Big Boy Rules, Steve Fainaru
Big Boy Rules, Steve Fainaru
2 Rating(s)
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Big Boy Rules
America's Mercenaries Fighting in Iraq

Author: Steve Fainaru

Narrator: Patrick Lawlor

Unabridged: 8 hr 42 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 12/08/2008


Synopsis

A parallel army lives on the margins of the Iraq war—nearly 100,000 armed men, invisible yet in plain sight, doing jobs the overstretched and understaffed military can't or won't do. The U.S. media call them "security contractors." They call themselves "mercs," and they operate under their own rules.

Washington Post reporter Steve Fainaru traveled with several groups of security contractors to find out what motivates them to put their lives in danger every day. What emerges is a searing, revealing, and sometimes darkly funny look at the men who live and work in the battlefields of Iraq: some are desperate, some are confused, and some are just out for a lark. Some disappear into the void that is Iraq and are never seen again. It's not a pretty picture that Fainaru reveals, but it is brutally real and shockingly honest. Big Boy Rules is an unforgettable leap into the mayhem of Iraq and into the dark recesses of the minds of American policymakers and the warriors they hire.

About Steve Fainaru

Steve Fainaru, an award-winning correspondent for the Washington Post, recently won the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for his coverage of security contractors in Iraq. He is coauthor of The Duke of Havana: Baseball, Cuba, and the Search for the American Dream. Steve lives in California.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Daniel on April 09, 2009

The remarkable thing about this book is that the author, Steve Fainaru, is able to move the focus off of the larger issues of the military's use of so-called mercenaries in the gulf war and get you interested in the actual people who spent time under these circumstances trying to make a living there......more

Goodreads review by James on September 29, 2009

A portrayal of the so-called private security companies operating in Iraq - mostly somber, occasionally grimly funny, sometimes scathing. The author spends most of his time in this memoir at the micro level, with some individual American soldiers-for-hire he got to know pretty well and with some of......more

Goodreads review by Carol on April 29, 2014

This is a powerful, well-written book about how private companies like Blackwater operated in a lawless environment during the Iraq War, violating all rules of engagement and engaging in every form of crime short of outright piracy. The only problem is, author Steve Fainaru can't make up his mind wh......more

Goodreads review by Joe on August 20, 2015

A wandering prose that lacks focus detracts from the incredible information given in this book. Very worthwhile read on the subject. In its better moments, the book is gripping, shocking and tragic. I do recommend it.......more

Goodreads review by Thomas on May 31, 2017

Despite having written one novel (partially) about a mercenary who served in Iraq, and despite having an abiding interest in PMCs, in the Middle East, and in the Iraq war, I put off reading this book ever since it came out (about 8 years) because of its goofy cover, stupendously stupid title, and ri......more