Memories of the Lost War

Categories: Staff Picks , Nonfiction , History , Award Winners

In Pharaoh’s Army: Memories of the Lost War is the sequel to This Boy’s Life, Tobias Wolff’s classic coming-of-age memoir about growing up with an abusive stepfather in the 1950s. 

A National Book Award finalist, In Pharaoh’s Army chronicles Wolff’s decision to join the Army and ultimately, the Vietnam War.  Wolff’s voice is painfully honest, rendering the horrors of war and its casualties (including his good friend Hugh Pierce) with both sensitivity and shattered illusions.  He is equally hard on himself, examining his own close calls and survival amidst the loss of so many others.

He writes:  “Certainly there were times, not immediately afterward but in the months and years to come, that I myself had the suspicion it should have been me—that Keith, and Hugh, and other men had somehow picked up my cards and stood in the place where I was meant to stand…It’s the close call you have to keep escaping from, the unending doubt that you have a right to your own life.”

Tobias Wolff is my all-time favorite writer, and In Pharaoh’s Army is my all-time favorite book.  It changed my life, and it may very well change yours.