War Memoirs

Featured on Fresh Air 3/5/2009
Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood,
By Donovan Campbell

Blurb: After graduating from Princeton, Donovan Campbell, motivated by his unwavering patriotism and commitment, decided to join the service. In this immediate, thrilling, and inspiring memoir, Campbell recounts a timeless and transcendent tale of brotherhood, courage, and sacrifice. As commander of a forty-man infantry platoon called Joker One, Campbell and his men were assigned to Ramadi, that capital of the Sunni-dominated Anbar province that was an explosion just waiting to happen. After seven months of day-to-day, house-to-house combat, nearly half of Campbell’s platoon had been wounded, a casualty rate that went beyond that of any Marine or Army unit since Vietnam.

“…an outstanding narrative of the Iraq War.” ~ Publishers Weekly Starred Review

If you buy it from public radio, it gets a percentage.

The book was reviewed by the Washington Post along with two other war-based memoirs:



MISSION: BLACK LIST #1
The Inside Story of the Search for Saddam Hussein -- As Told by the Soldier Who Masterminded His Capture
By Eric Maddox with Davin Seay HarperCollins. 266 pp. $25.99

and

The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier's Education
By Craig M. Mullaney

The Post reviewer liked The Unforgiving Minute the best; he said the other two ignore some basic questions about the war on terrorism.