Review of Valley of the Shadow by Steven Knutson

Valley of the Shadow
Steven A. Knutson
Knutson's Publishing, 2008
Non-fiction/memoir
ISBN -13: 978-1-60725-994-7
148 pages
Paperback/ eBook (Feb 2009)

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Behind the scene in Vietnam:


Valley of the Shadow is a book about the working man’s war in Vietnam. No firefights or daring rescues here. Steve Knutson’s stories are about what the majority of soldiers did in the Vietnamese war, rather than those unfortunate enough to have had to fight on the front lines; the men in these stories worked hard to support their country and the fighting soldiers and, in the end, were painted with the same unkind media brush. Lloyd Lofthouse who also reviewed this book, and fought in the same war, wrote “There are ten to twelve men in uniform in support positions for each grunt in the field...”

Each chapter in Valley of the Shadow is a short, personal story about Knutson’s experiences from when he first signed up, through his tour in Vietnam, to his final departure and reassignment back in the States.

Frank, sometimes funny, in places sad and, in others, angry—Knutson tells his stories exactly as he remembers them happening.

This isn’t a polished work... Steve has trouble keeping his narrative voice in the past, and he uses so much jargon it slows down the reading. But Valley of the Shadow is history as real as it gets.

A work which should be read by each one of us who has never soldiered or been to war, I can only hope Valley of the Shadow someday finds a publisher willing to help the author turn it into the fine gem it could be.

copyright © 2009 Clayton Clifford Bye




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