The Mark

the long version

At the height of the Vietnam War, Jacques Leslie was a fledgling war correspondent when a colleague told him about "the mark" - the craving for the intensity of war, the belief of many journalists that they are most alive in a war zone - and instantly Leslie knew he had it. In THE MARK, Leslie searches with uncompromising honesty for the source of his own attraction to war. THE MARK is at once a historical memoir, a coming-of-age-story, and an exploration of the workings of journalism. THE MARK is a chronicle of a complex and fascinating time and place: Indochina in the 1970s, a flashpoint for what was supposed to be the showdown between Communism and democracy - and what turned into a vicious war between an arrogant and out-of-touch American command and its largely corrupt allies on the one side, and a dedicated and ruthless indigenous force on the other.