I picked up Absolutely American: Four Years at West Point in order to see lives completely unlike my own. Americans view the military in various ways. Some view it as a noble cause, serving the country that has given them so much. Others think that the military is nothing more than a bunch og gung-ho conformists, eager to kill in America’s name ( I am somewhere in between I think). The one thing that I came away with when finishing this book, is that the West Point cadets are not that different from you or me. Yes, some of them are the jocks that we all envision, but some of the cadets portrayed in this books, bore a striking resemblance to people I know and I call friends. The author David Lipinksy was given full access to West Point and spent four years following one cadet class. He focuses on several cadest in particular and its their stories that he is telling. West Point is full of uniformity, disipline and regulations, yet the cadets voices emerge over this wall. The more interesting parts are the ones that follow the people who do not blend into the school, such as George Rash. He continually rides the line between staying and being “separated” from the school. He faces each challenge as it comes and you find yourself cheering him on while you read about his years there. This book is by no means a paean to military life and military school. Some of the cadets are only there because the school is free, though you have to serve for at least five years after graduation. Some come for the challenge, some to fulfill family obligation, some come because the army life appeals to them. This book has not made me respect the army an more than before, but maybe I have a newfound respect for those who choose a military career. The most interesting thing that Lipsky observes is that West Point has the happiest people he has seen on a college campus, maybe due to the fact that there is no sarcasm or irony among the cadets. They all look relatively the same and act the same, which leaves little room for that. I am not sure if I believe this, but I am willing to take Lipsky’s word for it. He spent four years on the campus and seems to have absorbed a little of the military polish himself, throwing around acronyms and such. This was a pretty fascinating book.