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Best Biographies of the Afghan War

American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History
His fellow American warriors, whom he protected with deadly precision from rooftops and stealth positions during the Iraq War, called him “The Legend”; meanwhile, the enemy feared him so much they named him al-Shaitan (“the devil”) and placed a bounty on his head. American Sniper is a compelling read.” (CLINT EASTWOOD). “An amazingly detailed account of fighting in Iraq--a humanizing, brave story that’s extremely readable.” (PATRICIA CORNWELL, New York Times Book Review ). A brave warrior and patriot, Chris Kyle writes frankly about the missions, personal challenges, and hard choices that are part of daily life of an elite SEAL Sniper. His fellow American warriors, whom he protected with deadly precision from rooftops and stealth positions during the Iraq War, called him “The Legend”; meanwhile, the enemy feared him so much they named him al-Shaitan (“the devil”) and placed a bounty on his head. Kyle, who was tragically killed in 2013, writes honestly about the pain of war—including the deaths of two close SEAL teammates—and in moving first-person passages throughout, his wife, Taya, speaks openly about the strains of war on their family, as well as on Chris.
Reviews
"Most of the low rated reviews were from folks posting negative comments that had not even read the book. I made a point to bring this to the attention of potential buyers of Chris's book so they wouldn't let the low ratings affect their decision to read, what I think is a very good story. I think Chris, with help of course, did a pretty darn good job describing his experiences. This book is written in what I would call a sort of "conversational style". I liked his sense of humor (I caught myself laughing out loud at times). It's interesting to read about what sort of equipment someone needs to survive in that kind of environment. It's easy to sit in a nice comfortable home, and second guess him but the bottom line is that I am quite sure the men that served next to him were glad he was there."
"Chris Kyle is/was a great man, not because he did extraordinary things, but because he was an ordinary American man, raised with the traditional values that made this country great. And because if his ordinary American upbringing and old fashioned American values, he did extraordinary things and his legacy stands head and shoulders above the venal politicians, liberal apologists, and careerist officers who so often pretend to lead us, while really serving themselves."
"I enjoy books written by the person the story is about and aren't a typical autobiography."
"The author was a great asset to this country, but I think he was a much better sniper than he was a writer, and probably his next books would have changed for the better, but he suffered a lethal attack from a troubled, ungrateful individual he was trying to be nice to, and his life was cut short for his efforts."
"Good story, Im very impressed with Chris Kyle and although I was not a Navy Seal, I did 22 and half years in the Navy and I can understand a lot of his thought process and I totally understand the greater side of this story and that's the emotional side dealing with being away from the job and having a loving family."
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Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10
This is the story of fire team leader Marcus Luttrell, the sole survivor of Operation Redwing, and the desperate battle in the mountains that led, ultimately, to the largest loss of life in Navy SEAL history. All good boy s' own stuff British Army Review All good boy s' own stuff British Army Review.
Reviews
"The reader, Kevin T. Collins, did an excellent job using inflection and accent, so the person reading / hearing, was transported to the actual life and events experienced by Marcus Luttrell as well as the family and friends back home."
"I think the best part of the book, with no disrespect to those lost during Operation Red Wings is Luttrell experience during BUD's."
"From the descriptions, I was confused as to what rifle Marcus was carrying (it seemed to imply early on a M-4), but at the end he was carrying a Mark 12, which is Navy special forces rifle based upon the M16/M4 platform, but has been modified and has its own designation."
"This simple villager provided physical care as well as putting his own life, the life of his family members, and even the life of his entire village in the line of fire and risk of slaughter to honor a generations old code that required him in his village at the cost of death to provide safety and help to a stranger who needed it."
