{"product_id":"what-we-inherit-jessica-pearce-rotondi-9781951213077","title":"What We Inherit: A Secret War and a Family's Search for Answers","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"Part memoir, part investigative journalism, and completely engrossing, \u003ci\u003eWhat We Inherit\u003c\/i\u003e is not a book you'll be forgetting anytime soon.\" --\u003ci\u003eOprah Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"Exceptional.\" --Salman Rushdie \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In the wake of her mother's death, Jessica Pearce Rotondi uncovers boxes of letters, declassified CIA reports, and newspaper clippings that bring to light a family ghost: her uncle Jack, who disappeared during the CIA-led \"Secret War\" in Laos in 1972. The letters lead her across Southeast Asia in search of the truth that has eluded her family for decades. What she discovers takes her closer to the mother she lost and the mysteries of a secret war that changed the rules of engagement forever. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In 1943, 19-year-old Edwin Pearce jumps from a burning B-17 bomber over Germany. Missing in action for months, his parents finally learn he is a prisoner of war in Stalag 17. Ed survives nearly three years in prison camp and a march across the Alps before returning home. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Ed's eldest son and namesake, Edwin \"Jack,\" follows his father into the Air Force. But on the night of March 29, 1972, Jack's plane vanishes over the mountains bordering Vietnam and Ed's past comes roaring into the present. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In 2009, Ed's granddaughter, Jessica Pearce Rotondi, is grieving her mother's death when she stumbles across declassified CIA documents, letters, and maps that reveal her family's decades-long search for Jack. \u003ci\u003eWhat We Inherit\u003c\/i\u003e is Rotondi's story of her own hunt for answers as she retraces her grandfather's 1973 path across Southeast Asia in search of his son. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e An excavation of inherited trauma on a personal and national scale, \u003ci\u003eWhat We Inherit\u003c\/i\u003e reveals the power of a father's refusal to be silenced and a daughter's quest to rediscover her voice in the wake of loss. As Rotondi nears the last known place Jack was seen alive, she grows closer to understanding the mystery that has haunted her family for generations--and the destructive impact of a family secret so big it encompassed an entire war.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Jessica Pearce Rotondi\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1951213076\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781951213077\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Unnamed Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/21\/2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 275\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.95lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.60h x 5.60w x 1.10d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/15\/2020 pg. 76\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 02\/15\/2020 pg. 18","brand":"Jessica Pearce Rotondi","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44045368197375,"sku":"9781951213077","price":26.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_005c8ad5-0134-4818-80bd-fd421f8b6375.jpg?v=1684978332","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/what-we-inherit-jessica-pearce-rotondi-9781951213077","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}