An American Requiem: God, My Father, and the War That Came Between Us - Hardcover

Carroll, James

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 039577926X ISBN 13: 9780395779262

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin, 1996

Synopsis

A former priest describes his clash with his father, an Air Force general, over the Vietnam War and the issues that divided families at the time

About this title

Review:

James Carroll, now a columnist with The Boston Globe, was ordained a Roman Catholic priest to the intense pride of his family, especially his father who had studied for the priesthood but had dropped that vocation to become eventually a leading military officer in Vietnam. However when he preached his first sermon, before his family and colleagues of his father, Carroll felt impelled to express disapproval of the war. This was taken as an act of filial disloyalty causing an enormous breach between father and son. Each was a man of principle, each convinced that he was right and the other wrong. Carroll made the breach complete when he left the priesthood to marry. This is his poignant account of a divide that reflected wider American society.

About the Author:

James Carroll was raised in Washington, D.C., and ordained to the Catholic priesthood in 1969. He served as a chaplain at Boston University from 1969 to 1974, then left the priesthood to become a writer. His New York Times Bestseller Constantine's Sword is now the subject of an acclaimed documentary, directed by Oren Jacoby and distributed nationally by First Run Features and Red Envelope Entertainment.

About this edition

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 039577926X
• ISBN 13: 9780395779262
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 279