|
No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah | 
 enlarge | Author: Bing West
Publisher: Bantam
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy Used: $7.00
You Save: $8.00 (53%)
New (23) Used (16) from $7.00
Rating:  117 reviews
Sales Rank: 10614
Media: Paperback
Pages: 400
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 6 x 1
ISBN: 0553383191
Dewey Decimal Number: 973
EAN: 9780553383195
ASIN: 0553383191
Publication Date: September 26, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: In like new condition; read once.
| |
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
"This is the face of war as only those who have fought it can describe it."–Senator John McCain
Fallujah: Iraq’s most dangerous city unexpectedly emerged as the major battleground of the Iraqi insurgency. For twenty months, one American battalion after another tried to quell the violence, culminating in a bloody, full-scale assault. Victory came at a terrible price: 151 Americans and thousands of Iraqis were left dead.
The epic battle for Fallujah revealed the startling connections between policy and combat that are a part of the new reality of war.
The Marines had planned to slip into Fallujah “as soft as fog.” But after four American contractors were brutally murdered, President Bush ordered an attack on the city–against the advice of the Marines. The assault sparked a political firestorm, and the Marines were forced to withdraw amid controversy and confusion–only to be ordered a second time to take a city that had become an inferno of hate and the lair of the archterrorist al-Zarqawi.
Based on months spent with the battalions in Fallujah and hundreds of interviews at every level–senior policymakers, negotiators, generals, and soldiers and Marines on the front lines–No True Glory is a testament to the bravery of the American soldier and a cautionary tale about the complex–and often costly–interconnected roles of policy, politics, and battle in the twenty-first century.
From the Hardcover edition.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 112 more reviews...
 a Marine Mom's view September 30, 2005
TX Marine Mom (Dallas, TX USA)
111 out of 123 found this review helpful
I have no literary critic's polished review to offer. My comments are based on pure emotion.
I was compelled to read this book--my son was there for the November 2004 campaign. He made it home, but my friend Sharon's son did not. I owe it these men and their brothers to understand as best I can. It is not something my son will discuss, and this is probably the most I'll ever know about his time there. Reading this book was painful. Despite crying my way through much of it, I couldn't put it down.
In the tradition of "We Were Soldiers" and "Black Hawk Down" September 29, 2005
D. Roche (Pelham, NY United States)
105 out of 108 found this review helpful
The First and Second Battles of Fallujah, in April and October, 2004, represented the largest sustained US military engagement since the Battle of Hue over thirty years earlier in Vietnam. But just as the battles represented a landmark in terms of US military involvement in Iraq, the political and strategic landscape of the US position in the country was dramatically altered as a result of the campaign. No True Glory is a great overview of the battles and I would highly recommend it.
No True Glory provides a searing description of the fighting that destroyed that city, as well as an insightful and critical overview of the political and military decision- making that affected the outcome, and whose repercussions and lessons define Iraq today more than any other episode in the war.
The book outlines how The White House, senior generals and ambassadors ordered, then stopped, then re-ordered the attack upon Fallujah in April 2004, finally refusing to let the Marines finish the job at all. This occurred despite evidence that the Marines were close to clearing out the city. (Indeed, in less publicized battles in nearby Ramadi, the Marines had closed out an equally entrenched revolt. The major difference in Fallujah was international press coverage). Result: Fallujah became the stronghold of the insurgency and the Marines had to face a more entrenched and confident foe in October 2004. Fallujah provided a blueprint to the insurgents in the use of international political opinion to change the course of US military action.
The book also gives a clear insight into the challenges the US faces in pacifying the Sunni triangle, given the entrenched rebellion and the Sunni's fear of giving up control of Iraq. It sheds some light on the difficulties in getting the Sunnis to cooperate in the political process as played out in the recent constitutional drama.
Finally, the book highlights the intensity of the house-to-house and hand-to-hand fighting in Fallujah, which was equal to engagements going back to World War II. The Sunni insurgency, with some combatants jumping out of taxi cabs to join fights, only to melt away upon disengagement, offers a classic guerilla style war, with high walled compounds taking the place of the jungles and mountains typically associated with these campaigns. The Marines, when set loose, overwhelmed the opposition in a manner which caused the insurgency to permanently switch tactics from fixed position defenses to a more brutal manner of roadside and car bombing.
No True Glory is not only a great look at the battles, but a great primer on the issues the US continue to face in Iraq.
Important story, well told May 28, 2006
David N. Thielen (Boulder, CO United States)
18 out of 20 found this review helpful
This tells the story of the American battles in Falluja - all 3 of them. And it gives the full background around them, why the first was stopped, why the second was rushed and then stopped, and why the third one was finally approved.
This is probably the best example of the problem with trying to bring peace and sanity to Iraq. All of the major problems are here in this microcosm.
You see what happens to those Iraqis who try to step forward to make Iraq a better place and why those that want death and anarchy win. You see how politics, both U.S. and Iraqi have a gigantic impact on what can be done and when.
And you see how the Marines have to then take the fight to the insurgents and how horrible and bloddy that is.
What is really interesting about this is the book is written by an ex-Marine and Regean assistant secretary of defense. And he clearly has great respect for the Marines and for what the U.S. is trying to accomplish in Iraq.
But at the same time, he writes in a very even-handed manner and it leaves you with a feeling of hopelessness. Yes with significant Marine casualties the U.S. can take any city. But what is left is a ruin and the cost for accomplishing it is so very high.
It will definitely leave you trying to figure out if the battle (the last one) was worth it. And wondering how out of all this, any success is possible.
 Mixed review - great narrative and reporting but rah rah slant grows tiresome September 28, 2005
David A Swann
17 out of 44 found this review helpful
This book is a lot liike Black Hawk Down in its tone and amount of detail - and West does a pretty good job in telling the story of the 2 battles of Fallujah during 2004.
But as much as I admire West's reporting abilities ( he is certainly capable of good work - read The Village - his book about 15 Marines who lived with the Vietnamese in 1966 ), I have to lower the rating a bit since he can't seem to write about his subject without resorting to rah-rah macho cliches.
The book simply would have been more effective if he had tried to be a bit more unbaised and objective (see Black Hawk Down) since any rational person knows that the world isn't divided into stark blacks and whites, no matter what George W. Bush says.
Hard to believe this happened September 28, 2005
Napoleon Dynamite "Steve" (AZ)
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
the description of the fighting in this book is incredible. It's hard to believe our troops were in some cases fighting hand-to-hand...this day in age! I thought that the time of the bayonet was over. One can only admire the soldiers who weathered such vicious urban combat. an important book.
|
|
|
|
| |
