Stealth Patrol: The Making of a Vietnam Ranger Bill Shanahan, John P. Brackin. Da Capo Press, $26 (304pp) ISBN 978-0-306-81273-6 ...

From then on, he occasionally came across a mention of lurps. Then, as a teenager, he found a memoir by a patrol member in a small bookstore. He read it, and a few similar books, again and again.