Following his failed race to the White House in 2008 and all the talk of his stamina and stoicism, my curiosity was piqued. I wanted to hear his own account of his time in Vietnam. Oddly enough I read this during the controversy surrounding U.S. "torture" of its own POWs. Let me assure you, reader of my words, water boarding is not nor ever will be torture. If it is, then Vietnam was Hades.

Enjoyed learning of McCain's lineage, how he entered the Navy, but Vietnam was what kept me reading. His account is notably devoid of emotion, typical it seems among the inflicted or persecuted (e.g. Elie Weisel's Night).

Aside from gaining more respect for McCain, I also learned much re: the sentiment toward the Vietnam War from the soldiers' perspective.