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Average Rating:  out of 60 Reviews
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Price: $25.00
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Sale: $14.99
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Manufacturer: Knopf
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EAN (European Article Number): 9780307266392
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Number of Items: 1
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Binding: Hardcover
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Author: Dexter Filkins
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Publisher: Knopf
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Edition: 1
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Dewey Decimal Number: 956.70443
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Publication Date: 2008-09-16
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Reading Level: 384
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Description: From the front lines of the battle against Islamic fundamentalism, a searing, unforgettable book that captures the human essence of the greatest conflict of our time.
Through the eyes of Dexter Filkins, the prizewinning New York Times correspondent whose work was hailed by David Halberstam as “reporting of the highest quality imaginable,” we witness the remarkable chain of events that began with the rise of the Taliban in the 1990s, continued with the attacks of 9/11, and moved on to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Filkins’s narrative moves across a vast and various landscape of amazing characters and astonishing scenes: deserts, mountains, and streets of carnage; a public amputation performed by Taliban; children frolicking in minefields; skies streaked white by the contrails of B-52s; a night’s sleep in the rubble of Ground Zero.
We embark on a foot patrol through the shadowy streets of Ramadi, venture into a torture chamber run by Saddam Hussein. We go into the homes of suicide bombers and into street-to-street fighting with a battalion of marines. We meet Iraqi insurgents, an American captain who loses a quarter of his men in eight days, and a young soldier from Georgia on a rooftop at midnight reminiscing about his girlfriend back home. A car bomb explodes, bullets fly, and a mother cradles her blinded son.
Like no other book, The Forever War allows us a visceral understanding of today’s battlefields and of the experiences of the people on the ground, warriors and innocents alike. It is a brilliant, fearless work, not just about America’s wars after 9/11, but ultimately about the nature of war itself.
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Customer Reviews
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Review Summary: Readable, balanced, fair and relevant |
Date: 2009-01-08 |
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Details: Dexter Filkins has produced a compelling account of his experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq while employed as a correspondent for the L.A. Times and NY Times between 1998-2006. He writes with an edge, relating the stories and observations of the different cultures of the two countries with vivid imagery and honesty. I learned a good deal about Afghanistan and the Taliban in this book, and was able to frame Mr. Filkins' adventures in Iraq within the context of my own. I found this to be credible, non-political and an accurate glimpse into the war not just from the military POV, but also through the eyes of the various civilians, government types and militiamen he spent so much time with. What you end up is a tour de force and kaleidoscope of multiple perspectives. I wish Dexter had been embedded with our brigade in Southern Baghdad in 2007 so that he could have experienced the progress made during the surge first hand. After reading his book, I feel that he would have told our story well. |
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Review Summary: Powerfully simple |
Date: 2009-01-07 |
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Details: Written as a series of short passages or vignettes, each addressing a different experience by the author, this book is deeply personal and touching in a way that sets it apart from other books about the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. I had expected something along the lines of The Assassins' Gate - another outstanding book about Iraq for different reasons - but Filkins' more personal approach is unique. The reader will learn about fierce battles, tense conflicts, heart-wrenching loss, and touching personal gestures, all made that much more credible and powerful by the fact that the author either experienced them first-hand or personally interviewed those who did. By immersing himself in both the Afghan and Iraqi cultures (to a startling degree in the case of the latter), the author is able to give an honest and accurate account of life and death in places so dangerous that it's hard to imagine how he made it out alive. This book is a must-read for anyone trying to understand what has been going on in Afghanistan and Iraq.
All that being said, I do have one qualm with the book: The author tends to skip around in time and often fails to inform the reader when particular events occurred. That makes it difficult to figure out where the story is in time. Although the stories are organized more or less in a loose chronological order, there are enough deviations to make it confusing frequently. |
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Review Summary: Opens up new views |
Date: 2009-01-06 |
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Details: I've read quite a few books about the Iraq war, but none of them really cover the same ground as The Forever War. Filkins' role as a journalist allows him access to people and places that are seen through a one-way lens in books written by soldiers, embedded journalists or political analysts.
Filkins also differs from the "competition" in style: The book consists of short tales and impressions gathered over years spent in Afghanistan and Iraq. They are in turn moving, shocking, heart-warming and surreal: A Westerner's comfortable existence doesn't equip you to imagine a world where someone lives by selling the meat of goats that have wandered into minefields and exploded. There is little in the way of analysis or conclusions, but together, the stories paint a picture that is much more vivid than mere combat descriptions or battle plan dissections can convey.
The book made quite an impression on me and definitely ranks up as one of the best yet written about America's present conflicts. I would recommend it to everyone interested in a deeper understanding of what's behind the explosion-filled news stories. |
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Review Summary: A dangerous life in an American disaster zone |
Date: 2009-01-04 |
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Details: This is a great book; easy to read and thought provoking. Filkins introduces us to his world; a choatic military disaster in the middle east. Written in short story form, we see the war from one man's perspective. His respect and admiration for the "grunts" and Iraqi/Afgangi victims comes through on every page. Filkins makes no judgements, it's not a political book, we only see the results of the Bush Administrations actions in the years 2002-2006 (the Rumsfeld years). When Filkins left there seemed to be no hope for Iraq. We can only hope and pray that in 2009 that hope has returned. |
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Review Summary: A "wow" experience |
Date: 2009-01-03 |
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Details: Dexter Filkins' "The Forever War" is the gripping tale of a journalist's experience in the Middle East. Dexter Filkins covered the Middle East since 1998. He is able to draw upon the unique perspective of viewing Afghanistan before 9-11, Ground Zero on 9-11, and the consequences of 9-11 in the Middle East. If you are looking for an explicit commentary of the war, an analysis of other American achievements and mishaps, or a damning expose of the backwardness of the Middle East you will be disappointed. Instead, this book is an incredible synthesis of anecdotes that will allow the reader to form his own idea of the War of Terror. This book made me think -- it is as deep as the war itself. It it the only book on Iraq that has been able to capture the implicit intellectual complexities of this war. Not only is the book fantastic from an intellectual standpoint, it is a wonderful piece of literature. "The Forever War" really is a well written book. Bravo, Mr. Filkins, for a job well done. Thank you for your courage and honesty. Most of all, God Bless our troops, and the innocents of Iraq and Afghanistan. If I only learned one thing from Mr. Filkins, it is that no one really understands the war until they have lived through it. |
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