Idols of the Tribe
Idols of the Tribe is an original novel set in Vietnam in the 1960s. When the novel opens, Shane Tyrone travels through the night from his home in Vermont to the Veteran's Memorial in Washington, DC. Shane, raised with the myths and heroic stories of his Ulster ancestors, served in Vietnam years ago where he had been highly decorated for bravery. His visit to the memorial now reawakens his past and he explores the reality of that episode: his moral luck and the effect his decisions have on those dose to him; his squad's increasing isolation as their social world shrinks, trusting only those who are beneficial to their survival; the relationships that are formed in a hostile environment, and with all options removed, their fate solely in the hands of others; the experience of captivity; and the truth of modern combat, a truth far removed from what the myth and legend of Ulster had prepared him for.