My rating:

add to my books

A Ranger Born

by Robert W. Black

3.33 · rating details · 3 ratings · 0 reviews

Even as a boy growing up amid the green hills of rural Pennsylvania, Robert W. Black knew he was destined to become a Ranger. With their three-hundred-year history of peerless courage and independence of spirit, Rangers are a uniquely American brand of soldier, one foot in the military, one in the wilderness—and that is what fired Black’s imagination. In this searing, insp...moreEven as a boy growing up amid the green hills of rural Pennsylvania, Robert W. Black knew he was destined to become a Ranger. With their three-hundred-year history of peerless courage and independence of spirit, Rangers are a uniquely American brand of soldier, one foot in the military, one in the wilderness—and that is what fired Black’s imagination. In this searing, inspiring memoir, Black recounts how he devoted himself, body and soul, to his proud service as an elite U. S. Army Ranger in Korea and Vietnam—and what those years have taught him about himself, his country, and our future.

Born at the start of the Great Depression, Black grew up on a farm at a time of great hardship but also tremendous national determination. He was a kid who toughened up fast, who learned the hard way to rely on his strength and his wits, who saw the country go to war with Germany and Japan and wept because he was too young to serve. As soon as the army would take him, Black enlisted. And as soon as he could muscle his way in, he became a Ranger.

As a private first class in the 82d Airborne Division headquarters, Black withstood the humiliations of enlisted service in the peacetime brown-shoe army. When the Korean War began, he volunteered and trained to be an Airborne Ranger. In Korea, this young warrior, his mind and body bursting with the lusts of adolescence, grew up fast, literally in the line of fire. In clean, vivid prose, Black describes the hell of giving his all for a country that lacked the political resolve to give its all to a war against the North Koreans and the Chinese.

If Korea was frustrating, Vietnam was maddening. The heart of this book is devoted to the years of action that Black saw in Long An Province starting in 1967. Black writes of the perplexity of collaborating with South Vietnamese officers whose culture and motives he never fully understood; he conjures up the sudden shock of the Tet Offensive and the daily horror of seeing fellow soldiers and innocent civilians slaughtered—sometimes by stray bullets, often by carelessness or treachery. Vietnam challenged everything Black had come to believe in and left him totally unprepared for the hostility he would face when he returned to a war-weary America.

Written with extraordinary candor and passion, A Ranger Born is the memoir of a man who dedicated the best of his life to everything that is great and enduring about America. At once intimate in its revelations and universal in its themes, it is a book with profound relevance to our own troubled time in history.

From the Hardcover edition.(less)

Mass Market Paperback, 384 pages

Published December 18th 2007 by Presidio Press (first published November 4th 2003)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

(showing 1-8 of 8)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Jan 07, 2012

Doyle Dennis rated it

Aug 23, 2011

Thedanimal2011 marked it as to-read

Jul 07, 2011

R0gue13 marked it as to-read

May 22, 2011

Adventureman marked it as to-read

Feb 10, 2011

Michael Barr marked it as to-read

Nov 17, 2010

Gary Fauteux added it

Apr 11, 2008

Craig rated it

Shelves: military-nonfiction

Feb 11, 2008

Marc rated it

military-nonfiction

1 shelf

Books by Robert W. Black

The Battalion: The Dramatic Story of the 2nd Ranger Battalion in World War II

A Ranger Born: A Memoir of Combat and Valor from Korea to Vietnam

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Pin It

Trivia About A Ranger Born

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

title link	preview: A Ranger Born
avg rating	preview: A Ranger Born Goodreads rating: 3.33 (3 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1200064.A_Ranger_Born?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320404322m/1200064.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1200064.A_Ranger_Born?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]A Ranger Born by Robert W. Black[/url]

A Ranger Born

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (1)

Popular Shelves

Books by Robert W. Black

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About A Ranger Born

A Ranger Born

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

combine Other Editions (1)

Popular Shelves

Books by Robert W. Black

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About A Ranger Born

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (1)