You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
shawnwhy's review
5.0
this is a very well written first hand account by a Journalist about the war in Afghanistan, Horrifying and Hilarious at the same time, with a lot of good insights about the nature of brotherhood, warfare and Heroism, everything this guy writes is good
rseykora's review
This is a very personal and honest look at the US soldier's experience.
davybaby's review against another edition
4.0
I'm not a big war fan. I get too anxious to play Call of Duty. That said, I liked War way more than I expected.
Sebastian Junger is a journalist, and judging by this book, a damn good one. He spent several month-long stints at one of the most dangerous US military bases in Afghanistan in 2007-2008. He lived on the front lines, accompanied soldiers on patrols, took cover during firefights, and even survived an IED explosion. That's crazy. Also, that's dedication to his craft. He wrote this book from his experiences and hundreds of hours of footage and interviews. He also made a documentary, Restrepo, which seems to have the same tone.
The only real basis of comparison I have is [b:The Things They Carried|133518|The Things They Carried|Tim O'Brien|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1297915473s/133518.jpg|1235619], which was more about the psychological effect than the experience itself. In contrast, the combat in War is vivid, and appropriately horrifying and random. Disorienting firefights punctuate the reader's growing relationship with the men of Battle Company, and we share their lack of understanding or concern about the big picture "War on Terror." All they can focus on is not dying and eliminating those who would kill them.
War is about far more than just combat. The soldiers are real, and their personalities and relationships come through in the writing. Junger addresses every possible aspect of war from the front lines: psychology of fear, sacrifice, and courage; the love of the soldiers for each other; the bullying between them; the absurdity and horror of war; the addiction to the high of combat; the beauty of Afghanistan, and the beauty of the weapons used to destroy it.
War is a remarkably honest and affecting book. It is neither critical of war nor blind to its faults. It is just a profile of some of its soldiers, and leaves any judgment to the reader.
Sebastian Junger is a journalist, and judging by this book, a damn good one. He spent several month-long stints at one of the most dangerous US military bases in Afghanistan in 2007-2008. He lived on the front lines, accompanied soldiers on patrols, took cover during firefights, and even survived an IED explosion. That's crazy. Also, that's dedication to his craft. He wrote this book from his experiences and hundreds of hours of footage and interviews. He also made a documentary, Restrepo, which seems to have the same tone.
The only real basis of comparison I have is [b:The Things They Carried|133518|The Things They Carried|Tim O'Brien|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1297915473s/133518.jpg|1235619], which was more about the psychological effect than the experience itself. In contrast, the combat in War is vivid, and appropriately horrifying and random. Disorienting firefights punctuate the reader's growing relationship with the men of Battle Company, and we share their lack of understanding or concern about the big picture "War on Terror." All they can focus on is not dying and eliminating those who would kill them.
War is about far more than just combat. The soldiers are real, and their personalities and relationships come through in the writing. Junger addresses every possible aspect of war from the front lines: psychology of fear, sacrifice, and courage; the love of the soldiers for each other; the bullying between them; the absurdity and horror of war; the addiction to the high of combat; the beauty of Afghanistan, and the beauty of the weapons used to destroy it.
War is a remarkably honest and affecting book. It is neither critical of war nor blind to its faults. It is just a profile of some of its soldiers, and leaves any judgment to the reader.
jfl's review
4.0
The past year, I have read half a dozen books that have woven me through the Iraq war starting in 2003 (Nathaniel Fick's "One Bullet Away"; Evan Wright's "Generation Kill"), moving forward through 2004 and 2005 (Peter Mansoor's "Baghdad at Sunrise"; Donovan Campbell's "Jocker One") and ending with David Finkel's "The Good Soldiers" (the surge in 2007). Robert Baer's "The Devil We Know" provided a glimpse of Iran. Sebastian Junger's "War" has carried me into Afghanistan starting in 2007 and ending in 2008.
The authors have either been engaged soldiers like Fick, Campbell and Mansoor or embedded journalists like Wright, Finkel and Junger.
Karl Matterhorn in his Vietnam saga, "Matterhorn," describes the soldiers: "From the skipper right on down, they all wore the same filthy tattered camouflage....All of them were too thin, too young, and too exhausted. They all talked the same, too, saying fuck, or some adjective, noun, or adverb with fuck in it, every four words." From Nathaniel Fick though Junger, the same description would seem to survive into Iraq and Afghanistan. Culturally untutored youth serving under constant life-threatening danger from other untutored youth. "The more things change the more they stay the same."
Junger's book is not as consistently effective as Finkel's work, but it is well ahead of most of the other war narratives that I've read at this point. Except for Brendan O'Byrne, Junger's soldiers are not as three dimensional as I would have expected from the author. Junger interjects himself far too frequently in the actual chronicle of the Second Platoon's time in the Korengal Valley. But he does deal convincingly with the external and internal forces that keep the young men engaged in the heat of armed conflict. And he captures the tensions of that conflict well, too, adding reconfirming tones to Campbell and Finkel. In that respect, his soldiers echo those in the movie, "The Hurt Locker" with the lead soldiers re-enlisting, narcoticly, for another tour or the earlier "Black Hawk Down" that dramatized the cohesiveness--the love, as Junger's third chapter is entitled-- of the soldiers one for the other.
The authors have either been engaged soldiers like Fick, Campbell and Mansoor or embedded journalists like Wright, Finkel and Junger.
Karl Matterhorn in his Vietnam saga, "Matterhorn," describes the soldiers: "From the skipper right on down, they all wore the same filthy tattered camouflage....All of them were too thin, too young, and too exhausted. They all talked the same, too, saying fuck, or some adjective, noun, or adverb with fuck in it, every four words." From Nathaniel Fick though Junger, the same description would seem to survive into Iraq and Afghanistan. Culturally untutored youth serving under constant life-threatening danger from other untutored youth. "The more things change the more they stay the same."
Junger's book is not as consistently effective as Finkel's work, but it is well ahead of most of the other war narratives that I've read at this point. Except for Brendan O'Byrne, Junger's soldiers are not as three dimensional as I would have expected from the author. Junger interjects himself far too frequently in the actual chronicle of the Second Platoon's time in the Korengal Valley. But he does deal convincingly with the external and internal forces that keep the young men engaged in the heat of armed conflict. And he captures the tensions of that conflict well, too, adding reconfirming tones to Campbell and Finkel. In that respect, his soldiers echo those in the movie, "The Hurt Locker" with the lead soldiers re-enlisting, narcoticly, for another tour or the earlier "Black Hawk Down" that dramatized the cohesiveness--the love, as Junger's third chapter is entitled-- of the soldiers one for the other.
jedbird's review against another edition
5.0
Fascinating, heartbreaking, terrifying, and overall excellent. The distinction between friendship and brotherhood is important and explained well. Highly recommended, even if you aren't interested in the military.
I discovered I already have TRIBE on my kindle, so I'm going straight into that next.
I discovered I already have TRIBE on my kindle, so I'm going straight into that next.
prof_shoff's review
4.0
Junger offers a compelling and thoughtful consideration of war, as construct and lived experience, through the lens of his time in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan. Very powerful reflection on the things men do and why they do them.
jillreads77's review
4.0
Pretty brutal read. Junger reports while embedded on what the soldiers go through and how they live day to day. Not a commentary on the why's of the war or in agreement or disagreement, just a snapshot into the young men who serve our country. Lot's of language.