Chuck Newhall is, by any material measure, wildly successful. Along with two partners
he founded a venture capital company that raised more than $14 billion and helped
start 800 companies with more than half a trillion in revenues. Those companies
helped create balloon angioplasty, interleukins, chirally pure pharmaceuticals,
Medicare and Medicaid case management, epigenetics, the internet, the Ethernet and
high-speed data communications.
But through all the years of high-pressure deal making Newhall kept a secret. During
business meetings and at social events he would be nearly overwhelmed by flashbacks
to a darker, more dangerous time, flashbacks so vivid he would grip the edge of
the table to keep control of himself.
His memoir Fearful Odds is not only the story of what caused his PTSD and the
nearly devastating impact it had on his life, it is also an inspiring story of how
one man overcame his psychological injuries. It is, in the end, a story of hope
and triumph with lessons for the millions of veterans of Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan
and their families.
Fearful Odds is Chuck’s story, honoring those he served alongside in combat in Vietnam…and
especially to those who did not return home.
"And how can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his Gods?"
-- Thomas Babington Macaulay, “Horatius”