In That Time

Through the story of the brief, brave life of apromising poet, the president and CEO of New York''s Metropolitan Museum of Artevokes the turmoil and tragedy of the Vietnam War era.In That Time tells the story of the American experience in Vietnam through the lifeof Michael O''Donnell, a bright young musician and poet who served as a soldierand helicopter pilot. O''Donnell wrote with great sensitivity and poetic force,and his best-known poem is among the most beloved of the war. In 1970, duringan attempt to rescue fellow soldiers stranded under heavy fire, O''Donnell''shelicopter was shot down in the jungles of Cambodia. He remained missing inaction for almost three decades.Althoughhe never fired a shot in Vietnam, O''Donnell served in one of the most dangerousroles of the war, all the while using poetry to express his inner feelings andto reflect on the tragedy that was unfolding around him. O''Donnell''s life isboth a powerful, personal story and a compelling, universal one about howAmerica lost its way in the 1960s, but also how hope can flower in the marginsof even the darkest chapters of the American story.