Middle Eastern Wars
By Jeremy Scahill
Explores the private security company Blackwater USA, including the background of its founder; its relationship with the United States government; and its role in the Iraq War, the cleanup of Hurricane Katrina, and the War on Terror.
By Joe Sacco
Rafah, a town at the bottommost tip of the Gaza Strip, is a squalid place. Raw concrete buildings front trash–strewn alleys. The narrow streets are crowded with young children and unemployed men. Buried deep in the archives is one bloody incident in 1956 that left 111 Palestinians dead, shot by Israeli soldiers. Seemingly a footnote to a long history of killing, that day in Rafah––cold–blooded massacre or dreadful mistake––reveals the competing truths that have come to define an intractable war. In a quest to get to the heart of what happened, Joe Sacco immerses himself in daily life of Rafah and the neighboring town of Khan Younis, uncovering Gaza past and present. Spanning fifty years, moving fluidly between one war and the next, alive with the voices of fugitives and schoolchildren, widows and sheikhs, Footnotes in Gaza captures the essence of a tragedy.
By Anthony Swofford
A memoir of the Gulf War by a front-line infantry marine recounts his struggles with the conflict on the front lines, his battles with fear and suicide, his brushes with death, and his identity as a soldier and an American.
By Jeffrey E. Stern
Examines the power of education in shaping modern Afghanistan through the story of western Kabul's Marefat School in the final year of America's military occupation, detailing how the school raced to establish a secular curriculum for boys and girls while preparing for the departure of foreign troops.
By Breaking the Silence
Hundreds of Israeli soldiers speak out about the Palestinian occupation, revealing that their presence is not merely for defense, but also to accelerate the acquisition of Palestinian land and work against an independent Palestinian nation.
By Marjane Satrapi
Series Persepolis
Recommended By Jessikah Chautin, Community Engagement Specialist, Stacey Mencher, Technology and Applications Manager
With Jackie Ranaldo, Head of Readers' Services
Monday, November 18, 2013. 7 PM.
Satrapi's autobiography is a timely and timeless story of a young girl's life under the Islamic Revolution.
Became the movie: Persepolis.
By Nicholas Irving with Gary Brezek
A memoir by a Special Operations Direct Action Sniper traces his extraordinary career during the War on Terror, which was marked by his record-setting deployment to Afghanistan and his face-off against an enemy sniper known only as The Chechnian.
A comprehensive account of the 13–hour firefight at the Battle of Keating by a Medal of Honor recipient describes the harrowing events of the October 3, 2009 attack and how the sacrifices and victories of heroic men raised questions about whether the strategically vulnerable outpost should ever have been built.
By Jack Coughlin
A portrait of highly regarded Marine Corp gunner sergeant Jack Coughlin traces his successful active duty record and his personal life, offering a look into the cover world of long-range precision rifle shooters.
By Dan Mills
When Sgt. Mills and the rest of the 1st Battalion flew into Iraq in April, 2004, they were soon fighting for their lives. Sniper One is a breathtaking chronicle of endurance, camaraderie, dark humor, and courage in the face of relentless, lethal assault.
By Tony Geraghty
A history of mercenaries explores the ways in which soldiers for hire have been an essential component of modern and privatized warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan, describing the myriad ways in which they are viewed in different parts of the world while offering insight into their lesser-known military activities.
By Elise Forbes Tripp
Between spring 2005 and fall 2006, Tripp (American history, Holyoke Community College, Massachusetts) conducted non-directed interviews with 30 members of the US military, simply letting them say what they wanted about their experience in Iraq.
By Kim Barker
A wisecracking foreign correspondent recounts her experiences in Afghanistan and Pakistan while sharing cautionary observations about the region in its first post-Taliban years and the responsibilities of the U.S. and NATO.
By Sebastian Junger
Recommended By Ralph Guiteau, Readers' Services Librarian
"In WAR Sebastian Junger gives breathtaking insight into the truths of war - the fear, the honor, and the trust among men. His on-the-ground account follows a single platoon through a 15-month tour of duty in the most dangerous outpost in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley. Through the experiences of these young men at war, he shows what it means to fight, to serve, and to face down mortal danger on a regular basis (From the Publisher)."