Book of the Month - November "Generation Kill" by Evan Wright
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Wright rode into Iraq on March 20, 2003, with a platoon of First
Reconnaissance Battalion Marines—the Marine Corps' special operations
unit whose motto is "Swift, Silent, Deadly." These highly trained and
highly motivated First Recon Marines were the leading unit of the
American-led invasion force. Wright wrote about that experience in a
three-part series in Rolling Stone that was hailed for its evocative,
accurate war reporting. This book, a greatly expanded version of that
series, matches its accomplishment. Wright is a perceptive reporter
and a facile writer. His account is a personality-driven, readable and
insightful look at the Iraq War's first month from the Marine grunt's
point of view. It jibes with other firsthand reports of the first
phase of the Iraqi invasion (including David Zucchino's Thunder Run),
showing the unsettling combination of feeble and vicious resistance
put up by the Iraqi army, the Fedayeen militiamen and their Syrian
allies against American forces bulldozing through towns and cities and
into Baghdad. Wright paints compelling portraits of a handful of
Marines, most of whom are young, street-smart and dedicated to the
business of killing the enemy. As he shows them, the Marines' main
problem was trying to sort out civilians from enemy fighters. Wright
does not shy away from detailing what happened when the fog of war
resulted in the deaths and maimings of innocent Iraqi men, women and
children. Nor does he hesitate to describe intimately the few
instances in which Marines were killed and wounded. Fortunately,
Wright is not exposing the strengths and weaknesses of a new
generation of American fighting men, as the misleadingly hyped-up
title and subtitle indicate. Instead, he presents a vivid, well-drawn
picture of those fighters in action on the front lines in the
blitzkrieg-like opening round of the Iraq War.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier
Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com
Straight from the depths of embeddedness comes Generation Kill: Devil
Dogs, Iceman, Captain America and the New Face of American War
(Putnam, $24.95), Evan Wright's group portrait of a Marine Corps
platoon that fought in Iraq last year. In Wright's view, this sample
of the front line of the American military "would be virtually
unrecognizable to their forebears in 'The Greatest Generation.' . . .
These young men represent what is more or less America's first
generation of disposable children. More than half of the guys in the
platoon come from broken homes and were raised by absentee, single,
working parents. Many are on more intimate terms with video games,
reality TV shows and Internet porn than they are with their own
parents. Before the 'War on Terrorism' began, not a whole lot was
expected of this generation other than the hope that those in it would
squeak through high school without pulling too many more mass
shootings in the manner of Columbine." Near the end of Wright's stay,
one member of the platoon concluded, "War doesn't change anything. . .
. This place was [expletive] before we came, and it's [expletive] now.
I personally don't believe we 'liberated' the Iraqis. Time will tell."
And yet this same naysayer, Wright reports, has since signed up for
another mission.
Soldiers of Misfortune
Copyright 2004, The Washington Post Co. All Rights Reserved.--This
text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
Its timeliness notwithstanding, this chronicle of an American
reconnaissance platoon's mission to spearhead the invasion of Iraq is
not one of those hastily thrown together "instant books." The author
was the only journalist to travel with First Recon. He joined the
platoon in March 2003 and traveled with its soldiers into combat
missions (including the assault on Baghdad in April). His book is not
about the war itself but about one group of men who fought in it.
Today's American soldiers, Wright says, are young men who are "on more
intimate terms with the culture of the video games, reality TV shows
and Internet porn than they are with their own families." (One
19-year-old corporal compares driving into an ambush to a Grand Theft
Auto video game: "It was fucking cool.") Wright also explores how
today's pop-culture-driven soldiers differ from those who fought more
than three decades ago in Vietnam. A perceptive, often troubling
examination of soldiers' view of war, peace, and combat. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved--This
text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Financial Times, June 26, 2004
...an adrenaline rush of intelligent prose...--This text refers to the
Hardcover edition.
Time, July 12, 2004
...a pungently written combat narrative and a close-range study of a
bunch of twentysomethings...--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Book Description
Within hours of 9/11, America's war on terrorism fell to those like
the 23 Marines of the First Recon Battalion, the first generation
dispatched into open-ended combat since Vietnam. They were a new breed
of American warrior unrecognizable to their forebears-soldiers raised
on hip hop, Internet porn, Marilyn Manson, video games and The Real
World, a band of born-again Christians, dopers, Buddhists, and New
Agers who gleaned their precepts from kung fu movies and Oprah
Winfrey. Cocky, brave, headstrong, wary, and mostly unprepared for the
physical, emotional, and moral horrors ahead, the "First Suicide
Battalion" would spearhead the blitzkrieg on Iraq, and fight against
the hardest resistance Saddam had to offer.
Generation Kill is the funny, frightening, and profane firsthand
account of these remarkable men, of the personal toll of victory, and
of the randomness, brutality, and camaraderie of a new American war.
Download Description
In the tradition of Black Hawk Down and Jarhead comes a searing
portrait of young men fighting a modern-day war. A powerhouse work of
nonfiction, Generation Kill expands on Evan Wright's acclaimed
three-part series that appeared in Rolling Stone during the summer of
2003. His narrative follows the twenty-three marines of First Recon
who spearheaded the blitzkrieg on Iraq. This elite unit, nicknamed
""First Suicide Battalion,"" searched out enemy fighters by racing
ahead of American battle forces and literally driving into suspected
ambush points. Evan Wright lived on the front lines with this platoon
from the opening hours of combat, to the fall of Baghdad, through the
start of the guerrilla war. He was welcomed into their ranks, and from
this bird's-eye perspective he tells the unsettling story of young men
trained by their country to be ruthless killers. He chronicles the
triumphs and horrors-physical, moral, emotional, and spiritual-that
these marines endured while achieving victory in a war many questioned
before it began. Wright's book is a timely account of war; even more
important, it is a timeless description of the human drama taking
place on today's battlefields. Written with brutal honesty, raw
intensity, and startling intimacy, Generation Kill is destined to
become a classic and take its place in the canon of the most
captivating and authentic works of war literature.--This text refers
to the Digital edition.
About the Author
Evan Wright is a reporter for Rolling Stone.
Book of the Month - November "Generation Kill" by Evan Wright
posted by Kory Knowles @ 4:13 PM
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