Let me give you preview of my conversation with Mike Durant about his new book
In the Company of Heroes available at the Library Sciences site.
Last August we were sitting in my backyard watching our kids splash in the pool. Mike shared that he was excited that Putnam was releasing the book that he was writing (with Steve Hartov). Putnam had published the paperback version of
Black Hawk Down. Putname was excited to work with him on this project. 2003 is the 10th anniversary of MIke's capture in Somalia.
He had been writing down his stories for years and had given no thought to writing a book. Ross Perot suggested to Mike that he publish his memoir. This met a need that Mike had. To tell the story that happened after
Black Hawk Down.
The movie leaves him in captivity and originally did not contain any information about his release. A mutual friend joked, �When I saw the movie, I said, �hey what happened to Mike!� I mean I knew he got released, but they didn�t tell me how.� Later a few lines were added to explain that he was released after government negotiations.
Besides the heroism of his brothers-in-arms Mike Durant credits the training he received for saving his life. The macho POW shown in movies is not part of the special operations training or attitude. Simple things such as saying �please� and �thank you� created a bond that helped to keep him safe so that he could come home to his family.
You'll find more behind the scenes information about Mike's story and the writing of the book in the
article.If you are interested in ordering a copy of
In the Company of Heroes I suggest getting your order in now. While the book will not be released until May 8th, it jumped in Amazon�s sales ranking from 45,000th to 1,500th in one week. It is guaranteed to be the �hot� read of the summer.
