Books by Gene Hays
Civic Action, A True Story: Marines Fighting a Different War in Vietnam
by Gene Hays
Civic Action is a concept that was developed during the Vietnam War and is now being applied in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was a derivation from the original program of Combined Action Platoons conceived by Marine Generals and fashioned into a working model for the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing by Major Richard F. Risner, USMCR. The reader is given a glimpse into the lives and careers of two Marines whose friendship is cemented by the bonds of combat. Rich Risner and Dick Petterson knew each other at the start of both their careers. By chance they were reunited in Vietnam in 1967 and together they began to mold the Civic Action Team that Hays later joined in early 1968. The Civic Action program involved working with the surrounding villages and their leaders in a pacification effort. The idea was that if the Marines could win the hearts and minds of the people, they would deny sanctuary to the enemy. Using trial and error and the vision of Risner, the reputation and accomplishments of the Team made them very popular with the local populace and high on the target list of the enemy. Hays gives the reader a ringside seat at the ambush attempt on Risner and Petterson. In a heroic response to a totally unexpected attack by Viet Cong Tiger Guerillas, the author explains how their actions merited awarding of medals for Valor as well as the Purple Heart. With only two weeks left to finish on his tour of duty, while leading a mission into a suspected hostile village that was occupied by the enemy at night, Major Risner experiences the ultimate terror of combat. Hays gives the reader a front-row seat as he tells of Risner's harrowing ordeal calling upon his determination, bravery and cunning leading to a surprising ending. This book is the story of how in the midst of an unpopular war, considered unjust by many, there were many good Americans trying to bring freedom and peace to a nation that enjoyed neither.
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Year of the Monkey
by Patti Smith, Gene Hays
New York Times Best Seller
From the National Book Award-winning author of Just Kids and M Train, a profound, beautifully realized memoir in which dreams and reality are vividly woven into a tapestry of one transformative year.
Following a run of New Year's concerts at San Francisco's legendary Fillmore, Patti Smith finds herself tramping the coast of Santa Cruz, about to embark on a year of solitary wandering. Unfettered by logic or time, she draws us into her private wonderland with no design, yet heeding signs--including a talking sign that looms above her, prodding and sparring like the Cheshire Cat. In February, a surreal lunar year begins, bringing with it unexpected turns, heightened mischief, and inescapable sorrow. In a stranger's words, "Anything is possible: after all, it's the Year of the Monkey." For Smith--inveterately curious, always exploring, tracking thoughts, writing--the year evolves as one of reckoning with the changes in life's gyre: with loss, aging, and a dramatic shift in the political landscape of America.
Smith melds the western landscape with her own dreamscape. Taking us from California to the Arizona desert; to a Kentucky farm as the amanuensis of a friend in crisis; to the hospital room of a valued mentor; and by turns to remembered and imagined places, this haunting memoir blends fact and fiction with poetic mastery. The unexpected happens; grief and disillusionment set in. But as Smith heads toward a new decade in her own life, she offers this balm to the reader: her wisdom, wit, gimlet eye, and above all, a rugged hope for a better world.
Riveting, elegant, often humorous, illustrated by Smith's signature Polaroids, Year of the Monkey is a moving and original work, a touchstone for our turbulent times.
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Year of the Monkey
by Patti Smith, Gene Hays
Following in the footsteps of Civic Action, A True Story, Year of the Monkey tells the story of how Major Rich Risner and Staff Sergeant Dick Petterson first met. In a never before told story, the two Marines were assigned to a secret mission in the 1950s that would affect them both for the rest of their careers and lives. Reunited in Vietnam, they found themselves again depending on each other for their very lives. With more harrowing detail and a surprising twist to the end not contained in Civic Action, Year of the Monkey is a page-turner full of action and suspense.
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Year of the Monkey
by Patti Smith, Gene Hays
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Riveting, elegant, humorous—this "picaresque voyage through Patti Smith’s dreams and life, blending fiction and reality, conjured characters and actual ones” (The New York Times) is a moving and original work, a touchstone for our turbulent times. Illustrated by Smith’s signature Polaroids.
Following a run of new year’s concerts at San Francisco’s legendary Fillmore, Patti Smith finds herself tramping the coast of Santa Cruz, about to embark on a year of solitary wandering. Unfettered by logic or time, she draws us into her private wonderland, in which she debates intellectual grifters and spars with the likes of a postmodern Cheshire Cat. Then, in February 2016, a surreal lunar year begins, bringing unexpected turns, heightened mischief, and inescapable sorrow. For Smith—inveterately curious, always exploring, always writing—this becomes a year of reckoning with the changes in life’s gyre: with loss, aging, and a dramatic shift in the political landscape of America.
Taking us from California to the Arizona desert, from a Kentucky farm to the hospital room of a valued mentor, Smith melds the western landscape with her own dreamscape in a haunting, poetic blend of fact and fiction. As a stranger tells her, “Anything is possible. After all, it’s the Year of the Monkey.” But as Smith heads toward a new decade in her own life, she offers this balm to the reader: her wisdom, wit, gimlet eye, and above all, a rugged hope for a better world.
Including a new chapter, "Epilogue of an Epilogue," and ten new photos, Year of the Monkey “reminds us that despair and possibility often spring from the same source” (Los Angeles Times).
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Leatherneck Warriors, Book One: The Beginning
by Gene Hays
Leatherneck Warriors Book I, The Beginning: "It took a moment to adjust his eyes to the low light level emanating from a kerosene lamp in the rear of the tent. Pittman couldn’t see any sign of another guard so he turned over his shoulder to look at Foster and gave him a thumbs-up sign, motioning for Foster to join him. Both Marines grabbed an arm of the Soviet soldier, dragging him back inside the tent. Pittman removed his K-Bar knife from the body, wiped the knife clean on the soldier’s uniform, and placed it back in his sheath. As he looked up, he saw Foster staring dumbly at the object in front of them. In all the excitement of the moment, Pittman hadn’t paid any attention to the object. Now he also stared. In front of them was the strangest looking aircraft either one had ever seen." Based on a true story about the Ho 229 German Luftwaffe Bomber, Hays mixes historical fact with fiction. Reimar and Walter Horten, German Luftwaffe pilots, have developed a radical aircraft wing design that may become a successor to the Stealth Bomber. The goal of the Leatherneck Warriors is to rescue Reimar and prevent the Soviets from developing the design into a supersonic, undetectable bomber aircraft.
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