The dramatic life of Vietnam War hero Roy Benavidez, a Mexican American Green Beret from a workingclass family with deep roots in Texas, revealing how Hispanic Americans have long shaped US historyIn May 1968, while serving in Vietnam, Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez led the rescue of a reconnaissance team surrounded by hundreds of enemy soldiers. He saved the lives of at least eight of his comrades that day in a remarkable act of valor that left him permanently disabled. Awarded the Medal of Honor after a yearslong campaign, Benavidez became a highly soughtafter public speaker, a living symbol of military heroism, and one of the countrys most prominent Latinos. Now, historian William Sturkey tells Benavidezs life story in full for the first time. Growing up in Jim Crowera Texas, Benavidez was scorned as Mexican despite his familys deep roots in the state. He escaped poverty by enlisting in a desegregating military and was first deployed amid the global upheavals of the 1950s. Even after receiving the Medal of Honor, Benavidez was forced to fight for disability benefits amid Reaganera cutbacks.An unwavering patriot alternately celebrated and snubbed by the country he loved, Benavidez embodied many of the contradictions inherent in twentiethcentury Latino life. The Ballad of Roy Benavidez places that experience firmly at the heart of the American story.