PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY

Close Notification

Your cart does not contain any items

The Good Soldiers by David Finkel at Abbey's Bookshop,
The Good Soldiers
— —
David Finkel

The Good Soldiers

David Finkel

$24.99

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?
English
Scribe Publications
29 August 2011
History; Iraq War; Military tactics; War & defence operations
"It was the last-chance moment of the war.

In January 2007, President George W. Bush announced a new strategy for Iraq. It became known as 'the surge'. 'Many listening tonight will ask why this effort will succeed when previous operations to secure Baghdad did not. Well, here are the differences', he told a sceptical nation. Among those listening were the young, optimistic army infantry soldiers of the 2-16, the battalion nicknamed the Rangers. About to head to a vicious area of Baghdad, they decided the difference would be them.

Fifteen months later, the soldiers returned home forever changed.

What is the true story of the surge? And was it really a success? Those are the questions that the Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter David Finkel grapples with in his remarkable report from the front lines. He was with Battalion 2-16 in Baghdad almost every gruelling step of the way.

Combining the action of Mark Bowden's Black Hawk Down with the literary brio of Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, The Good Soldiers is an unforgettable work of reportage. And in telling the story of these good soldiers, the heroes and the ruined, Finkel has also produced an eternal tale - not just of the Iraq War, but of all wars, for all time.

'It is Mr. Finkel's accomplishment in this harrowing book that he not only depicts what the Iraq war is like for the soldiers of the 2-16 - 14 of whom die - but also the incalculable ways in which the war bends (or in some cases warps) the remaining arc of their lives. He captures the sense of comradeship the men develop among themselves. And he also captures the difficulty many of the soldiers feel in trying to adapt to ordinary life back home in the States, and the larger disconnect they continue to feel between the war that politicians and generals discussed and the war that they knew firsthand.' -Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

'Finkel's sad and wonderful account of soldiers' experiences of war follows the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry, which was thrown into one of Baghdad's worst districts as part of the 2007 surge ... Finkel achieves great intimacy with his subjects, charting their changing feelings toward Iraqis, their mission, and their own commander. By the time they are told that they are winning, it's hard to remember or define what that means. After two members of his platoon are killed twelve days before their tour, already extended three months, is to end, a soldier writes to his wife, ""I'm gonna need some help when I get home."" -Sarah Crichton, The New Yorker

'This is the finest book yet written on the platoon-level combat of the Iraq war ... Unforgettable - raw, moving, and rendered with literary control ... No one who reads this book will soon forget its imagery, words, or characters.' -Steve Coll, author of Ghost Wars"
By:  
Imprint:   Scribe Publications
Country of Publication:   Australia
Dimensions:   Height: 208mm,  Width: 135mm,  Spine: 20mm
Weight:   275g
ISBN:   9781921844461
ISBN 10:   1921844469
Pages:   304
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  College/higher education ,  ELT Advanced ,  Primary
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Reviews for The Good Soldiers

'From a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer at the height of his powers comes an incandescent and profoundly moving book: powerful, intense, enraging. This may be the best book on war since the Iliad.' - Geraldine Brooks, author of People of the Book.


See Also

The Good Soldiers

Lethal Shot

A Royal Marine Commando in Action...

Rob Driscoll

Hardback

$49.99 

Not in-store but you can order this

ADD +
The Good Soldiers

Urban ISIS

The Return of the King

Willie Gross, Jr

Paperback

$31.95  $28.70

Not in-store but you can order this

ADD +
The Good Soldiers

The Mirror Test

America at War in Iraq and Afghanistan...

J. Kael Weston

Paperback

$34.99 

Not in-store but you can order this

ADD +
The Good Soldiers

Night Letters

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and the Afghan...

Chris Sands

Hardback

$75 

Not in-store but you can order this

ADD +
The Good Soldiers

Urban ISIS

The Double Cross

Willie Gross, Jr

Paperback

$31.95  $28.70

Not in-store but you can order this

ADD +
The Good Soldiers

An Inconvenient Death

How the Establishment Covered Up...

Miles Goslett

Paperback

$19.99 

Not in-store but you can order this

ADD +