A Sense of Honor

by James Webb

A fascinating portrayal of a gung-ho first classman's campaign to shepherd an unprepared plebe through the Academy's complex and unforgiving ethos. It stands as a testament to those whose devotion to duty, honor, and country is only strengthened by their willingness to question it.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Military Fiction, War, Novels

308 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

James Henry "Jim" Webb, Jr. is an American politician and author. He has served as a United States Senator from Virginia, Secretary of the Navy, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, Counsel for the United States House Committee on Veterans' Affairs and is a decorated Marine Corps officer.

Outside of working in government, Webb is also an Emmy Award winning journalist, filmmaker, and author of ten books. He taught literature at the United States Naval Academy and was a Fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics. As a member of the Democratic Party, Webb announced on November 19, 2014, that he was forming an exploratory committee to evaluate a run for President of the United States in 2016. On July 2, 2015, he announced that he would be joining the race for the Democratic nomination for president, but stepped down from running in the primaries on October 20, 2015, stating that he was "not comfortable" with many political positions from the party's leadership.

In 2020, Webb was named the first distinguished fellow of University of Notre Dame's International Security Center.

Senator Webb is also an author of many books, stating that "I've written for a living all my life, so writing is as much a part of me as working out."

Reviews

[Mel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I actually went to the Naval Academy, so I recognized all the places, names, and pageantry this book brings up. That was nice. But let me tell you, this book is super nostalgic for the days when only men were allowed in, no one cares if you psychologically shattered your subordinates, and anyone who spoke against abuse or idiocy was a crybaby whiner not worthy of the honor this book so strongly reveres. As a woman in the military who has actually seen combat, I see plenty of this "make the military great again" bullshit all the time in the Uber-macho male-dominated front lines (and elsewhere). I left on 2 stars because the book is coherent and the story does make sense, but the characters are 2 dimensional and the only 'developement' is how the younger midshipman goes from "normal teenager" to "hero worships the arrogant blowhard who lectures him about combat when he's never seen it either." Come on, Webb, Bancroft Hall is not a sacred shrine to masculinity and teachers who try to stop clear abuse are not the bad guys weakening the fighting force of America.

[Barbara Rhine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I did find this book fascinating. My late husband was a graduate of the Naval Academy, and for the first time, from this story, I had a clear sense of what he had gone through. The writing is a bit dense and over-detailed, but it certainly got across what life was like for a naval cadet in the late sixties. The anti-war movement lingers around the edge of the action, which involves most specifically the initiation of one dweeb into manhood, with requirements that could have cost him his bodily integrity, and even his life. The lone academic who challenges this is made a fool. The outside world remains outside. And eventually the cruel actions of the tormentor are made into heroism. That is my most serious objection to this book.

[Alyssa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jim Webb hates softies, and he clearly also hates women.


Well, that was absolutely batshit.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book surprised me with its complexity of characters. The story was tragic and frustrating, and yet inspiring. Webb doesn't leave you with easy answers. I found my perspective changing and evolving with that of Dean as he grew from a hunted boy to an aspiring officer with a deep sense of pride. I was amazed to realize that Dean and Fogarty, two such disparate characters, actually seemed more alike by the end of the novel. Well written and great look into military academy culture.

[Chris Dickerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whenever I encounter someone who is thinking about applying to Annapolis (I am class of 1984), I give them a copy of this book (along with A Message to Garcia). I think it provides a insight to life at the Naval Academy and military service that is hard to articulate. Senator Webb does an excellent job here bringing life to both the good and the bad and what it means to serve.

[Louisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you attended the Naval Academy, dated someone who went there, or have a family member/friend who went there, you will love this book. So well written (and by the former Secretary of the Navy/current senator to Virginia), and so funny.

[Steve Woods · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well this one doesn't pull any punches about the vagaries and the intensity of life at Anapolis. The same story could probably be told about any of the elite Officer training establishments in any western idustrialized country at the same time. This would certainly include Sandhurst in the UK and Duntroon in Australia. They were without doubt brutal places and the hoops through which cadets have to jump were always irrational, pressured, humiliating and dehumanising. But then a person needs to remember what these places are for, they are there to turn out junior officers who during this particular period would see combat soon after graduation and even if there isn't a war running that is still what the cadets prepare for. Combat is all of the above, irrational, pressured, humiliating and dehumaizing. As young officers in the field they will have to sustain all of that and still function as leaders. Their lives and the lives of those they lead will depend on it. A person does not get that kind of training through a liberal humanistic education! The mollycoddlers and do gooders just don't get it.

