This affecting memoir chronicles the Republican senator's arduous coming of age through the early 1950s. After a poor but for him idyllic childhood in Russell, Kans., Dole arrived at college and then the army during World War II a sunny, callow young man; his letters home—many reprinted here—are preoccupied with Mom's cooking, college sports and fraternity hijinks. The story darkens and deepens when he is sent to Italy and, near the end of the war, gravely wounded by a German shell blast that leaves him all but paralyzed with spinal cord damage and a maimed shoulder.

The bulk of the book is taken up with Dole's agonizing three-year convalescence. His restrained but poignant account details his painfully slow struggle to regain the use of his legs and arms, the strain put on his family by his physical helplessness and his reluctant coming to terms with the ruin of his once handsome and athletic body. The book is very much a political autobiography, full of tributes to faith, family and hard work, but the harrowing experiences that put these ideals to the test elevate Dole's memoir above mere boilerplate.

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Dole's sisters presented him with the first copy as a 73rd birthday present. Dole liked the book so much he requested its photos be used as the foundation of his video autobiography which he narrated during the Republican National Convention in early August.

Compiled by Wichita Eagle and Beacon Publishing, from photos, mementos and other material supplied by Dole's family and friends, hometown nespapers and other sources.

Included in the book:

More than 160 black-and-white photos
Many have never been published before
Many supplied by Dole's sisters from the family's private collection
Emphasis is on Dole's early years, from growing up on the plains in Russell, Kansas to high school, college and the war. Includes dramatic pictures of his 39 months of recovery from devastating war wounds

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