Tarnished Brass Curtain: A Novel of Vietnam explores the sibling themes of conscience and responsibility. The thoughts and feelings of two men—one young, innocent and practical; the other, older, experienced, and idealistic—are examined. In the frame of the present, the main story deals with Senior Chief Journalist Dan Levin, his relationship with the Navy, his doubts about his leadership abilities, and the handling of a public relations crisis over the apparent desertion of the admiral’s son. Dan is an idealistic and conscientious career Navyman trying to adjust to an environment that is frequently hostile and always alien to him. He is concerned about his obligations to the Navy, to his family, to his friend (the admiral’s son), and to his conscience. Interwoven with Dan’s scenes are those showing Lieutenant (junior grade) Fred Hetherington, Annapolis graduate, attack helicopter pilot, and product of generations of in-breeding within the Navy’s aristocracy. He, too, is attempting to reconcile his conscience with his duty. He has refused to return to his unit in Vietnam and has taken sanctuary with a peace activist group. There, he begins to question the correctness of his action, while he seeks someone who will understand him and his action. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALTERNATE From the skies over the Mekong Delta to the Admiral’s headquarters to the coffee house of the anti-war movement, explore the duties, loyalties and obligations of two men, one young, one experienced, and both conflicted. Why did the Admiral’s son go underground? What is the chief-of-staff covering up? What responsibility did the Public Affairs Senior Chief have? How does he deal with being a career Jewish Navyman in an essentially alien environment, a perpetual stranger in a strange land. Dick Rose offers you a chance to re-live six months in 1968, a year of turmoil, in this controversial but revealing novel, Tarnished Brass Curtain:: A Novel of Vietnam, as relevant today as it was over 40 years ago. Direct order from the author at dickrosebooks.com or on amazon.com. or dickrosebooks.com amazon.com