Jon Krakauer’s work, Where Men Win Glory, is an investigative piece written to bring forth the fascinating, and sometimes bewildering, odyssey of one of the most interesting men in the history of sports: Pat Tillman. Krakauer offers an interesting approach to his investigation, as he starts from the very beginning of Tillman’s life, documenting not only his life events and accomplishments, sometimes shortcomings, but also his character. Gathering information from many different sources, from those who best knew Tillman to Tillman’s personal journal, Krakauer uncovers the side of Pat that was not under the scrutinous eye of the public, piecing together the captivating story of an incredible man, whose story was tainted by the unscrupulous media.
As is learned in the book, Pat Tillman was an NFL football player in the early 2000s, playing safety for the Arizona Cardinals. After performing in an All-American fashion at Arizona State University, Tillman’s NFL career got off to a promising start. Known as a hard-hitting, high motor safety, he was widely regarded as one of the top players at his position. However, off the field, he was not the typical NFL jock stereotype. He was a thoughtful man of high moral character, always seeking to find answers. This led to him making one of, if not the most shocking decisions in the history of the NFL. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, Tillman felt a great weight to serve his country, and thus, decided to give up the fame and glory and money to serve his country as an Army Ranger. His decision was widely publicized, immediately making him the most famous and scrutinized member of the armed forces. Therefore, when he was tragically killed in action in the middle east, the event was an enormous story. The media, with the help of the government, effectively made him a martyr for the anti-terrorism cause. There was just one problem: sadly, Tillman was killed by friendly fire. Krakauer examines exactly how the government covered up such a devastating fact in such a flagrant way.
Starting from the beginning of Pat’s life, Krakauer uses interviews with family and close friends of Pat and his personal journal entries to examine who he was as a man — to find out exactly what made him tick. He goes in depth into how Tillman treated people, how he learned, what he thought about the world, how he trained for football. Krakauer effectively proves that Pat Tillman was one of the more unique and interesting players the NFL had seen at the time and has seen since. At the same time, Krakauer examines an in-depth history of the middle east, particularly Afghanistan. He does this to show the readers what the political climate was like in that region and in world affairs at the time leading up to and during Tillman’s deployment. Composing chapters in alternating fashion between Tillman’s life and military/political history of Afghanistan, Krakauer causes each path to culminate in Pat’s decision and deployment to the warzone and offers a possible explanation for why Pat’s death was portrayed in such a manner by the media.
The government was desperate for support for the war on terrorism. As the initial shock of 9/11 wore off, so did the fervor for the war effort. Thus, the government enlisted help in high places to paint the war in the best light possible in the media. As Krakauer discovers, this meant even flat-out lying. The story of Pat Tillman was one of many stories twisted to support such propaganda. It just so happened that his story was one of the most followed in America at that time.
Jon Krakauer’s focus in writing this book was not to expose the media or government and scrutinize their methods, but rather to tell the story of Pat Tillman the right way, the way it was meant to be told. Krakauer does this effectively, as his methods of research are precise and reliable — most of his information came from Pat Tillman’s own accounts, in his journal. Therefore, Where Men Win Glory is not just an informative work of investigative journalism, but also a riveting story that is truly worth telling.
