Iraq Memoir

A searing, unflinchingly intimate memoir about one young couple caught up in the machinery of America’s military system, learning to live and love through war and all that comes after “Astonishing . . . both a love story and a gripping account of the cost of war.”—Stephanie Land...

"Manning reads her book in a sharp voice that is clearly accustomed to marshaling information..."- Washington Post "[Manning's] text and performance create a blistering autobiography that is both observant and instructive."- AudioFile "In both content and narration, Manning displays a keen...

Sara Daniel, a star European correspondent and one of the few women reporters covering Iraq, dares to venture where few have gone, in this gripping and fascinating memoir. In June of 2002, war looms and Saddam Hussein still has a brutal grip on a nation in disarray. Sara Daniel travels the length and breadth of Iraq, following the fast-evolving events and interviewing people from all walks of life and all religious and political affiliations: from the Kurds in the north to the rising new politicians in Baghdad and beyond....

In weeks after the September 11 attacks, 18-year-old Mansoor Adayfi was kidnapped by Afghan militia and sold to US forces for bounty money. After months of interrogations, he was sent to the US military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, as one of its first prisoners. Like the nearly 800 other men imprisoned at Guantanamo, Adayfi didn’t know why he was imprisoned or for how long. He had never seen a skyscraper and couldn’t imagine what the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center looked like, much less how they were destroyed.

May 6, 1986: Nick Popaditch arrives at the Receiving Barracks, Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, California. April 9, 2003: An AP photographer captures a striking image seen around the world of the Gunny Sergeant smoking a victory cigar in his tank, the haunting statue of Saddam Hussein hovering in the background. Popaditch is immortalized forever as "The Cigar Marine."

We March at Midnight is award-winning author Ray McPadden’s chronicle of his experience as a highly decorated Ranger officer leading some of the most dangerous missions during the height of the Iraq and Afghan wars. In 2005, Ray joined the army in search of what he calls “the moment” - a chance to prove to himself and his brothers in arms that he is a true leader. His job is to establish the first outpost in the Korengal, Afghanistan’s deadliest valley, and his decisions and mistakes will have a permanent impact on the men he commands.

Melissa Seligman is something rare in the world of military families - a military wife who is also a beautiful writer. Here she describes her feelings as she watches her husband walk away from her and her newborn, knowing full well that he might not return from the war in Iraq. She experiences saying goodbye twice - both times he left when their children were still infants. While he’s away from home again, Melissa struggles to remember the goodness of her husband and the joy of their life together. Working hard to raise a baby and a four-year old, Melissa tells of the heartbreak and desperation she experiences at home.

He shares that experience in Rolling Through Afghanistan for the benefit of those who have wondered what it's like to be part of the United States armed forces fighting on the front lines in war...and to help those who may not be ready to face the memory of their own experiences.

War is hell....but sometimes it's also funny as hell.

As a regional direct response Quick Reaction Force in the northern Sangin river valley of Helmand Province, the Marines are immediately put to the test, narrowly avoiding one calamity after the next. This untold story personalizes the broader themes of America's war in Afghanistan through the brutal experiences of a small Marine unit who volunteered to fight it.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the former national security advisor and secretary of state comes a “sharp and penetrating . . . reminder that foreign-policy choices facing the United States are complex and difficult, with no easy solutions” (The Washington Post). A native of...

The U.S. government spends enormous resources each year on the gathering and analysis of intelligence, yet the history of American foreign policy is littered with missteps and misunderstandings that have resulted from intelligence failures. In Why Intelligence Fails, Robert Jervis examines the politics and psychology of two of the more spectacular intelligence failures in recent memory: the belief that the Shah in Iran was secure and stable in 1978, and the claim that Iraq had active WMD programs in 2002.

The true story of two young American men who came to Baghdad without a plan, were recruited into an occupation that knew the feeling, and witnessed enough corruption, confusion, and brutality to fill the pages of a very good book...

WINNER OF THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE In this “courageous” (The Washington Post) memoir of survival, a former captive of the Islamic State tells her harrowing and ultimately inspiring story. Nadia Murad was born and raised in Kocho, a small village of farmers and shepherds in northern Iraq...

American wars in Iraq were a defining feature of global politics for almost thirty years. The Gulf War of 1991, the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, and the campaign against the Islamic State beginning in 2014 each had their own logic. Each occurrence was a distinct conflict; however they must not only be considered in isolation. The United States spent the 1990s trying but failing to implement the Gulf War's cease fire agreement. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, American leaders decided to settle the open-ended aftermath of the Gulf War by launching the Iraq War of 2003.

In 2006, the shock and awe campaign of securing the major cities had ended, and the Iraq War had moved into an alien phase for the operators of Black Flag One. With their motto “swift, silent, deadly,” the Marine operators of 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion were trained for unconventional warfare but they were tasked with holding and securing swathes of the country, facing Insurgents who were adapting their tactics to kill as many Coalition soldiers as possible using IEDs.

"I am not moving to Iraq to teach." But the recession came hard for Gretchen Berg. Tens of thousands of dollars in debt, her only option was to uproot her life and move to the Middle East for work. She was prepared to make some good money, pay off some bad debt, take some photos of camels, and suffer through expected misogyny typical of the Middle East. She was unprepared for the drama and chaos that erupted within the well-intended, burgeoning university program, and the comical carnival of personalities she’d encounter, along with unexpected misogyny coming from inside the building.

M. C. Armstrong secured his embed as a journalist with the Navy SEALs in 2008. Shortly before he left for Iraq, his father asked him to tell the story no one else seemed to be telling. The story of the people sometimes constructed as our friends, and other times, our enemies: the Iraqis.

War doesn't end when you come home. It just changes the rules – finding what you can't live without. This in not a hero's victory lap. This is a confession. Written by a Soldier who was there at the beginning and the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom, this dark, intimate war novel strips away the gallantry and exposes the ordinary Soldiers that history forgets – female leaders, the mechanics, military police, and the scoundrels who carried fear of going home changed or hurt, and isolation within an Army.

From steamy bedrooms to scorched battlefields, stifling suburbia to lush Irish landscapes, Tara invites her listeners in close. Join this California girl on her journey through the unruly waters of Family, Combat, Mental Health, and Love. One intimate essay at a time, Tara contemplates the true cost of survival, as she redefines Together.