This is a book not just about poetry but about history, pride, humiliation, and the human spirit. It includes a short biography of Mr McKendree, who grew up in a small West Texas town, was a cowboy on some of the large ranches, and enlisted when the war began. He tells of his war experiences with candor and evenhandedness. After the war, he went to the University of Texas on the GI bill and received a degree in petroleum engineering.

He collected most of these poems himself during and after his own captivity