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The Operator: Firing the Shots that Killed Osama bin Laden and My Years as a SEAL Team Warrior
New York Times Bestseller A stirringly evocative, thought-provoking, and often jaw-dropping account, The Operator ranges across SEAL Team Operator Robert O’Neill’s awe-inspiring four-hundred-mission career, which included his involvement in attempts to rescue “Lone Survivor” Marcus Luttrell and abducted-by-Somali-pirates Captain Richard Phillips and which culminated in those famous three shots that dispatched the world’s most wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden. In frank and vivid detail and blunt and plain language, Mr. O'Neill describes some of the 400 counterterrorism operations and close quarter combat he experienced in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere through his career as a SEAL . Fans of battlefield narratives, such as Michael Golembesky's Level Zero Heroes , will relish this gripping perspective on 21st-century warfare." O’Neill wrote himself into American history with the three shots he fired into Osama bin Laden, but if you think that operation was intense wait till you read about the ones that preceded it. What O’Neill has written is unique, surprising, a kind of counternarrative, and certainly the other half of the story of one of the world’s most famous military operations . In the larger sense, this book is about how to be alive—how to be human while in the very same moment dealing with death, destruction, combat.” —Doug Stanton, New York Times bestselling author of In Harm’s Way and Horse Soldiers Robert O’Neill was born and raised in Butte, Montana, and lived there for nineteen years until he joined the Navy in 1996. O’Neill helped cofound Your Grateful Nation, an organization committed to transitioning Special Operations veterans into their next successful career.
Reviews
"This book regards the experiences of the author in serving as a U.S. Navy SEAL member on some 400+ "missions", with his account of being the person who actually shot and killed Osama Bin Laden -- the Islamist who coordinated the hijacked airplane, suicidal Islamikazi attacks on 9/11/2001 that destroyed several skyscrapers in NYC and damaged the Pentagon. I'm not going to recount the author's entire 25-page raid of rappelling from a helicopter into Osama's high-walled "fortress", but will quote the author as claiming that as he climbed up a stairwell to Osama's third floor: "Osama bin Laden stood near the entrance at the foot of the bed, taller and thinner than I'd expected, his beard shorter and hair whiter....In less than a second, I aimed above the woman's right shoulder [who was standing in front of Osama] and pulled the trigger twice. Even if the author hadn't been the SEAL who downed Osama, his recounting of his other combat experiences would still make this book an interesting read."
"Cannot imagine anyone, in less perilous situations e.g. including clubs, corporate, that would not enjoy a bit of this Amazing Story, history, and the highly trained voice of Experience and Leadership, in easy to understand manner."
"This book not only tells of the story of how justice was served on OBL but honors those who have dedicated and ultimately sacrificed their lives to defend the very freedom we as Americans take for granted everyday."
"As an active NYPD Sgt during 9/11 I'm humbled by Rob's resolve and determination."
"O'neill's hard work and dedication to excellence puts him on a collision course to be involved in some of the most famous battles in recent history."
"Well written account of the life and missions of a DEVGRU SEAL and our current world."
"This was a great read that helped resolve the crazy stories about UBL."
"Concise and honest without the fanfare or hyperbole."
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Best Central Asia Travel

The Places in Between
By day he passed through mountains covered in nine feet of snow, hamlets burned and emptied by the Taliban, and communities thriving amid the remains of medieval civilizations. We never really find out why Stewart decided to walk across Afghanistan only a few months after the Taliban were deposed, but what emerges from the last leg of his two-year journey across Asia is a lesson in good travel writing. By turns harrowing and meditative, Stewart's trek through Afghanistan in the footsteps of the 15th-century emperor Babur is edifying at every step, grounded by his knowledge of local history, politics and dialects. His prose is lean and unsentimental: whether pushing through chest-high snow in the mountains of Hazarajat or through villages still under de facto Taliban control, his descriptions offer a cool assessment of a landscape and a people eviscerated by war, forgotten by time and isolated by geography.
Reviews
"However, his need to push on at times, dangerously exhausted, in the face of life threatening danger presented a psychological dilemma that I grappled with on several occasions, trying to figure out this most unusual man."
"It is a wonderful read for anyone who wishes to discover the area... through someone else's eyes, as I did given the fact that current affairs have made it impossible for me to ever experience it firsthand."
"Rory Stewart's perceptive acceptance of a foreign world, leaves me shaking my head in admiration."
