Now hailed as a classic, one of the most unforgettable and heartbreaking books ever written about the Vietnam War.
Glory Denied—the harrowing story of America’s longest-held POW, the wrenching agonies faced by his family, and the larger story of a nation divided—returns to Norton a decade after its much-heralded publication. Excerpted in The New Yorker and later made into an opera, it is the heroic story of Floyd “Jim” Thompson, captured in March 1964, who became the longest-held prisoner of war in American history. Tom Philpott juxtaposes Thompson’s capture, torture, and multiple escape attempts with the trials of his young wife, Alyce, who, feeling trapped, made choices that forever tied her fate to the war she despised. “One of the most honest books ever written about Vietnam” (Oliver Stone), Glory Denied demands that we rethink the definition of a true American hero.
