A book not to buy

There is a reason this post is running today.

First, take some time to honor Col. John Ripley, USMC, properly.

We have discussed him before - but I would like you to click here, as this was an about perfect tribute to him when he passed on over a year ago.

On the other side of the equation is the below. One of the most despicable things an author can do is to take a man, his honor, his memory, and his family's good name for his own selfish uses.

From The Capital's article yesterday:

Ripley's daughter, Annapolis resident Mary Ripley, called Fulkerson's picture of her father "a dishonor" to his memory.

"It is a dishonor to our father to turn the things he said - about women in the military and women in combat, and about gays in the military - into a personal view about a hatred of gays and a misogynistic view of women," Mary Ripley said.

"This is real for us, and more importantly, it is real for my dad," she said. "My dad wasn't against homosexuals in the military because he hated homosexuals, but because he was concerned about military readiness. And that was in a different time and place."

Fulkerson said he wrote "An American Knight" after meeting several times with various members of the Ripley family, and never has heard any objection from them about the book.

The colonel's oldest son, Stephen Ripley, wrote an introduction for the book.

Stephen Ripley said his family cooperated with Fulkerson "with our eyes wide open."

"I wrote the introduction trying to give people an idea of my father; TFP was going to write this book anyway, so we tried to participate to make sure it was factually accurate," he said.

Stephen Ripley said he is disappointed in the book.

"My hope and intention is that this book will slide off into oblivion, and never be heard from again," Stephen Ripley said last week. "My dad took some unpopular positions ... (but) he never belonged to the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, even though he had some parallel beliefs."

Another of the four Ripley children, John Michael Ripley, said of Fulkerson's writing, "It's the little details about the real man that get lost when he creates this fictional evangelizer."

"They don't need our permission to write a book about our dad," he said in resignation, "and they can write whatever they want."

Form up with his family. Don't buy that book.