“This muscularly written, starkly honest memoir fills a significant gap.” —Publisher’s Weekly
OUR BROTHER’S KEEPER
For some, the Vietnam War is a long, dark period of our history, one that is best forgotten. For the parents, brothers, and sisters of Marine Corps PFC Jeffrey Earl Smith, the war can never be forgotten.
In OUR BROTHER’S KEEPER: My Family's Journey through Vietnam to Hell and Back (Wiley; $24.95; Cloth), award-winning journalist Jedwin Smith, Jeffrey's older brother and a former Marine himself, shares a riveting family saga unlike anything you've read before.
While as opposite as the poles, both Jedwin and Jeff were best friends—Jedwin’s right was Jeff’s wrong, Jedwin’s selfishness was Jeff’s generosity, Jedwin’s temper was Jeff’s compassion. While Jedwin could become frustrated in his brother’s presence, he still remained Jeff’s constant companion, whether it was sharing Jeff’s first cigarette, lock-picking a neighbor’s house, or emulating Tarzan on the roof of a neighbor’s shed. A brotherhood of shared pain, both Jeff and Jedwin sacrificed for each other, often accepting blame for the other’s foibles.
Seemingly on a whim, Jeff joined the Marines and was sent to Vietnam in 1967. On March 9, 1968, Jedwin and his family received the devastating news that Jeff had been killed in a Vietnamese rocket attack. His untimely death was the catalyst that finally ended his parents’ tumultuous marriage and created a lost generation of Smith siblings. Some of Jedwin’s brothers and sisters spiraled out of control into alcoholism, substance abuse, and obsession with their dead brother’s memory, while guilt-ridden Jedwin himself became obsessed with the idea that one day he would find and destroy the Vietnamese soldier who ended his brother’s life.
The book is both the story and the outcome of a quest that took Jedwin across the United States to visit siblings he hadn't seen in decades as well as former Marines who had been at Jeff's side on that awful day so many years before. Finally, it is also the tale of Jedwin’s journey to Vietnam, where he confronted a former Viet Cong commander—an encounter that was chilling, extraordinary, and life-changing.
More than a moving and beautifully written family saga of the Vietnam War, OUR BROTHER’S KEEPER is also the story of how America has either been in denial or in recovery in many important ways ever since the Vietnam War. Most of all, it is an inspiring personal tale of loss and healing, anger and forgiveness, self-discovery—and the transcendent power of love.
Jedwin Smith is a journalist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution who has twice been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. He is the author Wiley's Fatal Treasure. He lives in Lawrenceville, Georgia.
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OUR BROTHER’S KEEPER
By Jedwin Smith
Wiley
April 2005; ISBN: 0-471-46759-6; 256 pages; $24.95/Cloth
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