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not take the reasonably intelligent young man long to figure out that he is in a world of hurt. How does this knowledge affect him? That is the subject of this dark, intense novel. Jungle Rules follows the transformation of Andy Cullen, a clean-cut American boy, into a hardcore "boonierat" in the jungles and rice paddies of Viet Nam. The novel describes the process of dehumanization that affects every soldier in a combat environment. In its milder form, this process is reflected in the happenings at an Abu Ghraib Prison; at its worst in the horror and tragedy of a My Lai Massacre. Americans idealize their military and expect them to live up to the highest moral standards. In our World of automobiles and houses with hot and cold running water and refrigerators and televisions and computers, where we all live in accordance with a rational set of rules, such standards are easy to impose.
In the jungle, the rules are different.
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