false 1791790 3 In 2005, First Sergeant Charles Monroe King began to write what would become a two-hundred-page journal for his son in case he did not make it home from the war in Iraq. Charles King, forty-eight, was killed on October 14, 2006, when an improvised explosive device detonated under his Humvee on an isolated road near Baghdad. His son, Jordan, was seven months old.<br><br><i>A Journal for Jordan</i> is a mother’s letter to her son–fierce in its honesty–about the father he lost before he could even speak. It is also a father’s advice and prayers for the son he will never know.<br><br>A father figure to the soldiers under his command, Charles moved naturally into writing to his son. In neat block letters, he counseled him on everything from how to withstand disappointment and deal with adversaries to how to behave on a date. And he also wrote, from his tent, of recovering a young soldier’s body, piece by piece, from a tank–and the importance of honoring that young man’s life. He finished the journal two months before his death while home on a two-week leave, so intoxicated with love for his infant son that he barely slept. <br><br>Finally, this is the story of Dana and Charles together–two seemingly mismatched souls who loved each other deeply. She was a Pulitzer Prize—winning editor for the <i>New York Times</i> who struggled with her weight. He was a decorated military officer with a sculpted body who got his news from television. She was impatient, brash, and cynical about love. He was excruciatingly shy and stubborn, and put his military service before anything else. In these pages, we relive with Dana the slow unfolding of their love, their decision to become a family, the chilling news that Charles has been deployed to Iraq, and the birth of their son. <br><br>In perhaps the most wrenching chapter in the book, Dana recounts her search for answers about Charles’s death. Unsatisfied with the army’s official version of what happened and determined to uncover the truth, she pored over summaries of battalion operations reports and drew on her well-honed reporting skills to interview the men who were with Charles on his last convoy, his commanding officers, and other key individuals. In the end, she arrived at an account of Charles’s death–and his last days in his battalion–that was more difficult to face than the story she had been told, but that affirmed the decency and courage of this warrior and father.<br><br><i>A Journal for Jordan </i>is a tender introduction, a loving good-bye, a reporter’s inquiry into her soldier’s life, and a heartrending reminder of the human cost of war. 1790767 30 12 2008 A Journal for Jordan: Hopes, Prayers, and Life Lessons from a Fallen Soldier and the Woman He Loved for the Son He Left Behind total:133|5:40|4:59|3:24|2:6|1:4| 133 524 457 62 4 3 false false Sun Jan 11 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Dec 30 22:47:55 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 11 08:27:32 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Sep 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 12 14:21:27 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 12 14:38:06 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sun Jul 05 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 01 14:36:34 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 05 13:52:27 -0700 2009 are snippets from this "journal for Jordan...more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Feb 05 10:02:40 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 10:02:40 -0800 2009 It would be difficult to anyone to resist being affected by the events recalled in A Journal for Jordan, and critics were no exception. A Journal for Jordan"is impossible to read without a sense of bitter knowledge that this principled man fell at the behest of leaders less guided by honor,"...

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I thought this book was going to be a tearjerker and be more about the fathers advice to his son in the event that he dies on a tour of duty. Instead it was the mothers story ...more...]]> 1 1 false false Tue May 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed May 13 09:20:23 -0700 2009 Wed May 13 09:20:23 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Feb 18 12:13:48 -0800 2009 Fri Mar 06 13:59:17 -0800 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Wed Jan 30 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 16 10:54:09 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 16 10:58:32 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false true Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 02 05:57:25 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 02 23:41:36 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Jun 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 08 18:27:53 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 08 18:39:13 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jun 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 25 09:25:55 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 25 09:33:50 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Feb 04 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 04 16:29:06 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 04 16:37:25 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Mar 31 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 16 06:52:39 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 16 22:24:02 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jun 04 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri May 15 11:38:58 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 04 18:42:45 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Feb 02 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 14 14:35:14 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 02 07:27:22 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jan 04 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 06 09:43:30 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 06 11:40:53 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Feb 02 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 14 12:35:03 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 03 09:31:04 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Feb 15 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 23 11:26:35 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 15 17:22:48 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 09 10:36:36 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 09 10:38:59 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jun 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 08 09:40:25 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 08 09:54:13 -0700 2009 more...]]>