Once an Eagle
by Anton Myrer
The 1968 novel that the US Army has long put on its reading lists: Sam Damon, the soldier who serves his men, against Courtney Massengale, the courtier who serves himself, across two world wars. Long, old-fashioned and still the clearest fictional study of character in leadership.
Read it if…
you want one long novel about what integrity in leadership costs.
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Skip it if…
you do not read 1,300-page novels.
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Three things you will actually use
- Serve the people, not the career.
- Character is tested in peacetime too.
- The courtier rises; the soldier endures.
Do this first
Read the first hundred pages and decide whether you are a Damon or drifting toward Massengale.
Our verdict
The Army's leadership novel.
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