Generation Kill | 
 enlarge | Author: Evan Wright
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $1.28
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Avg. Customer Rating:  176 reviews
Sales Rank: 7773
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.6 x 5.9 x 1.1
ISBN: 0425224740
Dewey Decimal Number: 956
EAN: 9780425224748
ASIN: 0425224740
Publication Date: July 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product 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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 171 more reviews...
 Not Convinced War Was Nesscessary November 4, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I just finished this book after watching the HBO series. I think David Simon did a great job producing the series. As a woman I have respect for the Marines even though they seem to think we are useful for only one thing! Nevertheless, there was still no reason for this war! There were no nuclear weapons! This story that we have to fight over there so they will not come here is just more lies. These people as you read in this book were for the most part sheperds, farmers, very poor living in mud huts. What makes people think they all want to come fight over here. Heck, they've never been in an airplane and as you could see in the book the ones that did fight were terrible fighters and not at all professional soldiers. It was like shooting ducks in an amusement park! How we can sit here and glorify that is beyond me. Sickening! This whole war is a sad commentary on our country. What have we done to help these people rebuild their country and their lives? It is a whole lot harder and more noble to be a peacemaker than to shoot a gun at what? I am glad I read this book for the insight into the mindset of the soldiers. I commend Mr. Wright for getting this story out, it is worthwhile to read.
 Hard Cover Genenration Kill October 29, 2008
I really liked this book which gave me an idea what it was like in Iraq during the beginning of the war. The more current release of this book has more information as to what has since happen to the soldiers after serving their country.
A masterful telling of how the U.S. does it today. October 13, 2008
***** Combat troops of all branches have, with few exceptions, e.g. Ernie Pyle and Bill Mauldin, little trust or regard for journalists. Having spent time in both camps, I side with my brothers and sisters at arms and understand why they are leery of these foreign beings spying on them. Therefore, I picked up "Generation Kill" with much skepticism. To my surprise, it wasn't what I had expected.
Evan Wright, a contributor to "Rolling Stone" and other journals, joins a United States Marine Corps Recon (Reconnaissance) Battalion and is attached at the platoon level or lower for their blitzkrieg drive through northern Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He endures what they endure and faces what they face with little, if any, more knowledge than they have of their situations. Wright captures the terror, the confusion, the fatigue, the stress, the bonding, the ennui, the bravery, the incompetence, and the soul-searching that are part of combat.
As a read, I found old comrades living on in this younger generation, but the conversations were similar to my generation's and to my father's with only some idiomatic changes. There were the same SNAFUs, FUBARs, REMFs, RAMFs, POGs, and other things that make up the grunt-speak of the various generations. And true today as it has always been, the more specialized and proficient the warrior, and Recon Marines are among the top 1% in the Corps, which puts them among the elite warriors of the world, there is more thoughtfulness about their job and about each mission--mindless drones they are not. A character in a novel once commented, not so tongue-in-cheek, that they should hand out mortarboards instead of berets upon completion of the Army's Special Forces training, except the mortarboards are a pain in a firefight. The ironies of war are not lost on these intelligent young Marines nor are their coping mechanisms ignored or considered particularly unusual...highly paid professional athletes often have quirks, too.
Wright grasps the current socio-political climate quite well, as we see when he recommends "Groundhog Day" as the best film to describe a grunt's view of war. I will wholeheartedly agree with his assessment that, unlike Vietnam, when it comes time to look for those to be held in shame, the veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan shall not and must not be among that group. "The Marine Corps is at war. America is at the mall." Or as Wright puts it, "It's the American public for whom the Iraqi war is no more real than a video game" (a reference to a quote in the the book about Grand Theft Auto). In short, war is still war and it is a horrible undertaking...but we still wage it upon each other with all the skill and lethality we can muster. Evan Wright's book is masterful telling of how the U.S. does it today; complete with the warts and flaws for all to see. *****
Reviewed by Dr. Phil Rhyne for Huntress Reviews.
A great few from the frontlines. October 13, 2008
This is a must read. I couldn't put it down. It finished it in two days and I've gone back and read it again to make sure I didn't miss out on it since I went through it so quickly. It was great to see the soldier's experience and not the politicians view point. I'm sure there were still a lot of things that were left out due to censorship, but it was still a great read.
War Reportage October 12, 2008
While not as deep and emotional as Micheal Herr's Dispatches, Generation Kill still provides a great look into one facet of America's war in Iraq, the tip of the spear the 1St Marine Recon following the doctrine of maneuver warfare.
However it is one facet and one reporters viewpoint on a highly complicated war, deeper understanding would be found in Fear Up Harsh (intelligence and interrogation) and House to House (Battle of Fallujah) as well as Fiasco: War in Iraq.
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