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| Generation Kill | 
 enlarge | Author: Evan Wright
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $8.03
You Save: $6.97 (46%)
New (4) Used (4) from $6.78
Avg. Customer Rating:  180 reviews
Sales Rank: 45508
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 5.9 x 1.1
Dewey Decimal Number: 956
ASIN: B001IDZJG8
Publication Date: July 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new! Beautiful! May have a small remainder mark (ink mark) along the edge. gift quality, crisp, clean, multiple copies available, prompt shipping, excellent service.
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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 175 more reviews...
 Does he know where Camp LeJeune is? December 1, 2008
0 out of 7 found this review helpful
I haven't finished the book yet - and I'm happy to say that instead of buying it, I got it from the library. The copy I have is hardback, published by Penguin, and frankly, I'm debating whether or not to continue, based on the fact that on page 86 in my edition, he describes the Tarawa Marines as having come from Camp LeJeune, SOUTH Carolina. Whether this is the author's mistake or a fact-checker's oversight, Camp LeJeune, as anyone with a brain and the ability to use the internet or a map knows, is in NORTH Carolina. Mistakes such as these make me question every single aspect of this "reporter's" "reporting."
 excellent book on OIF November 29, 2008
excellent fast reading book by reporter with 1st Recon Bn in Marine Corps push from Nasiriyah to Baghdad. The author gives a fair picture of the young Marines and military in general although it is clear that Evan Wright has limited personal attachment to the Marine Corps.
 Semper Fi!!!! Thank you Evan Wright!!! November 27, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is amazing!! I am a disabled vet from OIF2. I spent 5 years in the Corps(1 of them in Iraq). My Lieutenant gave me this book 2 days before I went in to operation phantom fury(i think that was the name of the op, it was in November of 2004 when we took the city of Fallujia). My best friend is currently with that same unit that is in the book. So obviously I would be interested in reading this book, but for any of you who really want to know what is in the mind of the young Americans fighting over seas and what its like to be over there, this is the book for you. The dialogue in this book is so REAL it's not even funny. I could not put this one down.
I have read some negative post on here, and it seems that they might be upset because the author of the book often gives the lower ranked guys point of views about some of the jacked up things their officers were doing or such. There is a review with a 1 star rating from a supposed First Sergeant from 1st mar div. He says the author stabbed his unit in the back. I disagree(although I don't know all the facts behind that accusation). Most civilians didn't even know about Force Recon before this book came out. Now they made an HBO special about it(haven't seen yet) that has received great reviews, and every civilian I talk to thinks that Force Recon is the best of the best. If anything Evan might have improved the Corps' recruitment numbers. When the first sergeant says that "his unit got stabbed in the back" by Evan, I would envision Evan sharing classified top secret information to the enemy or something. That was not the case, Evan told it how it is or was. He is a journalist and is allowed to do that because of that thing called THE CONSTITUTION. That is the same thing that the first sergeant swore to defend, right?
5000 STARS
P.S. Thank you Evan Wright!!!!!!!!!!!
excellent read November 25, 2008
I purchased this book after seeing the series ... I often see the movie first because it serves as the appetizer to the main meal. The series touches briefly on a multitude of issues, events and people ... Wright's book thoroughly details most all of these points and answers many of the questions the series left me asking myself.
Having cancelled a 30 year long subscription to Rolling Stone due to it's transformation from a music-oriented magazine to a cheap liberal rag hell-bent on trashing anything associated with Bush, Republicans or the United States ... i was hesitant to read a book authored by a RS reporter. I had a foregone conclusion that "Generation Kill" was nothing more than another one-sided rant against the US war in Iraq. I was, however, pleasantly surprised by what appears to be an honest attempt to report what was actually seen ... without the left-sided colour commentary. I felt Wright took great care in preserving an air of political neutrality and let the men and their actions do the talking ... all angles are covered.
This is a story of modern combat ... about the men who formed the tip of the spearhead that was thrust into Iraq in 2003 ... a Marine Recon unit. You experience the vulnerability from the onset ... the naked feeling of riding in a caravan of open-topped humvees, deep in enemy territory and in the middle of a vast Iraqi desert ... alone. Yet, you quickly realize that these men (young men) aren't as scared as they are confident ... in each other (for the most part). The men Wright introduces to us are the crux of the entire book ... they are all so different, so extreme, so serious, so weird, yet so funny. Getting the reader to know these men is so important to Wright that he even has a special table of contents informing the reader to page in the book where each man is introduced ... and each introduction includes a mini-biography that seems to shed light, explain, or even excuse the behavior of these men on the battlefield. You share the men's experience of combat in a variety of manners ... from a recon mission to being ambushed on a bridge. the combat action is fast and furious ... and at times ... funny.
It is interesting to read that the same old rule still applies with the military, whether it be World War II or Iraq ... in all it's glory, the strength of the US military is enlisted personnel who are oftentimes more capable than their commanding officers. Wright illustrates this throughout the book ... the constant extremes portrayed by the pragmatic NCO "Iceman" vs. the wanna-be-a-war-hero Capt. "Encino Man" or the common-sense leadership provided by an understanding Lt. Fick vs. the bombastic ignorance of "Capt. America".
"Generation Kill" is an interesting, entertaining and engaging read ... from the ineptitude of the American government to the perverted mind of the youthful modern-day warrior and all that's in between ... all of it is on display in "Generation Kill". Wright has done an excellent job of bringing the reality of the long-forgotten start of the Iraq War to light in a twenty-first century style of writing that will keep even the younger generations interested in reading each page ... not an easy feat.
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.
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