Army Blue
Jul 2014 · Open Road Media
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412
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About this ebook
From the bestselling author of Dress Gray. “Part-war story, part-family saga . . . zeroes in on the men of the Blue family, three generations of soldiers” (The Washington Post).
In the eagerly anticipated follow-up to his first novel, Dress Gray, Truscott turns his attention to the Vietnam War and delivers a suspenseful, sprawling court-martial drama set in Saigon in 1969.
At twenty-three, platoon leader Lt. Matthew Nelson Blue is the youngest member of an army family; his father is a colonel and his grandfather a profane, cantankerous retired general. Shortly after one of his men is killed by friendly fire while on routine patrol, Blue is arrested and charged with desertion in the face of the enemy. Arriving in Vietnam, his father and grandfather end their long estrangement and join forces to clear the young soldier’s name. Truscott’s plot offers less than initially meets the eye; the nature of the conspiracy and cover-up that nearly destroy Blue is fairly easy to predict, as is the disillusionment about Vietnam that eventually befalls his seniors.
The author’s intimate portrayal of the texture of army life gives his narrative a more deeply felt sense of anger and regret than others in its genre, and makes its final revelations more powerful than they might otherwise have been.
In the eagerly anticipated follow-up to his first novel, Dress Gray, Truscott turns his attention to the Vietnam War and delivers a suspenseful, sprawling court-martial drama set in Saigon in 1969.
At twenty-three, platoon leader Lt. Matthew Nelson Blue is the youngest member of an army family; his father is a colonel and his grandfather a profane, cantankerous retired general. Shortly after one of his men is killed by friendly fire while on routine patrol, Blue is arrested and charged with desertion in the face of the enemy. Arriving in Vietnam, his father and grandfather end their long estrangement and join forces to clear the young soldier’s name. Truscott’s plot offers less than initially meets the eye; the nature of the conspiracy and cover-up that nearly destroy Blue is fairly easy to predict, as is the disillusionment about Vietnam that eventually befalls his seniors.
The author’s intimate portrayal of the texture of army life gives his narrative a more deeply felt sense of anger and regret than others in its genre, and makes its final revelations more powerful than they might otherwise have been.
About the author
Lucian K. Truscott IV was born to Second Lt. Lucian K. Truscott III and Anne Harloe Truscott on April 11, 1947, in Fukuoka, Japan, the first baby born to American parents in Japan after the war. Mr. Truscott is a fourth-generation army veteran and the fifth great-grandson of Thomas Jefferson. His father was the son of Gen. Lucian K. Truscott Jr., commander (successively) of the Ninth Regimental Combat Team, the Third Infantry Division (famous as Audie Murphy’s division), the Sixth Corps, the Fifth Army, and the Third Army, all during World War II. After the war, Gen. Truscott was head of the CIA in Europe from 1951 to 1955. After his return from Europe, Gen. Truscott became inspector general and deputy director of the CIA, and a special advisor on intelligence to President Eisenhower.
Truscott grew up in the army, living over the years in more than ten states, four foreign countries, and twenty-seven different houses or apartments by the time he was eighteen. In 1965, he entered West Point via an appointment from Patsy T. Mink, Democrat of Hawaii, where the family had long ago established residency. He graduated after what might be called a checkered career. In May 1970, he found himself in a dispute with the army over an article he wrote for the Village Voice about the rampant yet un-acknowledged problem of heroin abuse in the army—specifically, in the Fifth Mechanized Infantry Division at Ft. Carson. The army refused permission to publish the article, and Truscott refused to withdraw it from publication. What they used to call in the army a “flap” ensued, and resignation from the army came soon thereafter.
In August 1970, Truscott went to work as a staff writer for the Village Voice. He has written for many major magazines, including the New York Times Magazine, the New Yorker, Esquire, the Nation, Harper’s, Rolling Stone, Harper’s Weekly, Playboy, Penthouse, Metropolitan Home, Saveur, and many others.
In 1976, Truscott wrote and published the bestselling novel Dress Gray, which was later produced as an NBC miniseries, scripted by Gore Vidal, in 1986. After Dress Gray, Truscott wrote the bestseller Army Blue and published a third novel, Rules of the Road, in 1990. Truscott’s fourth novel, Heart of War, was published in June 1997. His fifth novel, Full Dress Gray, published in July 1998, is the long-awaited sequel to his first novel.
Truscott grew up in the army, living over the years in more than ten states, four foreign countries, and twenty-seven different houses or apartments by the time he was eighteen. In 1965, he entered West Point via an appointment from Patsy T. Mink, Democrat of Hawaii, where the family had long ago established residency. He graduated after what might be called a checkered career. In May 1970, he found himself in a dispute with the army over an article he wrote for the Village Voice about the rampant yet un-acknowledged problem of heroin abuse in the army—specifically, in the Fifth Mechanized Infantry Division at Ft. Carson. The army refused permission to publish the article, and Truscott refused to withdraw it from publication. What they used to call in the army a “flap” ensued, and resignation from the army came soon thereafter.
In August 1970, Truscott went to work as a staff writer for the Village Voice. He has written for many major magazines, including the New York Times Magazine, the New Yorker, Esquire, the Nation, Harper’s, Rolling Stone, Harper’s Weekly, Playboy, Penthouse, Metropolitan Home, Saveur, and many others.
In 1976, Truscott wrote and published the bestselling novel Dress Gray, which was later produced as an NBC miniseries, scripted by Gore Vidal, in 1986. After Dress Gray, Truscott wrote the bestseller Army Blue and published a third novel, Rules of the Road, in 1990. Truscott’s fourth novel, Heart of War, was published in June 1997. His fifth novel, Full Dress Gray, published in July 1998, is the long-awaited sequel to his first novel.
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