Final Salute
A Story of Unfinished Lives

Name: Final Salute
Brand: Penguin Random House
Availability: InStock
Author: Jim Sheeler
ISBN: 9781429592277

Author: Jim Sheeler

Narrator: Mark Deakins

Unabridged: 5 hr 39 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 05/06/2008

Categories: Nonfiction, Biography & Autobiography, Military Nonfiction, Family & Relationships, History, Us History, Modern History

Synopsis

They are the troops that nobody wants to see, carrying a message that no military family ever wants to hear. Since the start of the war in Iraq, Marines like Major Steve Beck found themselves charged with a mission they never asked for and one for which there can be no training: casualty notification. In Final Salute, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jim Sheeler weaves together the stories of the fallen, the broken homes they have left behind, and one man's effort to help heal the wounds of those left grieving. But it is not a book about war, politics, or liberal vs. conservative. Achingly beautiful and honest, it is a book that every American-every human-can embrace.

About The Author

Jim Sheeler is the Shirley Wormser Professor of Journalism and Media Writing at Case Western Reserve University. He is the author of a Pulitzer Prize–winning newspaper feature on the war in Iraq that led to a book, Final Salute, which was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award in nonfiction.Mark Deakins’ television appearances include Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Star Trek®: Voyager. His film credits include The Devil’s Advocate and Star Trek®: Insurrection. He is the writer, director, and producer of the short film The Smith Interviews.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Schuyler

I grew up in a small town in southern New Hampshire (Merrimack) and looking back on it now, a rather politically conservative town. Most of those political ideals were held in the hearts of the adults of the community and subsequently passed down on to their children. Though my parents were (are) fa......more

Goodreads review by Di

First, let me start by saying that I could not read more than one chapter on the train home from work. After a few pages, the tears would start falling and I would have to put the book away. There was one page that I reread a few times since it really made me think... "....The unintended consequence......more

Goodreads review by Megan

There are no words to describe how I felt reading this book. I read it over two days traveling home to RI for a visit...I was crying at home, in the airport and on the plane. I had read Jim Sheeler's article and seen the pictures that accompanied it and I knew I had to read this book. Not just about......more

Goodreads review by Travis

This was one of those books that makes me think that we don't just choose books, but they choose us. I read the cover at the BX, and almost got all choked up right in the aisle. This book is about the deaths of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan and the echoes of that pain through the lives of their f......more

Quotes

" One of the great underreported stories of the Iraq war."
-Janet Maslin, The New York Times

" A must-read account."
-The Wall Street Journal

" A powerful counterpoint to the impersonal statistics and verbal camouflage of military euphemisms that sanitize the true horror of war and dehumanize those who serve."
-The Washington Post Book World

Awards

Christopher Award
National Book Award Finalist