The New Breed (Brotherhood of War Series - Book VII) [Hardcover]

W.E.B. Griffin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2, 1987

Old and new faces find themselves swept into a maelstrom of danger when the United States becomes deeply involved in the 1964 Congo Rebellion. Reissue. NYT.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Griffin already has a high profile in Berkley paperback; his six-volume Brotherhood of War saga, a Green Beret epic spanning WW II to Richard Nixon's presidency, has more than three million copies in print. With The New Breed, the series segues into hardcover, but this is not so much a sequel as a lengthy missing chapter from volume six. In late 1963, Col. Sandy Felter, formerly JFK's private Ollie North, returns from secret missions to Vietnam and the Congo and persuades new president LBJ that the Congo is as volatile as Southeast Asia. Felter's longtime friend, Manhattan banking scion Lt. Col. Craig Lowell, helps secure a crew that can combat any rebellion. Among the cast of characters: Jack Portet, an Army private who grew up flying planes in the Congo; Marjorie Bellmon, an officer's daughter for whom Jack goes "Top Gun"; Karl-Heinz Wagner, an East German who escaped through the Berlin Wall with his sister, Ursula; and Geoff Craig, Lowell's young Army cousin and Ursula's husband. The novel moves quickly, if somewhat disjointedly; Griffin's short-chapter, staccato style hampers continuity. He is also so entrenched in military jargon and lifestyle that the civilian reader may sometimes be confused. Those who have had some exposure to the service, however, will experience jolts of recognition in the hard-hitting narrative. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club alternates; Military Book Club selection.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 398 pages
• Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons; 1st edition (September 2, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399133054
• ISBN-13: 978-0399133053
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,260,714 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

W.E.B. Griffin is the author of more than thirty epic novels in five series, all of which have been listed on The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly and other best-seller lists. More than forty million of his books are in print in more than ten languages, including Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese, and Hungarian. Mr. Griffin grew up in the suburbs of New York City and Philadelphia. He enlisted in the United States Army in 1946. After basic training, he received counter-intelligence training at Fort Holabird, Maryland. He was assigned to the Army of Occupation in Germany, and ultimately to the staff of then-Major General I.D. White, commander of the U.S. Constabulary. In 1951, Mr. Griffin was recalled to active duty for the Korean War, interrupting his education at Phillips University, Marburg an der Lahn, Germany. In Korea he earned the Combat Infantry Badge as a combat correspondent and later served as acting X Corps (Group) information officer under Lieutenant General White. On his release from active duty in 1953, Mr. Griffin was appointed Chief of the Publications Division of the U.S. Army Signal Aviation Test & Support Activity at Fort Rucker, Alabama. Mr. Griffin is a member of the Special Operations Association, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, the Army Aviation Association, and the Armor Association. He was the 1991 recipient of the Brigadier General Robert L. Dening Memorial Distinguished Service Award of the U.S. Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association, and the August 1999 recipient of the Veterans of Foreign Wars News Media Award, presented at the 100th National Convention in Kansas City. He has been vested into the Order of St. George of the U.S. Armor Association, and the Order of St. Andrew of the U.S. Army Aviation Association, and been awarded Honorary Doctoral degrees by Norwich University, the nation's first and oldest private military college, and by Troy State University (Ala.). He was the graduation dinner speaker for the class of 1988 at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He has been awarded honorary membership in the Special Forces Association; the Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association; the Marine Raiders Association; and the U.S. Army Otter & Caribou Association. He is the co-founder, with historian Colonel Carlo D'Este, of the William E. Colby Seminar on Intelligence, Military, and Diplomatic Affairs. Mr. Griffin's novels, known for their historical accuracy, have been praised by The Philadelphia Inquirer for their "fierce, stop-for-nothing scenes." "Nothing honors me more than a serviceman, veteran, or cop telling me he enjoys reading my books," Mr. Griffin says. Mr. Griffin divides his time between the Gulf Coast and Buenos Aires.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fine, Stand-Alone Addition to a Solid Series, October 16, 2004

By 

A. Bowdoin Van Riper (Vineyard Haven, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The New Breed (Brotherhood of War, Book 7) (Paperback)

"The Brotherhood of War" series is really six books, beginning in 1944 with "The Lieutenants" and ending in 1970 with "The Generals." This book, though nominally #7 in the series, is (like "The Aviators," nominally #8) not so much a part of the series as a stand-alone adjunct to it. Major characters from the first six books (Craig Lowell, Sandy Felter) are supporting characters here, and the focus is on characters that didn't exist (or received limited attention) in the main series.

One happy result of this is that, although "The New Breed" *can* be read as part of the original series (Note: Descriptions of it as a "prequel" to "The Generals" notwithstanding, it's really read better *after* that book) it also works perfectly well as a stand-alone novel. Fans of the series will see dimensions in the Craig Lowell/Geoff Craig relationships that first-timers won't, but those nuances aren't critical to enjoying the story.

The story proper is about U. S. Army intervention in the former Belgian Congo during its post-independence civil war . . . an aspect of the Cold War that most Americans know about only from an old Tom Lehrer lyric about making peace "the way we did in Stanleyville and Saigon." Griffin makes good use of the post-colonial setting, and Col. Michael "Mad Mike" Hoare, a famous leader of mercenaries in the real world, makes a credible supporting character. The three leading fictional characters, Karl-Heinz Wagner, Geoffrey Craig, and Jacques "Jack" Portet are all drawn well enough to be interesting, and Griffin uses Wagner (an East German defector) and Portet (a Belgian-American airline pilot who gets drafted) to say some thoughtful things about loyalty and cultural differences.

What really makes a novel like this stand or fall, however, is the quality of the plot, and here (perhaps sensing that he's writing a stand-alone story) Griffin does better than usual at creating a story arc that lasts through the whole book, ties the characters together, and comes to a satisfying conclusion.

This is (like Griffin's other books) more a "military procedural" than a slam-bang, shoot-em-up "war story." That may disappoint some readers (try Wilbur Smith's "Dark of the Sun" or "Cry Wolf") but it's true to the characters and material in a way that extravagant violence wouldn't be. Recommended

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars W. E. B. Griffin or Buitterworth, October 3, 2009

By 

William Boritz (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The New Breed (Brotherhood of War, Book 7) (Paperback)

I have being reading all of Griffin's books since he came out with the Lts. He has several series. Brotherhood of War is about the Army from World War II to near the end of Vietnam war. The Marines is about World War ll up to Korea. The Police series is about the Philadelphia Police in the 60's, the OSS series is World War II mostly in China, and the newest series is about the secret service.
Even though he turns out series by the pound, each book stands on its own. The best part of all his books is the charicter studies. The background story is there only to improve the characters. These are the kind of books that you pick up and don't put down until they are done. You feel you know the people in the books and they are no longer fiction. These books get dog eared fast, because you will reread them often. Each time you read them you will find out something you missed the time before. Pick up all of his writings.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Somethings fishy in Denmark..., January 8, 2004

By 

Keith Blodgett "Hawk" (Palm Bay, Florida USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The New Breed (Brotherhood of War, Book 7) (Paperback)

I've enjoyed W.E.B. Griffin's books over the years but I'm none too sure of this or any of his newer books in the series (after the Colonels). While it's fiction and Griffin is allowed to rewrite history but it's annoying when he rewrites his own fictional history. Case in point, long time readers know how Craig Lowell received his promotion to Lieutenant so that he could play polo just after WWII. Yet in this book we're told that he received it as a battlefield commission in Greece. It's as good a read as any of the other books he's written but it seems he wasn't paying a lot of attention to his own source material while writing it.