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War
by Sebastian Junger |
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Embedded as a journalist in an infantry platoon of the
U.S. 2d Batallion, Junger here tracks the unit's
15-month deployment at a desolate mountain outpost in
eastern Afghanistan in 2007-08. Fighting is on foot,
over rugged terrain, in a series of patrols and chaotic
firefights interspersed with interminable periods of
boredom. In a change from his earlier books (e.g., The
Perfect Storm; A Death in Belmont), Junger here is an
observer of the now, not simply a reporter of the past.
Trying to capture in words the elements of combat, fear,
and ennui through the eyes of the soldiers, he
communicates with a level of objectivity that the
soldiers cannot. Junger is there, in the moment, with
them, but he can also of course pull back and give
distance and perspective. Junger's work here is
reminiscent of David Finkel's The Good Soldiers and Tim
O'Brien's fictional The Things They Carried, yet his
work is neither simple hands-on reportage nor a work of
fiction. VERDICT Although ostensibly about combat in
Afghanistan, War examines the raw, brutal reality of
combat-period-and why men fight. More than anything
else, soldiers fight for one another, and Junger paints
them as humans, as heroes, as brothers. Highly
recommended-not simply for those interested in military
history but for all readers concerned with the human
condition. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/10.]-Leslie Lewis,
Duquesne Univ. Lib., Pittsburgh Copyright 2010 Reed
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