I don't normally do book reviews but what the hell.
I can highly recommend Generation Kill which I first blogged about here. One of the weird things about reading the book is how "historical" it can seem at times when you consider that the events in the book are only a few years old. Without counting the prologue and epilogue, the book spans from March 11, 2003 through May 4th, 2003. That's the time-frame that the author, Evan Wright, is embedded with the First Recon Marines. While there are hints of the disorder and insurgency to come following the fall of Baghdad, this book is pretty much a snapshot of the above time period.
As far as Wright's style, I'd give him high marks for his descriptions of places and people. He also does a commendable job in making the Marines the story. The only discussions about the pros and cons of the war come from the Marines themselves, not from Wright. If Wright betrayed any strongly held feelings about the war one way or the other, they're pretty subtle. While Wright highlights plenty of the bad decisions made by Marines from the boots all the way up the chain of command, he's also honest enough with the reader to make it clear that he's counting on the Marines he's riding with to keep him alive.
The book focuses around roughly 12-15 Marines. The story Wright tells is theirs. Every book about a small group of soldiers will have a "Band of Brothers" feel; GK is no exception. The men fight for each other as much as they do for George W. Bush or America in general. Wright is there to record the bull sessions when the Marines go off about everything from the warrior culture, to girls, to racism. One Marine daydreams about a Communist-inspired "kill whitey" race war in America.
Wright also does a good job describing the scenes of destruction the Marines leave in their path as well as recreating the tenuous moments where the Marines (and his) lives could end from enemy or friendly fire.
Ultimately, I recommend this book for both supporters and opponents of the war. For supporters, it offers insight into not only the heroic image we have of the men in harm's way but the realization that there are some fuck-ups there as well. There are several instances where over-zealous and possibly mentally damaged officers go off and the boots have to reign them in and even disobey orders to save civilian lives as well as their own.
And opponents of the war would perhaps have a better understanding of the men who are fighting and the difficult scenarios they face every step of the way. These men made great sacrifices and the ambiguous situations they've been put in aren't all George Bush's fault. The book offers scenes of humanity from our Marines who are faced with fighters out of uniform and suicide bombers. The choices to shoot or hold your fire are not easy and decisions need to be made in split-seconds. The non-uniformed enemy fighters are the ones who bear the brunt of responsibility for putting civilians in harms way.
So I guess what I'm saying is read the book. You'll definitely enjoy the lighter moments of Marine humor and get a little closer to understanding exactly why it is that "war is hell."