"Robust and vivid...full of feeling." --Newsday

This is the story of Bull Meecham, the epitome of the Marine officer. Demanding, authoritarian, as tough a disciplinarian at home as at the base, Bull is a difficult man to please, and even harder to love.

This is also the story of Ben Meecham, Bull's oldest son. A gifted athlete whose best never satisfies his father, Ben must balance his own ambition with his father's expectations--and decide what course he will chart for himself and what kind of man he will become.

Piercing, bittersweet, and unforgettable, The Great Santini is Pat Conroy's semi-autobiographical lens into fathers and sons, and the powerful legacy one man can leave behind.