A Private War: An American Code Officer in the Belgian Congo

When World War II began, Nevada writer Robert Laxalt was an undergraduate in college. Laxalt was eager to serve his country but was disqualified from military service because a childhood illness had left him with a heart murmur. Frustrated in his attempts to enlist and shunned by his Nevada neighbors as a draft dodger, Laxalt used his family's political connections to get appointed as a code officer at the U.S. legation in the Belgian Congo.This vivid memoir recalls Laxalt's service in a remote jungle outpost where a secret war was being fought for control of the world's future. Deep in the Congo lay a mine that produced a little-known mineral called uranium, and for reasons that no one then understood, the Allies and the Germans were struggling ferociously to control the mine and its ore.Laxalt's war was an inward one as well. Embittered by his country's rejection of his wish to serve it, Laxalt left the U.S. hoping never to see it again, but his tenure in the tropics helped him realize what his country truly meant to him.

Summary

This memoir recalls Robert Laxalt's services in a remote jungle outpost, in the Belgian Congo. The Allies and the Germans were struggling to control a mine, it lay deep in the Congo and produced a little-known mineral called uranium. It is also shows Laxalt's personal battle with himself.

Product details

• Authors: Robert Laxalt
• Publisher: University of Nevada Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.09.1998
• EAN: 9780874173246
• ISBN: 978-0-87417-324-6
• No. of pages: 120
• Dimensions: 115 mm x 188 mm x 10 mm
• Weight: 136 g
• Series: Western Literature; Western Literature; Battle Born
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; Non-fiction book > Politics, society, business > Biographies, autobiographies