The Hill [Mass Market Paperback]

Leonard B. Scott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 13, 1991

Ty is the grunt. Point man for his platoon. Jason is the favored one: a football hero picked for officer training school who leads his men into a slaughter ground from which most of them will never return. Ty and Jason -- Oklahoma brothers different in character, yet close in soul -- are about to meet in the Battle of Dak To, upon the blood-drenched sides of Hill 875.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This taut tale of two stepbrothers stretches from the "baking dust" of rural Oklahoma to the steamy heat of Vietnamese jungles. After a sadistic coach costs him his football scholarship, tall, blond Jason Johnson winds up a lieutenant in a Ranger paratroop division in Vietnam. Meanwhile, stepbrother Ty Nance's half-Kiowa Indian ancestry brings its own problems, and Ty, too, becomes a paratrooperlike his father and uncle, both of whom died in combat. Scott ( Charlie Mike ) elicits sympathy for the two heroes while shocking with grim, realistic battle scenes, and introduces two characters who are North Vietnamese, a general and a private. The paths of the four men concenter on Hill 875, in "the single most costly battle" of the Vietnam War. The portrayal of the North Vietnamese offers unsettling insights into the nature of an all-too-human enemy, and underscores the pointlessness of the war as "an aberration of logic." The anti-war message here is no less forceful for emanating from an action-adventure novel at that genre's best.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

Ty is the grunt. Point man for his platoon. Jason is the favored one: a football hero picked for officer training school who leads his men into a slaughter ground from which most of them will never return. Ty and Jason -- Oklahoma brothers different in character, yet close in soul -- are about to meet in the Battle of Dak To, upon the blood-drenched sides of Hill 875.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 341 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (August 13, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345373472
• ISBN-13: 978-0345373472
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #908,980 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best Military Authors to Date, September 9, 2003

By 

"mercsix" (Fayetteville, AR United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hill (Mass Market Paperback)

I have read them all from Clancy to Brown and LtCol.(Ret) Scott is by far one of the best military writers to date. My father served in Vietnam and after he came back my mom said he was never the same and I always wondered what it was like, why men like my father and Col Scott, why they went when they were called knowing they might not return and those that did would be forever altered. I joined the infantry at 17 to see for myself and after serving in Panama and Somalia I understand. Col. Scott says it best in the books with way he connects you to the characters you come to realize they did it for the men to their left and their right, not so much for America, but the men who represent America. Sad to know that he won't be writing anymore books but the four vietnam books he wrote are some of the greatest military fiction ever written and in my opinion should be required reading for all young soldiers and leaders.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Although Fictional Scott Writes Factual, January 11, 2001

By 

Colorado Vet "acordovax" (Colorado Springs, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hill (Mass Market Paperback)

Leonard B. Scott writes another excellent book probably relating much of his own personal experience in Viet Nam. Again he sets up his main characters detailing what they left behind only to have everything they knew and understood here in the U.S. tested and in many instances left in some far off jungle in Viet Nam. Mr. Scott, though he was an officer, describes Army life among the enlisted troops with great clarity and understanding. He may be a Mustang (enlisted later becoming an

officer) whatever, I have enjoyed reading all of his Viet Nam Era Army books and would rate this one just as good as The Expendables. The vocabulary he uses is of that era and adds in his effort to recreate life back in the late 1960's. A Must Read if you like Scott's writings.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What can I say, but what a great book., October 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Hill (Mass Market Paperback)

The way that Scott writes the story to the hill is extravagant. Not only do you see the one side perspective from the Brothers you also get to see it from the Vietnamese side. As one knows you need to know the two sides of the coin in order to get the real truth. This book like SCott's others is truly something else.