The War You've Always Wanted - by Mike McLaughlin (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"There's a tricky twist in Mike's new book The War You've Always Wanted, and that hits home with me." -Capt. Dale Dye, Combat Correspondent, USMC (Ret.) Author, Actor, and Filmmaker

"...takes you deep into the frustration and horror of the Vietnam War through the eyes of characters you won't soon forget." -Terry Golway Author of I Never Did Like Politics and So Others Might Live

Pat Dolan's father has a box. In it are treasures from Jimmy Dolan's service in World War II-his photos, his medals, his memories. But ten-year-old Pat can't understand why his father refuses to look in the box. After all, the war was a grand adventure, wasn't it?

Determined to serve in the Army like his father, Pat enlists nine years later-but it's 1972, and the American military is withdrawing from Vietnam after seven years of futile combat. As an Army combat correspondent surrounded by people growing more desperate by the day, young Dolan quickly learns how bleak the South's prospects are. He is forced to witness the slow, steady death of a nation.

When Pat is wounded in action, he wonders if he will live long enough to fill a box of his own. Are there any treasures to be found in a country as fragile as this?

Review Quotes

"There's a tricky twist in Mike's new book The War You've Always Wanted, and that hits home with me. The protagonist is a budding war correspondent who goes into hot spots with his eyes wide open and manages to see the best of human behavior and the worst of it. The transformation that pursuit incurs is written in terse journalistic style, but it's so much more than a simple reporting of facts. It's what those observations and insights do to human beings that make this book both an exciting read and an epic addition to the genre."

-Capt. Dale Dye, Combat Correspondent, USMC (Ret.) Author, Actor, and Filmmaker

"What a story! Mike McLaughlin takes you deep into the frustration and horror of the Vietnam War through the eyes of characters you won't soon forget. This is a terrific novel from a terrific writer."

-Terry Golway Author of I Never Did Like Politics and So Others Might Live

"Reading Dolan's story is a cerebral awakening that touches the part of your soul that wonders just how would I react to human conflict! War is not the answer, and this book lays out the gritty truth of its execution, survival, and its eventual personal assessment. Smacks of James Joyce throughout!"

-Sergeant Candido Alvarado, Ranger, 1st Air Cavalry, USA (Ret.)

"War is never restricted to one's imagination or dreams of heroics. Thus so, in The War You've Always Wanted, we follow its protagonist-seeking to become a combat correspondent-through a series of struggles until he achieves his goal of a journalist. The results, at first, are disillusioning, and then in war, the pursuit for adventure often leads to a shock wave of horror. Insightful and poignant, the finished product launches the author securely into the ranks of distinguished Vietnam War novels. Bravo, Mike McLaughlin! Get some!"

-Sergeant Mike Stokey, Combat Correspondent, USMC (Ret.) Author, Military Advisor for Film and Television