The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library says if you only read one book this summer, make it Two Souls Indivisible: The Friendship that Saved Two POWS in Vietnam by James S. Hirsch.
I totally agree with them. Although I do think if you only read one book this summer you really should do a little evaluation of how you spend your time. Only one book in 3 months?
This is the riveting, true account of two POWs, both officers, both fliers...one a pilot and one a navigator, thrown together in a cell in a North Vietnamese POW camp called "The Zoo". Fred Cherry, the higher ranking officer and pilot, is black and served in the Air Force. Porter Halyburton was 2 ranks lower, white and in the Navy. Speculation by the POWs is that the Vietnamese threw them together to break them...trying to take advantage of the racial antipathy of the era. Both from the South, they had strong feelings about each other's race. To make matters worse, Cherry was severely injured and Halyburton had to take care of him.
As an Air Force kid, I can also tell you that for some, just the part about them being Air Force and Navy could have blown the two apart, too. The book does confirm that a bit, too.
They were captives for over 7 years. But only lived together for 7 or 8 months. During that time they formed a lifelong friendship.
The book is about their relationship, to be sure, but it also is about the efforts of the Vietnamese to use Race to divide America.
The other book I read this weekend was The Zero Game by Brad Meltzer. This was one of those books you really just don't put down once you start. It takes place in the Capitol. Staffers are betting on Senate and House bills...how to get stuff put into them, and the margins by which they will pass or fail. But the big story comes when a small item is put into an appropriations bill. The entire game is blown out of the water and turns into a suspenseful drama involving...well...read the book. It's a good one!
I'm back to The Hornet's Nest by Jimmy Carter now.
8:04:10 AM 
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