Legion of the Lost: The True Experience of An American in the French Foreign Legion
This odd but not dull volume could be subtitledA Yuppie in the Foreign Legion. A yuppie is precisely what Salazar was, with a probable fast-track career before him, when he took advantage of being in Paris to join the legion. He survived the grinding, even brutal training, and for some while he also survived his comrades. They were the lost and the lonely from all over Europe, especially the less salubrious parts of it, and Salazar admits to having never been quite comfortable with them, for all the legion's tight camaraderie. He also suspects that they were never quite comfortable with him, nor too unhappy when he deserted to return to his business career, able to say that he had proved something about himself to himself and to write a useful sketch of the contemporary legion and the mercenary scene in general, for readers interested in either information or thrills.Roland GreenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved