Brothers in arms: a journey from war to peace.

• Author: Easterbrook, Gregg

Brothers in Arms: A Journey from War to Peace.

William Broyles Jr. Knopf, $17.95. Approximately ten years passed between the end of the Civil War and the first construction of statues honoring the heroes, memorials commemorating the slaughters. Artistic and intellectual contemplation observed a period of mourning as well: The Red Badge of Courage, for instance, was published in 1895, the work of an author not yet born when stillness fell at Appomattox. In the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, people simply didn't want to think about what had happened; they were numbed.

Roughly the same sequence applied to America's other unhappy war, Vietnam. Ground fighting by U.S. forces in Southeast Asia ended in 1972; the Vietnam veterans' memorial was dedicated in 1982. American involvement closed with the final battle for Saigon in 1975; in 1985, Vietnam reminiscence became a central topic, with many fine works of fact and fiction joining, to general acclaim, those published to politely averted glances in the 1970s.

The postwar life of William Broyles Jr. also seems to have followed a ten-year cycle. Late in the 1960s, Broyles--a gifted, handsome, and unusually charming young Texan--became one of the few Americans to do what many from the sanctuary of retrospect have said they wished they had done. Broyles served. Though positioned in the fast lane to upper-class success, attending Rice and then Oxford, and though opposed to the war, he knew that expecting the poor to carry the burden of fighting was no answer. Broyles became a Marine lieutenant and spent one tour in Vietnam, with six months of active combat.

Following his return in 1971, Broyles helped found Texas Monthly, which under his guidance became the country's best regional publication. He seldom thought of the war, never contacted his old platoon mates. Accolades were many, and the passage of a decade found Broyles catapulted to the editorship of Newsweek: a young darling of Manhattan chic society, a focus of media attention himself. He was close to fame.

Just as that golden light shone around him, Broyles lost interest. He basically blew off the editorship of one of the country's most important publications and was gone within a year, the "chance of a lifetime' squandered. Supporters who had helped him advance were mortified; backstabbers in the Post-Newsweek gossip circuit were delirious. And shortly thereafter, Broyles was back in Vietnam.

Anyone who reads Brothers in Arms--an account...