amartianmonkey

Having read two of Jon Krakauer's previous books (Into the Wild and Under the Banner of Heaven) i was looking forward to reading Where Men Win Glory, The story of a professional NFL player deciding to fight for his country instead of making millions of dollars playing sport.

Combining Tillman's backstory with Afghanistans through the same time period until they collide is an interestig way of telling the story, the rise of Al-Qaeda whilst Tillman was at college but always looking beyond just playing football.

With the collapse of the Towers in 2001, Tillman's mind was made up finish the season and serve his country. The Arizona Cardinals offered him a new contract worth $3.6 million but he decided to become a Ranger.

For Tillman fighting in Afghanistan was the whole point of joining the services, when he was sent to Iraq instead his journals make it clear his view of this "illegal war".

Whilst serving in Afghanistan Tillman is killed as a result of friendly fire, a fact that was hidden from his family and covered up whilst Tillman was being used wrongly as propoganda for the government, somethig Tillman would not ahve wanted (he refused to do any interviews after signing up).

An interesting read and overall Tillman comes across as loyal, honest and principled, unlike the government under Bush.