Internal Conflicts

This book will thrust the reader back to the turbulent 1960's to capture the tenor of the times in one of the most powerful and emotionally compelling stories to chronicle the Vietnam era. Moving deftly from the epic to the personal and the hilarious to the heart braking. internal conflicts follows Peter Luton, a young, idealistic army officer as he searches for sex, love, manhood, identity, and meaning in a world turned upside down. Recently on National Public Radio, an author said, "A good novel raises more questions than it answers." By that standard, Internal Conflicts is certainly a "good novel," for it raises all sorts of questions about life, death, love, sex, war, peace and the meaning of human existence. In fact, nearly every page confronts the protagonist with a question, a choice, a dilemma. One of the major questions that Peter Luton seems to constantly encounter is: "What must I do to prove that I am a man?" According to psychologist Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, author or The Hazards of Being Male, women never have to "prove" their femininity. Many young males, on the other hand, often feel compelled to "prove" to themselves and others that they are worthy of being considered "real men."

It is this drive to prove one's masculinity that is at the heart of Internal Conflicts, the debut novel by acclaimed author and military historian Flint Whitlock, that is part romance novel, part war story, part murder mystery, and part psychological study.
Set in the turbulent 1960s, when America was being pulled apart by war, racial issues, and political assassinations, Internal Conflicts is the story of Peter Luton, a young, idealistic Army officer who has joined the military in hopes of discovering his manhood while he hunts for sex, love, and the meaning of life in a world turned upside down. Having grown up in the shadow of his older, more athletically gifted brother Jack, the angst-ridden, ultra-sensitive Peter is forever tormented by self-doubt and insecurities, and is given to impetuous acts that always seem to backfire on him. Yet, when it comes time for him to demonstrate courage in the face of death, he finds an inner strength that he never knew he possessed.

Told with style, warmth, and humor, as well as insight and surprising plot twists, the fast-paced Internal Conflicts takes the reader to some intriguing locales: El Paso, Texas, and the mean streets of Juarez, Mexico; Airborne training in Georgia; a shipboard romance on the North Atlantic; the tensions of a nuclear missile base in West Germany during the Cold War; a steamy sexual encounter in Paris; the riot-torn streets of Chicago during the 1968 Democratic National Convention; and a battle-scarred highway in Vietnam. Along the way, the reader meets a host of lifelike, unforgettable characters: Peter's older brother Jack, All-American jock; Martin "Frog" Randall, Peter's anti-war college roommate; Lieutenant Duncan Matheson III, a hedonist and minister's son; Susan Delehaye, Peter's former college fiance; the racist Sergeant Krieger; Sabrina Mondragon, one of Peter's many failed love interests; Army buddy Lieutenant Styles Van Dellen; the sexually voracious librarian Margot Sills; Peter's insufferable commanding officer, Boswell "Porky Pig" Taggert; Army nurse Lieutenant Meredith Keller; Peter's boss in Vietnam, Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Aholm; his nemesis Captain Todd Gorman; and Australian Army Captain Graham Birdsong—all of whom play important roles in propelling the novel to its shattering, inevitable conclusion with an emotional impact that few readers will be able to resist. Or forget. No wonder that one reviewer called it "the Great American Novel."