{"product_id":"the-ballad-of-roy-benavidez-the-life-and-times-of-americas-most-famous-hispanic-war-hero","title":"The Ballad of Roy Benavidez: The Life and Times of America's Most Famous Hispanic War Hero","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe dramatic life of Vietnam War hero Roy Benavidez, revealing how Hispanic Americans have long shaped US history, from \"a major new voice [with] lyrical powers as a biographer\" (David W. Blight, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of \u003ci\u003eFrederick Douglass\u003c\/i\u003e)\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In May 1968, while serving in Vietnam, Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez led the rescue of a reconnaissance team surrounded by hundreds of enemy soldiers. He saved the lives of at least eight of his comrades that day in a remarkable act of valor that left him permanently disabled. Awarded the Medal of Honor after a yearslong campaign, Benavidez became a highly sought-after public speaker, a living symbol of military heroism, and one of the country's most prominent Latinos.   \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Now, historian William Sturkey tells Benavidez's life story in full for the first time. Growing up in Jim Crow-era Texas, Benavidez was scorned as \"Mexican\" despite his family's deep roots in the state. He escaped poverty by enlisting in a desegregating military and was first deployed amid the global upheavals of the 1950s. Even after receiving the Medal of Honor, Benavidez was forced to fight for disability benefits amid Reagan-era cutbacks. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e An unwavering patriot alternately celebrated and snubbed by the country he loved, Benavidez embodied many of the contradictions inherent in twentieth-century Latino life. \u003ci\u003eThe Ballad of Roy Benavidez\u003c\/i\u003e places that experience firmly at the heart of the American story. ","brand":"Basic Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48000166789309,"sku":"BS-TC0-600263","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0771\/9767\/2637\/files\/9781541600263-HD.jpg?v=1786798181","url":"https:\/\/boundigo.com\/products\/the-ballad-of-roy-benavidez-the-life-and-times-of-americas-most-famous-hispanic-war-hero","provider":"Boundigo Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}