false 31842100 1031067 99965 0060957867 9780060957865 151 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171458363m/99965.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171458363s/99965.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/99965.Faith_of_My_Fathers_A_Family_Memoir 3.61 546 Faith of My Fathers is an astonishing exception to the rule. The Republican senator from Arizona has a remarkable story to tell--better than just about any of his peers--and he tells it well, with crisp prose and an unexpected sense for narrative pacing. The first half of the book concerns his naval forbears: his grandfather commanded an aircraft carrier in the Second World War, while his father presided over all naval forces in the Pacific during the Vietnam War. They were the first father-son admirals in American history. Young John McCain knew he had enormous shoes to fill and rebelled against many of the expectations set for him. At the Naval Academy, he was nearly expelled, graduating fifth from the bottom of his class. He never became an admiral, but achieved fame another way: as a naval aviator in 1967, he was shot down over North Vietnam and spent several years in POW camps, where he was beaten, tortured, and nearly allowed to die. McCain describes the awful details of his imprisonment and tells how he stayed mentally strong during seemingly endless months of solitary confinement and how he communicated in code with fellow captives. Faith of My Fathers concludes with McCain's release and contains no information about his subsequent political career. It is, nonetheless, a complete and compelling memoir of individual heroism--one that will interest both political and military history buffs. --John J. Miller ]]> 42851 3.59 1050 260 1999 3 1 false Fri Aug 08 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 02 14:10:02 -0700 2008 Wed Sep 03 07:21:31 -0700 2008 more...]]>