The unfortunate side of this though is that while all of that is true, there are fewer checks and balances in place to rein in cruelty and bullying than necessary. Neither of those are qualities of a good officer and should be as much a cause for failure to graduate as being unable to sustain the regimen of the place. There have certainly been too many examples of that kind of behaviour in these places. One possible solution would be to ensure that the military staff in these places is drawn only from the ranks off exemplary officers with combat experience of leading men. They at least will understand the context for which these youngsters prepare. I think that there is no place here for the wannabe's who really don't know the territory at all. They tend to use their rank to lord it over others and that is not leadership.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much of this Naval Academy-based novel made sense to me. I graduated from USNA several years after the events of this book take place.

Mr. Webb sets the scene pretty well, and much of the book reminded me of things I’d long forgotten. Also, the book contains many well-worded passages and literary comparisons. Many of the characters are compelling. The book effectively explores the theme of how to teach leadership.

However, I believe the novel tries to do too many things. For example, it’s hard to say who the protagonist is. Most likely it’s Bill Fogarty, but there are so many other subplots and major characters that I’m not sure that’s right. As to the main character’s problem or quest, I’d guess it’s to turn Midshipman Dean into leadership material. Again, I can’t be sure.

The novel starts slowly, and doesn’t pick up until the last quarter. At first, it seems like short ‘scenes of life’ rather than a connected, focused plot.

The novel contains several editorial errors. “Do you thing anybody…” “scariest thing I’ve every done,” “It’s hard to break old habits [plural], at least until a new one takes its [singular] place.” “Eighty marines. Eight [should be eighty] goddamn warm bodies.”

Anyone who attended the Naval Academy will likely enjoy this book. I don’t recommend it for others, since the jargon would confuse those readers.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this with my book club. We are located near to Annapolis, and our members almost equally divided between people who are married to former midshipman and are enthusiiastic about the Academy, and those who grew up as civilians in the town and endured the arrrogance of some of the midshipmen. Each one reacted to the making of an officer according to their designated group.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

After having read The Nightingale's Song, which profiled James Webb's life along with the lives of four of his Naval Academy classmates (Oliver North, John McCain, Bud McFarland and John Poindexter) it is easy to project those men into the characters in Webb's novel. The story paints a clear picture of unique conditions that shape cadets into officers.

[Lance Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the only thing I've seen that really gets the feeling of being there. It is certainly dated, the Academy was different when I was there and is more different now, but the feel is right. If you want to understand the feeling of being at the Naval Academy this is the one.
Lance Lee, USNA '92

[SkunkedUpKicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did, given I've never had much interest in military related books before, but the story was interesting, and I enjoyed some of the characters.

I do think Webb favours one side of the argument - Bills side. I do think it affects the argument presented by the novel, but you can still make your own opinion regardless.

I think it would have been better to see more characters not on Bill's side, as the professor is really the only one who's semi-consistently in the novel. I liked the small part where Dean called home to speak to his family, particularly his dad. I would have liked his relationship with them more, and it would have also offered opportunity for characters who didn't agree with Bill to have their say. But I do understand why it didn't do this.

Anyway, if it's not obvious, I didn't agree with Bill. Even if I didn't think it inherently wrong to abuse people 'for their own good' just cause you can get away with it, it didn't even seem to work. Dean could run the seawall in the dark, and his room was cleaner, his uniform neater, but that's about it. I didn't see him as having developed any more honour or courage, etc, than he had prior. I don't see him carrying on Bill's practices after he leaves as Bill had carried on Ron's.

The insight into the other characters was really good. I didn't get it at first, but I think I do now. None of them seemed happy. And they all ultimately seemed to want what Dean did when he would imagine life outside of the Academy. Even Bill, at the end, despite believing in all he sees the Academy as standing for, it aims to let him take the fall for what's been done to Dean. And while he is partially to blame, he's not the only one at fault.

[Michael Toleno · Rating 2 out of 5]

Appropriately, I read this during my plebe year (first year) at the U.S. Naval Academy, and its plot centers on a plebe (freshman) and an upperclassmen who torments him under the guise of training him. It was an enjoyable read, but in the end it seems that the book justified the plebe’s abuse and torture as being beneficial to his officer training. Shame on the author for promoting and justifying this type of behavior in what is supposed to be a professional military environment. I’m thankful that I attended the Academy about 20 years after the setting of this book, which probably reflected some of the harsher hazing that actually occurred at that time. I’m glad that, since my Academy days, plebe training seems to have become much more civil, humane, and professional, while retaining and even perhaps increasing its rigor, without abuse.

As with all of my pre-2000 books, the “Date finished” may be a few months off. I don’t know what edition I actually read.

