This book may well be the most unusual<br > document to come out of the Vlet Nam<br > warIt iS the moving story of nine Ameri<br > can soldiers and pilots who were captured<br > and held prisoner for five yearsIt could<br > only be told in their own wordsand SO<br > author Zalin Grant interviewed each of the<br > nine menand edited and wove their ac<br > counts together to form a singlecompelling<br > narrative of war and survival<br > For three years these Americans were<br > held in a Vlet Cong iungle prisonwhere<br > they struggled against starvation--and<br > themselvesThey describe the details of<br > their daily existence as the war ebbed and<br > flowed around themthe ratsthe terror of<br > American bombing raidsthe sickness<br > Through juxtaposition of their individual<br > stories we see the subtledestructive ten<br > sions that operate on a group of men in<br > such desperate circumstances<br > Then they were marched up the Ho Chi<br > Minh trail to Hanoiwhere their physi<br > cal ordeaI gave way to an agonizing moral<br > dilemmaShould they ioin thePeace<br > Committeea group of PoWs protesting<br > the war?Or should they resist their cap<br > tors bv all possible means as ordered by<br > the secret American commander of the<br > Hanoi prison?After three years in the<br > jungle on the edge of survivaleach man<br > had to answer the questionsWho am I?<br > What do I believe?<br > These nine men form a cross section of<br > the army we sent to Viet NamTheir words<br > illuminate not only their individual back<br > ground and experiencebut also the mean<br > ing of this war for a11 of US<br >