RECALL, a fictional historical narrative, tells the story through the impressions of four young men who played on a championship high school football team in the Fifties and end up in different capacities in Vietnam a decade later.
The characters’ stories serve as a primer for a pivotal period in American life, the Sixties. Not only was a war going on, but a cultural revolution was underway. The hippie generation revolted against the war, which evolved into a form of anti-war anarchy that divided the nation’s political lines, birthing a bitter polarization.
As the characters return home from service, they are faced with social conflict and disrespect. Follow their interwoven stories as they try and assimilate back into a world that appears to have gone mad while also struggling with their personal demons.
Want to learn about the characters in RECALL? Get to Know the RECALL players
Read a 4.5 out of 5 star Editorial Review of Recall.
A Review of RECALL
R. Lawson’s latest novel combines the facts of war
in Vietnam with the drama of American history
Today’s authors who write novels about war, espionage and international intrigue usually sprinkle a bit of fact here and there within their fiction. Very little in most cases. In his sixth novel, “Recall,” R. Lawson laces his drama with a wealth of fact, drawn from arduous hours spent exploring now-released CIA files, from his personal experience as a flight surgeon and from his vivid memories, recalled from his service in Nam.
In his introduction Lawson writes, “As a country, we really need an honest assessment of how and why we engage in war. We should critically evaluate how we elect and judge our leaders’ moral compass to engage in, lead and conduct a war. We should also look carefully at how to end a war, defining victory in terms that anyone can understand. Vietnam has important lessons about the integrity of the nation’s highest office and its inner circle.“
Lawson knows of which he writes, and he writes with a flair and a reality you won’t find in many of the books being touted today. “Recall” deserves best seller status. Certainly it is a best teller in many respects.
It is an absolute must for any one who had exposure to the Vietnam war through actual combat service, for the friends and family who agonized over the 14 years it dragged on and for historians who constantly try to prove Napoleon wrong when he said history was a lie agreed upon.
More than nine million served tours for our country in Vietnam. And the entire conflict left a tragic chapter in American history. With a little military experience of my own and as a fellow-writer, I wholeheartedly recommend “Recall” for a number of reasons, not the least of which is by remembering the past, we may avoid similar mistakes in the future.
Richard Nixon said it: “No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now.”
Lawson’s latest novel goes a long way to setting things straight. Get it. Read it. Pass it on. RAM
ROBERT A. MULLEN February 2018
