false 0 2008-10-13T20:42:41-07:00 24859 286 2008-10-13T20:42:41-07:00 0 2008-10-13T16:28:58-07:00 24331 185 2008-10-13T16:28:58-07:00 4 4 false false Mon Oct 13 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Oct 05 18:08:44 -0700 2008 Tue Oct 14 10:25:03 -0700 2008 Faith of My Fathers is an incredible book which has almost nothing to do with organized religion and everything to do with living an honorable life. The 'faith' Senator McCain is speaking about only becomes apparent on page 257 of the book and it is spelled with a small 'f', meaning 'keeping faith with one's brothers', in particular under the uniquely horrendous circumstances he faced as an American in a Vietnamese Prisoner of War camp in the 1960s. To attempt to interpret the title out-of-context, especially today in light of the current Presidential race is totally inappropriate and inaccurate.

For sentimental and/or personal reasons I am strongly inclined to give this book five stars. I admit it; I was incredibly moved by Senator McCain's suffering on behalf of our country. I admire patriots, especially humble ones. In FoMF he constantly downplays his own torture and punishment, insisting he was spared what most of his comrades suffered because of his four star father. Maybe he was and maybe he wasn't. It certainly didn't sound like he got off too easy. If you call two broken arms, a broken knee, bayoneted twice, deliberately getting your shoulder broken, starved, beaten, solitary confinement for years, tortured, interrogated, hung by your arms and broken bones going unset for months favorable treatment, well then I guess his famous father's position earned him some sort of 'special' status. I just don't see it.
However, sympathy aside, the first half of the book is devoted to the history of Senator McCain's illustrious grandfather and father, both four star naval heros in their own rights. And while I recommend this sort of reading to my sea-loving father and my military husband and father-in-law, it can get a bit tedious to someone with no military background. It does, however, give anyone who wants to understand John McCain an excellent background on his family, their history, values, mannerisms and relationships. Also, McCain is very upfront and honest about his own youthful misadventures and all the hard knocks he took as a result. I liked him all the more for his humor and candor.

I don't deny that I was prepared to like the book. I had seen the movie of the same name and knew what McCain suffered in Vietnam. Still I liked the book for more than just the facts of what happened; I liked it for the way it downplayed his actions and focused on his family and the men he served with. There were many little ways that the character of the author shone through his writing.

Ultimately FoMF is a story about the Code of Conduct and what it meant to a group of young men who were tested to the utmost of their human endurance. In particular, McCain highlights one young man who he says never wavered in his commitment to the Code and died for his efforts. McCain confesses his worst fear during his five year ordeal in these words:

'My first concern was not that I might fail God and country, although I certainly hoped I would not. I was afraid to fail my friends. I was afraid to come back from an interrogation and tell them I couldn't hold up as well as they had...Had I accepted that many of the others had surrendered their dignity voluntarily, had agreed to live with such reproachful self-knowledge, I doubt I would have resisted to the extent that I did, and thus I would probably not have recovered from the shame I felt when I was broken...Glory belongs to the act of being constant to something greater than yourself, to a cause, to your principles, to the people on whom you rely and who rely on you in turn. No misfortune, no injury, no humiliation can destroy it.' (pp. 256-257)

Unless we have experienced something of the magnitude of five years of systematic, unrelenting torture we can never know what it is like, but we can at least read about it, ponder it, value it and be grateful to the heroic patriots who have suffered and died for the sake of our country, for us.

An excellent book! Read it--this month if you can!

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We watched the movie by the same name the other night and were all moved by what Senator McCain went through during his five year ordeal as a POW in Vietnam. This is the book my daughter's English class should be reading on the Vietnam War instead of The Things They Carried but we have become a nation which has forgotten its heroes. Are we in denial, blind or bent on self-destruction?

So far, the book is focused on McCain's grandfather and father, both four star Navy generals--the first ever father and son in the United States Navy to be so honored. They were both heroes in their own rights; Senator McCain had a hard double act to follow and yet he never flinched from it.

His writing about himself is self-deprecating, humorous and unflinchingly honest. I like him! ]]>