Golden Fleece

Tom Carhart is a West Point graduate and a twice-wounded Vietnam veteran. He earned a law degree from the University of Michigan and a PhD in American and military history from Princeton University and has lived and worked in Paris, Amsterdam, Los Angeles, Brussels, and Washington DC. The author of eight previous books on military history, Carhart lives in Massachusetts with his wife, Jan. Wesley Clark is a retired U.S. Army four-star general, Vietnam War veteran, and valedictorian of the West Point class of ’66.

“A high-spirited, poignant story of brotherhood, sacrifice, and eternal youth. Tom Carhart takes us to the lost world of West Point more than a half century ago, and brings it back to life.”-Rick Atkinson, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of The Long Gray Line: The American Journey of West Point's Class of 1966“This lively account of the caper by six West Point cadets to nab the U.S. Naval Academy’s goat mascot before the Army-Navy football game in 1965 is infused with humor as well as drama. The book also offers acute insights into life at the U.S. Military Academy during the years that American forces were escalating their commitment to the Vietnam War.”-James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of The War That Forged a Nation: Why the Civil War Still Matters“A true, bittersweet account of boys learning to be officers at West Point. Their immediate future is the war in Vietnam; their recreation is to steal Navy’s goat just before the Army-Navy game. Required reading for those who wish to wear the Army’s gray.”-Bruce Lee, coauthor of Pearl Harbor: Final Judgement  “This is a fascinating firsthand portrait of an impressive group of men who attended West Point during a tragic period in our country’s history.”-Lucien N. Nedzi, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives (D-Michigan) “The tension, risk, and reward, are almost tangible. The Golden Fleece also captures, and so reminds us all of, the very high character qualities of honor, intelligence, commitment, and raw courage that are so routinely displayed by the young men and women who graduate from our national service academies every year.”-Duncan L. Hunter, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives (R-California)“Think Catch-22 meets The West Point Story as cadets kidnap the Navy football mascot, a billy goat, by infiltrating a high-security area one night before the annual Army-Navy game. The problems overcome and the bittersweet results make for high drama.”-Julian M. Olejniczak, author of To Be a Soldier: A Selective American Military History “Tom Carhart has given us another entertaining read that I had difficulty putting down and very much hated to see come to an end. . . . He captures a great deal about the cadet cultures at the various military academies-the rigor and discipline of day-to-day cadet life, the lifelong friendships that develop through the sharing of difficult demands few young people ever experience, the culture of ‘Duty, Honor, Country’ that undergirds the ethos of the profession of arms, and the humor that is also very much a part of the lives of young military academy cadets.”-Gen. Ronald H. Griffith, U.S. Army (Ret.) and former vice chief of staff–Army

• 1. SPNSS, 0010 hours, 21 November 1965    2. High Aspirations    3. Beast    4. Plebes at Last    5. Holiday Cheer    6. Christmas Dinner    7. World Politics    8. SPNSS, 0025 Hours, 21 November 1965    9. Buckner    10. Cold Steel    11. Army Field Training    12. Yearlings    13. Goethe    14. SPNSS, 0030 hours, 21 November 1965    15. Cow Year    16. Firsty Year    17. The Adventure Begins    18. Recon Run    19. Decision Time    20. In Flight       21. Hallelujah!    22. Caravan Crisis    23. Laying Low    24. Inside Connections    25. Time to Deliver    26. Betrayal    27. Falling on Our Swords    28. The Shadow of the Guillotine    29. The Commandant of Cadets    30. Vietnam Veterans Memorial    31. The Engineer    32. Pension Asset Management    33. Saving Apple’s Cookies    34. Taking Baghdad      35. Rocket Man