The Operators
The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan

Wow. I plunged into this book now, and it's electrifying. The writing is so crisp, candid and insightful. He rips back the curtain and takes us inside this world, of senior military in a war zone in the Middle East. The stories are incredible but it's the voice that really hit me. Kind of revelatory......more

Look at this book carefully: It got one man fired and (likely) another killed. In a personally-revealing chapter of The Operators, Michael Hastings cites passages from Phillip Knightley's The First Casualty while describing the odd subculture of the war correspondent. The whole of the famous quote us......more

As a US Army Veteran that served for 8 years and did two combat tours (one during the first six months of the war with Iraq and one later with an ADA unit), so much of what Hastings describes regarding military culture, the feeling on the ground among people who are actually doing the work and the d......more

I've read a fair number of books concerning the Iraq War (less so about Afghanistan), and I would rank The Operators at or near the top. The book provides a good account of General Stanley McCrystal from his West Point escapades to his ruthless efficiency as head of Joint Special Operations Command......more

The Operators covers, in excellent prose and with perfect pacing, three broad topics. First, the insanity and futility of America's war in Afghanistan. Second, the way decisions are made in Washington and at the Pentagon -- the bureaucratic battles, the petty resentments and one-upmanship, the allia......more