Ghosts and Shadows: A Marine in Vietnam, 1968-1969
Ball was a typical Midwestern teenager in 1967 when he volunteered for the U.S. Marine Corps. His young adult days were quickly transformed from peacetime tranquility to the unending stress of Marine boot camp, infantry combat in Vietnam (ten combat operations and one Purple Heart), and the long and difficult struggle with posttraumatic stress syndrome as he began to readjust to civilian life. Ball's memoir reveals the face of war as viewed by the rifleman on the sharp end. A finely crafted and emotionally charged portrait of combat and the young men caught up in it, this narrative will certainly find an admiring audience. Recommended for public and academic libraries.?John R. Vallely, Siena Coll. Lib., Loudonville, NYCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.