What It Is Like to Go to War, Karl Marlantes
What It Is Like to Go to War, Karl Marlantes
5 Rating(s)
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
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What It Is Like to Go to War

Author: Karl Marlantes

Narrator: Bronson Pinchot

Unabridged: 8 hr 48 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/30/2011

Synopsis

From the author of the bestselling and awardwinning Matterhorn comes a brilliant nonfiction book about war and the psychological and spiritual toll it takes on those who fight. I wrote this book primarily to come to terms with my own experience of combat. So farreading, writing, thinkingthat has taken over thirty years. In 1969, at the age of twentythree, 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. Marlantes survived, but like many of his brothers in arms, he has spent the last forty years dealing with his war experience. In his first work of nonfiction, Marlantes takes a deeply personal and candid look at what it is like to experience the ordeal of combat, critically examining how we might better prepare our soldiers for war. Just as Matterhorn is already acclaimed a classic of war literature, What It Is Like to Go to War is set to become required reading for anyonesoldier or civilianinterested in this visceral and alltooessential part of the human experience.

About Karl Marlantes

Karl Marlantes, a cum-laude graduate of Yale University and Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, was 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. His novel Matterhorn and his nonfiction book What It Is Like to Go to War, both based on his combat experience, are also both New York Times bestsellers.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Lawyer

I am of the age where I could very well have been a veteran of the Vietnam War. Or, I could have died there. But I was spared that, first by student deferments and then the timeliness of the Paris Peace Talks. However, I know and have known many men who fought there. On the surface, they seem fine.......more

Goodreads review by K. Elizabeth

This wasn't an easy read. But then, nothing about war is easy, much less the psychological and spiritual effects of war on our combat vets. This was as thought provoking, challenging, and emotionally draining as any solid book about war should be. A few caveats to add context to my review of the boo......more

Goodreads review by Tim

So, if a lifelong pacifist liberal says a book about how to train our soldiers is a "must read," it must be full of peacenik bullshit aimed at undermining the military, right? Believe me, though, when I say that's not the case with Karl Marlantes' What It Is Like to Go to War. Marlantes brings e......more

Goodreads review by Scott

I first encountered Karl Marlantes while watching Ken Burns’ documentary The Vietnam War. I was impressed by what he had to say, and after reading What It Is Like To Go To War I can see that my first impression of him was the right one. This is a fascinating book - an odd but effective blend of memoi......more

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