{"product_id":"ballad-of-the-green-beret-marc-leepson-9780811717496","title":"Ballad of the Green Beret: The Life and Wars of Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler from the Vietnam War and Pop Stardom to Murder and an Unsolved, Viole","description":"The rough-and-tumble life of Special Forces vet and Sixties pop star Barry Sadler \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe top Billboard Hot 100 single of 1966 wasn't The Rolling Stones' \"Paint It Black\" or the Beatles' \"Yellow Submarine\"--it was \"The Ballad of the Green Berets,\" a hyper-patriotic tribute to the men of the Special Forces by Vietnam veteran, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler. But Sadler's clean-cut, all-American image hid a darker side, a Hunter Thompson-esque life of booze, girls, and guns. Unable to score another hit song, he wrote a string of popular pulp fiction paperbacks that made \"Rambo look like a stroll through Disneyland.\" He killed a lover's ex-boyfriend in Tennessee. Settling in Central America, Sadler ran guns, allegedly trained guerrillas, provided medical care to residents, and caroused at his villa. In 1988 he was shot in the head in Guatemala and died a year later. This life-and-times biography of an American pop culture phenomenon recounts the sensational details of Sadler's life vividly but soberly, setting his meteoric rise and tragic fall against the big picture of American society and culture during and after the Vietnam War.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Marc Leepson\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0811717496\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780811717496\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Stackpole Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/01\/2017\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 320\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.19lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.10h x 6.30w x 1.00d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 03\/27\/2017","brand":"Marc Leepson","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":43947272438015,"sku":"9780811717496","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_2e41ea82-cd32-4bde-90a9-d3b9559e776b.jpg?v=1681517736","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/ballad-of-the-green-beret-marc-leepson-9780811717496","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}