Ballad of the Green Beret: The Life and Wars of Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler from the Vietnam War and Pop Stardom to Murder and an Unsolved, Violent Death

Barry Sadler, a Special Forces veteran and Sixties pop star, had a Hunter Thompson-esque life of booze, girls, and guns. He wrote popular pulp fiction paperbacks, killed a lover's ex-boyfriend, and ran guns in Central America. He was shot in the head in 1988 and died a year later. This biography recounts his meteoric rise and tragic fall against the backdrop of American society and culture during and after the Vietnam War.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 320 pages
Publication date: 15 April 2023
Publisher: Stackpole Books

The top Billboard Hot 100 single of 1966 was not "Paint It Black" by The Rolling Stones or "Yellow Submarine" by The Beatles; it was "The Ballad of the Green Berets," a hyper-patriotic tribute to the men of the Special Forces by Vietnam veteran, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler. However, Sadler's clean-cut, all-American image hid a darker side, a Hunter Thompson-esque life of booze, girls, and guns. Unable to score another hit song, he wrote a string of popular pulp fiction paperbacks that made "Rambo look like a stroll through Disneyland." He killed a lover's ex-boyfriend in Tennessee. Settling in Central America, Sadler ran guns, allegedly trained guerrillas, provided medical care to residents, and caroused at his villa. In 1988, he was shot in the head in Guatemala and died a year later. This life-and-times biography of an American pop culture phenomenon vividly recounts the sensational details of Sadler's life soberly, setting his meteoric rise and tragic fall against the big picture of American society and culture during and after the Vietnam War.

The top Billboard Hot 100 single of 1966 was not "Paint It Black" by The Rolling Stones or "Yellow Submarine" by The Beatles; it was "The Ballad of the Green Berets," a hyper-patriotic tribute to the men of the Special Forces by Vietnam veteran, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler.

However, Sadler's clean-cut, all-American image hid a darker side, a Hunter Thompson-esque life of booze, girls, and guns. Unable to score another hit song, he wrote a string of popular pulp fiction paperbacks that made "Rambo look like a stroll through Disneyland." He killed a lover's ex-boyfriend in Tennessee.

Settling in Central America, Sadler ran guns, allegedly trained guerrillas, provided medical care to residents, and caroused at his villa. In 1988, he was shot in the head in Guatemala and died a year later.

Weight: 395g
Dimension: 222 x 153 x 15 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780811772297