The Unknowns: The Untold Story of America's Unknown Soldier and WWI's Most Decorated Heroes Who Brought Him Home

O'Donnell (Washington's Immortals) has made a specialty of writing about America's military conflicts. The author is an expert at providing background information and narrating the chaotic flow of war. Here, he reevaluates the 1921 dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. Following the paths of the eight veterans selected as pallbearers for the casket and the ninth asked to choose the coffin beforehand, O'Donnell finds a personalized way to chronicle a particularly gruesome conflict: World War I. There are 11 heroes here; as in addition to the nine with responsibilities to the casket, the tenth is the unknown dead soldier and the eleventh is Gen. "Black Jack" Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force, who comes across as an unlikable leader one can't help but admire. O'Donnell has succeeded admirably in conveying that we need heroes as much as we need reminders of war.