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.
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 an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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 an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Evan Wright is a reporter for Rolling Stone.
(粉)VOA美国之音2005新闻听力标准英语第四季度合集(磁带版) 本书特色 8盘磁带+2本学习手册!适用人群:应试CET-6、TEM-4、TEM-8的英语学习...
本書是2001年8月香港中文大學當代中國文化研究中心舉辦「中國近現代思想的演變」學術研討會論文集之一,十八篇論文大致按時間先後
围棋初级丛书:常见打入类型 内容简介 本书共收集了近年来流行局中,八十余个常见的打入类型,共分三章,由浅入深地进行分析图解。根据打入的目的,大致分成破空的打入和...
排队的人 本书特色 人类的世界并非一块平坦大地,一种普遍被承认的信念,甚或坚实可验证的“真理”,也无法简单如中国人所相信的那样像风吹过平坦草原般都低头接受。不,...
儒林外史的文化意蕴 目录 一 创作道路和构思(一)吴敬梓的创作道路(二)《儒林外史》的总体构思二 八股陋儒三 假儒、迂儒与真儒(一)道德沦丧的官绅——假儒(二)...
清代学术史讲义 本书特色 著名历史学家柴德赓先生在北平辅仁大学讲授清代学术史的讲义,全书不惟以学术史事爬梳之精确见功力,而且尤以史家及史部文献之湛深论究显睿识,...
《唐诗鉴赏辞典》旨在介绍唐诗之精华。它搜集了一百九十多位诗人的一千余篇作品,出自大家、名家之手,流传万口的名篇,固然都在
快乐100分趣味化学 内容简介 是一本以通俗的语言、浅显的分析、活泼的形式向中小学生读者介绍化学知识的科普读物。一个个活灵活现的故事向中小学生朋友娓娓动听地讲述...
为性爱辩护 内容简介 这是本写给女人的书,也是写给男人的。读一读吧,让它告诉你一个真实的性。你有理由解放你的思想,敞开你的心扉。为性爱辩护 目录 一 无师不自通...
中国儿童文学名家作品精选丛书-冰心作品精选 本书特色 冰心自1919年开始文学写作,到1994年基本搁笔,创作活动已75年。其儿童文学作品充满着对少年儿童的爱和...
人物速写基础 目录 **单元 人物速写基础知识项目一 速写工具课题一 一般工具课题二 特殊工具项目二 画里画理课题三 如何观察课题四 画准比例课题五 体会动态课...
人生的意义与价值、缘分与命运、做人与处世、容忍、成功、知足、朋友、毁誉、压力、长寿之道、伦理道德……学术大家季羡林先生结
《弗里德曼文萃》(上下册)内容简介:这本论文集已经汇编成册,并且正在出版发行,以祝贺本世纪最杰出、最有影响的经济学家之一—
清代词学发展史论 内容简介 《清代词学发展史论》对清代词论作了比较系统深入的探讨,资料翔实,原委清晰,议论深刻,新意时出。《清代词学发展史论》,允称是一部厚重扎...
晚清小说低潮研究:以宣统朝小说界为中心 本书特色谢仁敏编著的《晚清小说低潮研究--以宣统朝小说界为中心》选取宣统朝小说界为研究样本,从作家、作品、读者、载体、传...
湖南近代文学家族研究 本书特色 这本《湖南近代文学家族研究》由孙海洋著,介绍了湖南省几个近代著名的文学家族,包括:李星沅家族、曾国藩家族、何绍基家族、左宗棠家族...
文学批评与文体 本书特色 该书是一本从文体学与心理学的角度系统探讨文学批评文体的理论专著,系蒋原伦、潘凯雄两位作者多年从事文学批语理论研究与批评实践的产物。本书...
名家图说元迎探惜 内容简介 本书是关于《红楼梦》中元春、迎春、惜春、探春四人评论的学术文章的分类结集,是红学研究著作。名家图说元迎探惜 目录 卷一 元春三春争及...
论寄 内容简介 简介《论寄》为国际社科基金后期资助项目。论寄 目录 **章寄作为美学范畴的确立**节从假物、寓物到“应物无累于物”第二节从感物到情以物兴第三节寄...
《围城密码》中钱定平精选《围城》的一百零八个片段,条分缕析,旁征博引,引申生发,趣味盎然地全面破解《围城》隐藏的文化密码