Chicken Soup for Veteran's Soul

May 21, 2001
This self-help–guide–cum-tribute to veterans will appeal to wide readership (approximately 27 million Americans are veterans), just as so many other entries in Canfield and Hansen's blockbuster series have. Slagter—founder of Veteran Stories Inc., "a corporation dedicated to honoring veterans from all wars and all branches of service"—and the soul-soothing duo have recruited a strong lineup of contributors, among them Sen. John McCain, Bob Hope, Charles Kuralt (their names are on the cover as contributors), Secretary of State Colin Powell, Sen. Daniel Inouye and 75 others; and Walter Cronkite checks in with a blurb on the back of the book. Ranging from the terrifying ("I was blind, stunned, in pain, bleeding profusely and very much alone" at the controls of an attack plane over North Korea, recounts Kenneth A. Schechter) to the stoic ("With his eyes nearly swollen shut from the beating, had quietly picked up his needle and thread and begun sewing a new flag," recalls McCain of a co-prisoner in North Vietnam) to the deeply moving, the stories relate triumphs of the spirit and often of the body. Some profits will go to the Paralyzed Veterans of America, the Women in Military Service for America Memorial, the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association and other organizations. Photos. (May)Forecast:With a release in plenty of time for Memorial Day and a near-infallible brand identity, expect a run up paperback bestseller lists.