The Devil's Secret Name - by Jim Morris (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Jim Morris, a highly decorated Green Beret, spent his post-Vietnam years working as a reporter in some of the most volatile conflict areas on earth. He traveled through three continents to experience combat, savor local color, and have as much fun as possible. He found a world that seeks freedom and peace but is inevitably drawn into fresh conflicts over old issues.

With nothing more than a reporter's eye and a soldier's heart, he covered the times when cold wars went hot, situations that helped create both a lasting peace and the seeds of international terrorism. Years before the term "embedded journalist" was invented, he witnessed the harsh realities and hazy outcomes of guerrilla warfare.

Here are the front-line reports of a seasoned reporter and soldier, from the jungles of Southeast Asia to the Middle East's shattered peace and the violent post-apocalyptic world of El Salvador. Morris, who was almost always the only reporter present, documents more than just combat obscured by the fog of war. His amazing battlefield accounts, written while he was living among the soldiers, capture the extraordinary bravery, unwavering faith, and grim humor that all combat troops share.

Review Quotes

"Splendid...a realistic account of a life of constant adventure."

-William E. Colby, former CIA Director

"Jim Morris is an unusual case...a writer whose style is spare, controlled, sprung with tension, whose subject matter is war, whose obvious purpose is to 'tell exactly what it's like'-all dicta impeccably consonant with the Hemingway canon, and yet he is still very much his own man."

-Esquire

"Entertaining...Hard-boiled...Controversial."

-Publishers Weekly

"Morris, a staff writer for Soldier of Fortune magazine, has written a combination travelogue/memoir of a number of wars, current and past, in which he has either fought or reported....there is a blunt message: there is only one war of national liberation, not many, centrally orchestrated by the Soviets through client soldiers and media manipulation....the macho nostalgia and the Third World countries are wonderfully realized. Morris is not an uncritical admirer of anti-Communist soldiers, and he makes severe professional judgments on the guerrilla armies he has seen."

- Edwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army TRALINET Ctr., Fort Monroe, Va.

"Powerful...a first-class piece of work!"

-Bestselling author W.E.B. Griffin