What Its Like to Go to War
Author(s): Karl Marlantes
"Matterhorn" author Karl Marlantes' nonfiction debut is a powerful book about the experience of combat and how inadequately we prepare our young men and women for the psychological and spiritual stresses of war. One of the most important and highly-praised books of 2011, Karl Marlantes' "What It Is Like to Go to War" is set to become just as much of a classic as his epic novel "Matterhorn". In 1968, at the age of twenty-two, Karl Marlantes was dropped into the highland jungle of Vietnam, an inexperienced lieutenant in command of a platoon of forty Marines who would live or die by his decisions. In his thirteen-month tour he saw intense combat. He killed the enemy and he watched friends die. Marlantes survived, but like many of his brothers in arms, he has spent the last forty years dealing with his experiences. In "What It Is Like to Go to War", Marlantes takes a deeply personal and candid look at the experience and ordeal of combat, critically examining how we might better prepare our young soldiers for war. War is as old as humankind, but in the past, warriors were prepared for battle by ritual, religion, and literature - which also helped bring them home. In a compelling narrative, Marlantes weaves riveting accounts of his combat experiences with thoughtful analysis, self-examination, and his readings - from Homer to the Mahabharata to Jung. He tells frankly about how he is haunted by the face of the young North Vietnamese soldier he killed at close quarters and explains how he finally found a way to make peace with his past. He makes it clear just how poorly prepared our nineteen-year-old warriors - mainly men but increasingly women - are for the psychological and spiritual aspects of their journey.
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"Karl Marlantes has written a staggeringly beautiful book on combat--what it feels like, what the consequences are and above all, what society must do to understand it. In my eyes he has become the preeminent literary voice on war of our generation. He is a natural storyteller and a deeply profound thinker who not only illuminates war for civilians, but also offers a kind of spiritual guidance to veterans themselves. As this generation of warriors comes home, they will be enormously helped by what Marlantes has written--I'm sure he will literally save lives."--Sebastian Junger "Marlantes brings candor and wrenching self-analysis to bear on his combat experiences in Vietnam, in a memoir-based meditation whose intentions are three-fold: to help soldiers-to-be understand what they're in for; to help veterans come to terms with what they've seen and done; and to help policymakers know what they're asking of the men they send into combat."--"The New Yorker" ""What It Is Like to Go to War" is a well-crafted and forcefully argued work that contains fresh and important insights into what it's like to be in a war and what it does to the human psyche."--"The Washington Post" "Marlantes is the best American writer right now on war . . . With "What It Is Like to Go to War" a second Marlantes book resides on the top shelf of American literature."--Anthony Swofford, author of "Jarhead" ""What It Is Like to Go to War" ought to be mandatory reading by potential infantry recruits and by residents of any nation that sends its kids--Marlantes's word--into combat."--"San Francisco Chronicle" "In this thoughtful, literate work of self-exorcism, Marlantes tells tales of incredible bravery as well as brutality."--"People Magazine" "A precisely crafted and bracingly honest book."--"The Atlantic" "Marlantes knows what he writes. . . Raw, unsettling honesty pervades the work."--"Time.com" "Marlantes has written a sparklingly provocative
A graduate of Yale University and a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, Karl Marlantes served as a Marine in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Navy Cross, the Bronze Star, two Navy Commendation medals for valor, two Purple Hearts, and ten Air Medals. He is the author of the best-selling and prize-winning Matterhorn.
General Fields
- :
- : Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press
- : Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press
- : 0.318
- : 01 September 2012
- : 208mm X 137mm X 20mm
- : books
Special Fields
- : Karl Marlantes
- : 272
- : Paperback
