The Nightengale’s Song by Robert Timberg (1995. Touchstone. ISBN0684826739)
Hmm. Well, what to say about a book that one of my brother judges gave me to read with the recommendation that it’s “one of my favorite books”? Granted, Dale Harris is entitled to a certain level of bias towards the subject matter. He’s a Navy man and Timberg’s book, a look back at five men involved in both the Vietnam War and Iran Contra, profiles five Annapolis graduates: Senator John McCain, Lt. Col. Robert McFarlane, former Sen. James Webb, Lt. Col. Oliver North, and Adm. John Poindexter. So I’ll give my friend a pass on the hyperbole he attached to the book as he handed it to me a few months’ back. But having plowed through the 543 pages of this tome at odd hours of the night and on weekends, I won’t be making a similar proclamation in this review.
Not that the book didn’t hold my attention. It did. Particularly the early portions of the story involving John McCain’s hijinks at the Naval Academy and the scenes depicting his time spent in captivity in Hanoi after being shot down during the Vietnam War. In his treatment of McCain, a man who has enured both my admiration (McCain-Feingold) and my contempt (Sarah Palin), Timberg’s portrait is detailed and, at times, deeply moving. So too is the way he touches upon the rivalry between Ollie North and Jim Webb beginning with a still-hallowed boxing match at the Academy (North won). But the scenes devoted to McFarlane and Poindexter aren’t nearly so concisely painted, leading to a level of boredom and confusion created, perhaps, by a skilled writer biting off a bigger chunk of a historic story than is warranted. How’s that? I found myself confused trying to follow the five separate and distinct biographical sketches Timberg uses to explain the linked narrative of Vietnam and Iran Contra. The result is that I came to an understanding there are connections between America’s failure in the southeast Asian conflict and the scandal that nearly undid Reagan’s presidency. (A note to Reagan fans here: Timberg equates, without ever saying as much, the former president’s intellectual capacity with that of a B-level actor playing the role of his life.) But the details of Iran Contra are, at least for me, buried in the vignettes depicting the five principals. So far as I could discern, the author never arrives at a narrative that explains what happened during Iran Contra, what the end game was, who was actually involved, and how high the scandal reached. I get it was an “arms for hostages” slight of hand orchestrated by North, and to a lesser degree, Poindexter and McFarlane. But the details, at least for me, remain murky even after finishing this marathon read.
There’s value in revisiting moments in history where our democracy has come off the rails. I think that was Timberg’s intent, to explain what happened during Iran Contra within the context of our nation’s sad experience in Vietnam. I’m not so sure he accomplished his goal, though, in attempting to state his case, the author does explore five distinct and unique men who served their nation, albeit with varying levels of honor.
3 and 1/2 stars out of 5.
