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| Generation Kill | 
 enlarge | Author: Evan Wright
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $1.12
You Save: $13.88 (93%)
New (58) Used (36) from $1.11
Avg. Customer Rating:  176 reviews
Sales Rank: 8758
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.6 x 5.9 x 1.1
ISBN: 0425224740
Dewey Decimal Number: 956
EAN: 9780425224748
ASIN: 0425224740
Publication Date: July 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 No Boyscouts Here June 25, 2004
42 out of 45 found this review helpful
I'm glad to read a story about the Marines that is uncensored - with the high expectations of the American people set by the greatest generation that ever lived I found it impossible to live up to Steven Spielberg's version of "Band of Brothers". Being a Marine in 1st Recon Bn, Evan Wright's interpretation of our daily lives and experiences are extremely accurate. While reading the book almost a year later I had forgotten some of the details of my own experiences that Wright brought back to life. It was almost like I was living through the war again. Simply put, if you want to know what it is like to be a Marine during this campaign there is no better book at this time. It seems to me that Evan Wright was influenced by nothing but the experiences and the personalities that he absorbed during the war. No one is over exaggerated.
 Over The Top Reporting July 25, 2004
38 out of 85 found this review helpful
I began to read "Generation Kill" with interest, but was soon struck that author Evan Wright appeared "overly embedded" with the men of 1st Reconnaissance Battalion. Either 1st Recon Bn had a discipline problem (as Wright would lead you to believe), or the entire unit was completely gooned up (which I know not to be the case, becasue I know several Marines in the unit, and the unit is good to go). When one becomes too close to an issue or subject, objectivity is lost, and Wright is completely lost in "Generation Kill.".
The book comes across as an underhanded swipe at the institution of the US Marine Corps as a whole. Wright seems to take a perverse pleasure of painting several key leaders as buffoons, gets hung up on the issue of personal grooming standards (give me a break, shave off the 'stache and suck it up), and focuses too much on reporting the men's complaints about following orders and seemingly inept leadership. If I wanted to hear about this sort of nonsense, I'd hang out in a bar in Oceanside or Jacksonville, and listen to Marines gripe and complain as they have done for generations, and save $25 that I could otherwise spend on beers. The Rolling Stone-style of sensational journalism is a litte too much, and gets old really fast. It's all a little too over the top, especially when there are Marines and Soldiers still engaged in combat operations in Iraq. Wait for it to come out in paperback, or borrow a copy, instead of buying this feeble attempt at gonzo journalism.
 How a mighty great story overcomes a very small author April 12, 2005
27 out of 57 found this review helpful
Bravo to the Marines of First Recon on an exceedingly diffcult and awful job amazingly well done. So well done, in fact, that the worthless reactionary elitist scumbag, Evan Wright, whom you brought along to document your courage could not craft, in 354 pages of petulant spin and snide, condescending commentary, a way to diminish either you or your mission.
Its actually quite entertaining to read the words of a man who quite obviously knows absolutely nothing about maneuver warfare and its long, well-documented, successful history going back to Sun-Tzu "The ultimate skill is to take up a position where you are formless", Alexander the Great, Ghenghis Khan, Stonewall Jackson (and his "foot cavalry"), George Patton and USAF Col. John Boyd (The author of the OODA loop) describe it as some kind of reckless Dr. Frankenstein experiment foisted on these hapless elite troops by evil Republican civilian and military commanders (He somehow neglected Karl Rove's role).
This clueless author tells us in chapter one what a terrible strategy and failure it was and then unwittingly documents, in more harrowing and vivid detail than any author on the subject I've yet encountered, precisely how amazingly well it worked. Wright's "reporting" (to ape the author's grating repeated abuse of the sarcastic scare-quote) provides excellent documentation of the front line of the unprecedentedly and charitably brief Iraq war mixed in with obnoxious, imbecilic commentary from a twit with a well-entrenched yet baseless agenda but precious little knowledge or wisdom.
Had I been sent by Rolling Stone magazine to cover a fashion show in Paris, knowing neither French nor having the least interest in couture, I would likely have made as big a fool of myself as Evan Wright has here. I only hope that I might not have been so full of myself as Mr. Wright as to think of any commentary I might add as anything more than pointless, uninformed drivel.
one-sided...love/hate August 12, 2005
20 out of 25 found this review helpful
I saw Wright a few times but never spoke to him. This book is honest in that the comments are probably accurate, but he cut out the essencse of young Marines to show just their brawling, profane side. in that respect, he was intellectually dishonest and savaged the battalion. but it's a fun read. so i'm torn. Accurate events but one-sided view.
No-nonsense account August 17, 2005
20 out of 21 found this review helpful
This book, in the span of 300+ pages, just about covered all of my emotions. I laughed, I cried, I was amazed and I was disgusted. Additionally, I found it to be a page-turner that I could not put down, reading it from cover to cover in just 3 days. I have been in the Marine Corps both active duty and reserve for over 20 years and was a young Lieutenant back in Desert Storm, serving with an armored reconnaissance unit. Being a Marine, I was highly skeptical of a reporter's documentation of Marines in combat and have never been in favor of having them embedded with front-line combat units, but once I started reading, that skepticism quickly fell by the wayside. His character development is right on the mark, and I could easily find examples of each of the individuals he describes in my own military experience. You get a true sense of being there, either hunkered down in the back of a HMMVE, sleeping in the dirt in your "Ranger Grave" or watching a father carry away the body of his daughter into the darkness. Wright lays it right out in front of you, does not add whatever personal biases he may have and lets the reader choose for themselves.
I am happy to learn that not much has changed since my days as a young officer. Marines are historically known for continuously "expressing their frustration" about how this or that is messed up, or how those in Command just don't seem understand the situation. But no matter what, it always comes down to this, Marines do what they are told to do and will always accomplish the mission. In my experience, much of the frustration experienced by these Marines is what has been continuously pounded into my "brain housing group" throughout my career. War is both an art and a science and being expeditionary warriors, we must learn to successfully operate in both the fog and friction of war. The manta goes that "the best laid plans will never survive past the first contact with the enemy." That concept is expertly captured here in these pages.
In reading between the lines of the last couple of chapters, you get a sense that possibly the problems were are facing with the insurgency today came as a result of what we failed to do at the end of combat operations in Iraq. In the book, it appears blatantly obvious that the United States did not have a plan for what would happen after the "liberation" of Baghdad and if they did, they certainly did not share it with military planners. If you are looking for a no nonsense account of a small slice of the US led invasion of Iraq, this is the book to read. Additionally, one of the main characters Lt. Nathaniel Fick is releasing his own account in a book titled "One Bullet Away" due out in October 2005.
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