A searing, deeply introspective memoir…
Mahoney dismantles the mythology of heroism, war, and personal redemption in his compelling memoir. After joining the Army in 1968, he was sent to Vietnam. Upon his return, he became the leading voice in the VVAW. He was later indicted in the infamous Gainesville Eight conspiracy trial after a trusted ally turned out to be an FBI informant. During the 1980s, he helped establish the New York Vietnam Veterans Memorial. While on a delegation to the Soviet Union to meet veterans of the USSR’s war in Afghanistan, he found love, married a Russian woman, and spent almost a decade raising a family in a world far removed from his suburban American roots.
Mahoney tells his story with raw honesty, weaving past and present in a narrative that mirrors his divided existence, one defined by action, the other by reflection. This nonlinear structure brings each version of the author to life; the restless young soldier, the radical activist, the middle-aged father contemplating the past. The concept of heroism eludes him. As a young man, he saw bravery and sacrifice as heroism, but as years went by, he began to question his belief. He insists that surviving Vietnam didn’t make him a hero. The real battles came afterward: fought at home not with weapons but with conviction. And yet, he never places himself on a pedestal.
Mahoney’s prose is crisp and unembellished as he lays bare the contradictions, the murky morality of both war and activism, the compromises of adulthood, and the choices that refuse to stay buried. Moments of dark humor provide levity against heavier themes, while the biting social commentary adds to the substance. This is a candid, deeply human account of what it means to have belief, to fight, to lose, and to live with the weight of it all.
Pub date September 24, 2024
Atmosphere Press
ISBN 979-8891323988
Price $24.99 (USD) Hardcover, $16.99 Paperback, $8.99 Kindle edition
This is exactly what the book is all about! Thank you so much for articulating in such vivid and thoughtful words the emotions and thoughts I was experiencing while reading it. You’ve captured the essence perfectly!