[Karl Flynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book details the death of the culture of developing warriors at the US Naval Academy. Well written and simple in its message, the book ends with a simple question that has continued to haunt the military since the Vietnam War. How is civilian control over the military going to affect those young men sent to die? The question posed by the novel has answered itself time after time, in places like Vietnam, Lebanon, Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

[Robert Mund]

Excellent read. Interesting and entertaining.
Probably helped that i had son go there so was familiar with most of the places talked about and some of their traditions. Nevertheless, i was entertained by the story and the many characters and their attributes and failings.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like other books by James Webb about the military, its authenticity is untouchable. The author lived the events he wrote about, in the places he wrote about, and no amount of research could substitute for that.

[Darren Sapp · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great look inside Annapolis via fiction. I was hoping for a little more day-to-day about their lives through the four years.

[Fran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this years ago. I remember loving it.

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of my favorite books I’ve read. A semi-autobiographical story based on the lives of those associated with the Naval Academy. The book follows 2 students and an officer with a third person limited style of writing.

The journey the first year (plebe) takes in becoming a student that buys in to the values of the academy is a rollercoaster that is captivating at every moment. The story talks in depth about real Naval Academy tradition which, despite its restrictive nature, makes the reader feel like it’s something they would want to be a part of.

I would recommend this book to anyone especially people that enjoy historical fiction.

[Gregory Walgreen · Rating 2 out of 5]

If the Democratic Party had half a brain James Webb would be President. The GOP said, "Take the Oval Office, just don't nominate Killary (sic) or a socialist."...I was wrong. I figured James Webb could write prose as good as Jimmy Webb could write songs. James Webb is a hack prose writer. Obama had the sense to get William Ayers to ghostwrite his books.

[Nia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was reflecting on this book, which I read back when I was at the Naval Academy (I think all the plebes in 2nd co. were ordered to read it, certainly our youngsters talked about it with us, but I think the 2nd classmen, class of '90, were the ones who were really big on the book for some reason. I think that the book was published in 86, which is when they would have started plebe summer...). I told my manager at that there was nothing for me to learn from the USNA experience and she told me to think about it some more. Well, I see that she was right. But it's only just coming into being, this lesson. It needs to finish germinating but I can already see the seed of an idea, the lessons to be learned. Amazing that it can take 20 years almost to learn these lessons. My own sense of honor back at that time demanded that I stand up to several upperclassmen telling me to be gung-ho about unneccessry killing and singing cadences about napalm sticking to kids. The upperclassmen decided that I was too squeemish to be in 'their' navy.
Anyway, thinking on this book I read back then, "A Sense of Honor" brought me to some comments about honor, and this one was particularly interesting. He feels honor is a 'better' man's morality, but I see that as a bit snobbish personally. I prefer to see honor as a way of living that upholds the dignity of all.

(This LJ post was made back in 2008. Twenty years after I left Annapolis. Now 28 yrs...
Looking back, now I see that much of the criticisms of the upperclassmen and my classmates regarding my brain-dumping was a result of my then undiagnosed PTSD, which I'd still like to know whether all those psych tests we took on Induction Day showed in any way...)

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is one of the best military novels ever written. It brings life to the love/hate relationship that so many Marines and sailors have toward their service. I first read this book as a 19 year old Marine. I don't really remember what I liked about it back then, but it was probably the hard core nature of guys like Fogarty. Now in my 40s, this book resonates for different reasons, chief among them are the bitter-sweet nature of gaining life experience and having to work within a system. Webb does a superb job of showing how that gung-ho spirit sweeps into a person's psyche.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bob and I knew the author, James Webb, when we were in the miliary (Marine Corps Basic School in Quantico, VA). Bob said then, "James Webb is going to the the Commandant of the Marine Corps some day!". He's actually done better: Secretary of the Navy, and now Senator. He also served in Vietnam. This book is excellent. Set in the late 60s with Vietnam looming in young men's lives. The hero is at Annapolis (like the author) and learning the ropes. Pretty interesting and well written. He's a smart guy and a leader.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't expect to like this as much as I did, but it's an interesting story about the Naval Academy. The main characters are a few midshipmen and a professor (marine) there. The book highlights the changes in what we perceive as honorable and good, and takes place during the Vietnam war. The book is fiction, and is hard to put down.

[G · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good story about the experiences of midshipmen while attending the U.S. Naval Academy. Having attended the USNA, I can say this book does a good job of telling an entertaining story while keeping true to the way things actually happen at the academy.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book. I read this during my senior year at Annapolis and look forward to reading it a few years in the future. The story alludes to the ever-present Athens or Sparta debate among the military academies.

[Zachary Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book with fantastic insight into the Academy, especially if you attend the Naval Academy now or did previously. Goes in depth with three fictional characters. James Webb lays out the three characters thoughts perfectly throughout the book.

[Ben Loory · Rating 4 out of 5]

good book... david mamet keeps steering me right.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best books written about the Viet-Nam War. Buy it - read it - treasure it.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting inside view of the Naval Academy by the senator from Virginia.