intimate details from his subjects. Second, his writing is outstanding. He weaves the tiny moments that make a life into an astonishingly well written and c
Synopsis
The dramatic story of West Point's class of 2002, the first in a generation to graduate during wartime
They came to West Point in a time of peace, but soon after the start of their senior year, their lives were transformed by September 11. The following June, when President George W. Bush spoke at their commencement and declared that America would take the battle to the enemy, the men and women in the class of 2002 understood that they would be fighting on the front lines. In this stirring account of the five years following their graduation from West Point, the class experiences firsthand both the rewards and the costs of leading soldiers in the war on terror.
In a Time of War focuses on two members of the class of 2002 in particular: Todd Bryant, an amiable, funny Californian for whom military service was a family tradition; and Drew Sloan, the hardworking son of liberal parents from Arkansas who is determined to serve his country. On the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, Todd, Drew, and their classmates--the army's newest and youngest officers--lead their troops into harm's way again and again.
Meticulously reported, sweeping in scope, Bill Murphy Jr.'s powerful book follows these brave and idealistic officers--and their families--as they experience the harrowing reality of the modern battlefield. In a Time of War tells a vivid and sometimes heartbreaking story about courage, honor, and what war really means to the soldiers whose lives it defines.
Bill Murphy Jr. worked as Bob Woodward's research assistant on the bestselling State of Denial. A lawyer and former Army Reserve officer, he reported from Iraq for The Washington Post in 2007. He lives in Washington, D.C.
West Point's class of 2002 is the first in a generation to have graduated during wartime. The students came to West Point in a time of peace, but soon after the beginning of their senior year, their lives were transformed by September 11. The following June, when President George W. Bush spoke at their commencement and declared that America would take the battle to the enemy, the men and women in the class of 2002 understood that they would be fighting on the front lines. In this stirring account of the five years following their graduation from West Point, the class experiences firsthand both the rewards and the costs of leading soldiers in the war on terror.
In a Time of War focuses on two members of the class of 2002 in particular: Todd Bryant, an amiable, funny Californian for whom military service was a family tradition; and Drew Sloan, the hardworking son of liberal parents from Arkansas who is determined to serve his country. On the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, Todd, Drew, and their classmates--the army's newest and youngest officers--lead their troops into harm's way as they learned to do at West Point.
Bill Murphy, Jr.'s meticulously reported, powerful book follows these brave and idealistic officers--and their families--as they experience the harrowing reality of the modern battlefield. In a Time of War tells a vivid and sometimes heartbreaking story about courage, honor, and what war means to the soldiers whose lives it defines. In a Time of War is not a critique of the Bush administration's decision to go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is not a book such as Thomas E. Ricks' Fiasco (2006), bound to start arguments and end friendships. It is not a book that either candidate in the current presidential campaign is likely to grab as a prop to wave over his head at a town hall meeting. This is not a book for anyone whose opinion about American foreign policy is set in stone, never to be revisited or revised. This is a book for the rest of us--for those who aren't exactly sure how to feel about the war but who find ourselves wondering, at the end of the day, what kind of people devote their lives to military service, during a time of such controversy and uncertainty. The soldiers about whom Murphy writes were members of the West Point Class of 2002. Because that year marked the 200th anniversary of the service academy, this class 'was constantly touted as the new face of West Point, ' the author notes, 'linking two centuries of tradition with a bright American future.' They arrived in 1998, when America was at peace. Then came Sept. 11, 2001. But there was something else that set this class apart, Murphy says. Something much subtler than a terrorist attack. By the time Todd Bryant and Drew Sloan--two of the soldiers upon whom the author focuses--graduate, 'the common measure of civic responsibility had shifted. A huge gulf had opened between those who served in the military and those who didn't. Americans no longer believed they had to serve their country in the military in order to be good citizens.' The book follows these soldiers and others, too, as they finish their training at West Point and head to war. They come across as ordinary Americans--that is, they're not great brains or super-athletes--who do one extraordinary thing: They decide to devote their lives to protecting and defending their country. Murphy's careful reporting and gentle storytelling style make Bryant, Sloan and all the others somehow more, not less, heroic. There's no bravado in this book, no flash. And that makes it far more memorable than it would have been had Murphy spiced it up with melodrama. When one of the main characters dies from his wounds, the sorrow is profound. We've come to know and like this soldier in the course of the book. We've also come to understand West Point, which, despite the changes intended to make it less arduous and more attractive to a new generation of students, remains a place very much apart from the world.--Julia Keller, Chicago Tribune
In In A Time of War: The Proud and Perilous Journey of West Point's Class of 2002, the author convincingly describes the peril and the anguish of loss.--Bing West, Forbes
West Point continues
About the Author
Bill Murphy Jr. is the author of The Intelligent Entrepreneur: How Three Harvard Business School Graduates Learned the 10 Rules of Successful Entrepreneurshipand In a Time of War: The Proud and Perilous Journey of West Point's Class of 2002. Previously, he worked as Bob Woodward's research assistant on the bestselling State of Denial. An inveterate entrepreneur who was on the founding teams of three separate start-ups, he is also a former military officer, lawyer, and Washington Post reporter.