Once a Hero: The True Story of One Man's Tragic Odyssey from Vietnam to Leavenworth

by Howard Swindle

Chronicles the life of Jim Little, a decorated Vietnam veteran and distinguished police officer, who used his helicopter piloting skills to mastermind a series of bank robberies

343 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1989

About the author

Clinton Howard Swindle was editor of North Texas' student newspaper, the Campus Chat, in 1968 before being named Outstanding Journalism Graduate. After serving in the Navy during the Vietnam War, he worked for the Fort Worth Press and the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, which led to a position with the Dallas Times Herald.

In 1979 he joined the Dallas Morning News, where he worked as a reporter, assistant metropolitan editor and assistant managing editor for projects before becoming a writer-at-large. In 1986, the News won its first Pulitzer Prize for a project that Swindle edited. Projects led by Swindle would later win two other Pulitzers for the paper.

Swindle was the author of several books, including Once a Hero; Doin' Dirty; America's Condemned: Death Row Inmates in Their Own Words; Trespasses: Portrait of a Serial Rapist; and Deliberate Indifference: A Study of Racial Injustice and Murder. Universal Pictures' Eye See You, released in 2002, was based on his novel Jitter Joint.

Reviews

[Feldman Feldman]

This story will make a good movie ~