If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
……………………………………….

My friend, you would no tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory
The old lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro Patria mori.

(Latin: It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s native land)

And, that is why I think war books, poetry and the history of wars are ever important. Especially first hand experiences.
My father and uncle both served in Vietnam (Australians)….I want to read more, so I’ll add this to my list.

This part of your review was particularly striking to me: “My hunch is that this book is just too real for some people, and they’re afraid of what will happen if young people are allowed to read the truth about war—that it is ugly and inglorious, that it changes people and scars them forever—that they may no longer be able to control or coerce them, or to use propaganda to achieve their own agendas.”

I find it scary that more and more people realize that the information we are fed is calculated, but that no one makes the effort to break through it… I would have thought that people would make more effort to seek the Truth, rather than the one fed to them, but I guess not…