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Product Details
Scribner, October 2005
Movie Tie-In Edition Trade Paperback, 272 pages
ISBN-10: 0743287215
ISBN-13: 9780743287210
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Introduction
Description
In his New York Times bestselling chronicle of military life, Anthony Swofford weaves his experiences in war with vivid accounts of boot camp, reflections on the marines, and remembrances of battles with lovers and family.
When the U.S. Marines—or “jarheads”—were sent to Saudi Arabia in 1990 for the Gulf War, Anthony Swofford was there. He lived in sand for six months; he was punished by boredom and fear; he considered suicide, pulled a gun on a fellow marine, and was targeted by both enemy and friendly fire. As engagement with the Iraqis drew near, he was forced to consider what it means to be an American, a soldier, a son of a soldier, and a man.
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"A bayonet in the eye...brutal and unforgettable."
-- The Sacramento Bee
"A searing contribution to the literature of combat."
-- Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
"A brutally honest memoir...gut-wrenching frontline reportage."
-- Entertainment Weekly
'As you might expect of a sniper, Swofford proves an intuitive observer and his writing is visceral, sharp and engaging'
OBSERVER
'One of the best 'war reads' since DISPATCHES by Michael Herr'
DAILY MAIL
'It is hard to imagine a more convincing and unglamorous book about what it is like to be one of the ludicrously young people who fight our wars'
SUNDAY TIMES
"A raw and uncompromising account of life at the sharp end of war. It's not pretty but it is riveting'
MAIL ON SUNDAY
'Jarhead is an eloquently and deftly crafted work'
GUARDIAN
'By turns profane and lyrical, swaggering and ruminative, "Jarhead" - referring to the marines' "high-and-tight" haircuts, which make their heads look like jars - is not only the most powerful memoir to emerge thus far from the last gulf war, but also a searing contribution to the literature of combat, a book that combines the black humor of "Catch-22" with the savagery of "Full Metal Jacket" and the visceral detail of "The Things They Carried."
THE NEW YORK TIMES
'Until JARHEAD, nothing I've read has so precisely dissected the psychotic enhancement of being alive that is found in the middle of a war; the way in which the individual is cast adrift from social order, common sense, even a balanced perspective of what's going on, to run mad in fear and fantasy.JARHEAD would at any time be an incomparable document of military record. Right now it has an additional, vast resonance. People can support the war or not, believe in the need to send troops to Iraq or not, but in order for their opinions to have any value they must be informed about what war involves. With your book at hand they cannot say they didn't know. I believe it will be read by millions.'
JONATHAN KAPLAN, author of THE DRESSING STATION
Los Angeles Times, October 7, 2011
...as "Apocalypse Now" being used to pump up soldiers in the first Gulf War, a phenomenon reported by Anthony Swofford in his memoir "Jarhead," filmed in time to do the same for soldiers in the second Gulf War. What does this mean? For ...
Center for Defense Information, November 4, 2009
...in that first American war with Iraq. It was not all about airpower, nor the ennui epitomized in Anthony Swofford's well-crafted and well-praised book Jarhead. In February 1991, a number of Americans charged into battle in a style that would ...
Telegraph, June 30, 2009
...one of the first studies of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.) Dispatches by Michael Herr (Best description of Vietnam War) Jarhead by Anthony Swofford (US sniper's memoir of 1991 Gulf War) Catch 22 by Joseph Heller (US airman in World War ...
