HarperCollins, $25, ISBN 0-06-019696-3, 938 pages

WWritten back in 1968, Once an Eagle eventually hit number 1 on the NY Times bestseller list. While I don't care much for bestseller lists, I did care about the hero of this book, Sam Damon, and this gripping anti-war novel will keep you reading into the wee hours of the morning. It is that good and is a novel that deserves to be re-issued.

Sam Damon, just a farm boy from Nebraska, never wanted to be anything but a soldier. When he couldn't get a West Point appointment quickly enough, he enlists. Through all the campaigns against Mexican rebels in pre-WWI Mexico, the Germans in WWI France, the Japanese in WWII Pacific, and eventually the Khotians of Khotia (read: Vietnam), and a variety of worldwide postings in between, Sam keeps his honor, gallantry, and just plain "right-thing-to-do" attitude intact. And it's not an easy task as he works his way through the ranks from private to two-star general, battling not only the enemy, but incompetent, uncaring, and scheming superiors as well. Indeed, a long-running, simmering antagonism festers between Sam and Courtney Massergill, an officer of first rate political skills and second rate leadership skills.

Indeed, it is this competition between battlefield proven commanders versus politically connnected commanders that forms the framework of the conflict that rages around and inside the US Army through the 20th Century. The Army is both an open opportunity for men of skill and intelligence and a closed society ruled by tradition and dogma. "For the good of the service" is a phrase oft-uttered throughout this lengthy tome as hero Sam wrestles with cyclical expansion and contraction of the Army as wars ae won and lost-both on the battlefield and in the Officer's Club. It's a fascinating spin on the internal dynamics civilians scarcely know.

The battle descriptions bring gripping action in all its horror and stupidity. You can smell the fear, feel bullets and bayonets plunge into bodies, and taste the dirt in the middle of an artillery barrage. Minor characters come and go, live and die, and do their best or worst for their men, their country, and their God. And towering over them all is Sam Damon, reluctant hero, continuing to do his duty as he wrestles with his own definitions of what is right and wrong.

Sam is perhaps a little too perfect, and has an air of invulnerability about him as friends and foes die in one war or another. Yet it is his devotion to truth, justice, and the American way that makes him so compelling a character and such a bulwark against self-interest.

Once an Eagle deserves the chance of making it to your bookshelf, right next to Red Badge of Courage and All Quiet on the Western Front. It may be over 30 years old, but it has lost none of its impact.