"It is a more a micro version because although there are broad references to the Russian occupation, Talaban, the Northern Alliance and the Karzai; the book is more about Stewart's personal interactions with individuals along the way. I do wish he had provided more detail on the lifestyles of the Afghans of different villages and their customs and family interaction but it was a fast paced travelogue more focused on his physical challenges to the environment and his own tolerance to limited food many times offered by very poor families."
"IT was a new look at history, fascinating and amazing in that when much the same treck was done in the 1920s, the same society and govt road blocks were in place, not much had changed...But, I wish he had had better gear, lhe was wet and miserable most of the time.. Quite a feat he accomplished, amazing he wasn't killed."
"This is a story of a journalist / historian walking on foot across Afghanistan, and an homage to a past trek done by an ancient ruler."
"This account of the author's walk across part of Afghanistan in 2002, right after the US had moved the Taliban out of power in much of the country, is most interesting."
"Very memorable, affecting account of a young man trekking through Afghanistan, who he met, what happened."
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Best Biographies of the Iraq War

The Operator: Firing the Shots that Killed Osama bin Laden and My Years as a SEAL Team Warrior
New York Times Bestseller A stirringly evocative, thought-provoking, and often jaw-dropping account, The Operator ranges across SEAL Team Operator Robert O’Neill’s awe-inspiring four-hundred-mission career, which included his involvement in attempts to rescue “Lone Survivor” Marcus Luttrell and abducted-by-Somali-pirates Captain Richard Phillips and which culminated in those famous three shots that dispatched the world’s most wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden. In frank and vivid detail and blunt and plain language, Mr. O'Neill describes some of the 400 counterterrorism operations and close quarter combat he experienced in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere through his career as a SEAL . Fans of battlefield narratives, such as Michael Golembesky's Level Zero Heroes , will relish this gripping perspective on 21st-century warfare." O’Neill wrote himself into American history with the three shots he fired into Osama bin Laden, but if you think that operation was intense wait till you read about the ones that preceded it. What O’Neill has written is unique, surprising, a kind of counternarrative, and certainly the other half of the story of one of the world’s most famous military operations . In the larger sense, this book is about how to be alive—how to be human while in the very same moment dealing with death, destruction, combat.” —Doug Stanton, New York Times bestselling author of In Harm’s Way and Horse Soldiers Robert O’Neill was born and raised in Butte, Montana, and lived there for nineteen years until he joined the Navy in 1996. O’Neill helped cofound Your Grateful Nation, an organization committed to transitioning Special Operations veterans into their next successful career.
Reviews
"This book regards the experiences of the author in serving as a U.S. Navy SEAL member on some 400+ "missions", with his account of being the person who actually shot and killed Osama Bin Laden -- the Islamist who coordinated the hijacked airplane, suicidal Islamikazi attacks on 9/11/2001 that destroyed several skyscrapers in NYC and damaged the Pentagon. I'm not going to recount the author's entire 25-page raid of rappelling from a helicopter into Osama's high-walled "fortress", but will quote the author as claiming that as he climbed up a stairwell to Osama's third floor: "Osama bin Laden stood near the entrance at the foot of the bed, taller and thinner than I'd expected, his beard shorter and hair whiter....In less than a second, I aimed above the woman's right shoulder [who was standing in front of Osama] and pulled the trigger twice. Even if the author hadn't been the SEAL who downed Osama, his recounting of his other combat experiences would still make this book an interesting read."
"Cannot imagine anyone, in less perilous situations e.g. including clubs, corporate, that would not enjoy a bit of this Amazing Story, history, and the highly trained voice of Experience and Leadership, in easy to understand manner."
"This book not only tells of the story of how justice was served on OBL but honors those who have dedicated and ultimately sacrificed their lives to defend the very freedom we as Americans take for granted everyday."
"As an active NYPD Sgt during 9/11 I'm humbled by Rob's resolve and determination."
"O'neill's hard work and dedication to excellence puts him on a collision course to be involved in some of the most famous battles in recent history."
"Well written account of the life and missions of a DEVGRU SEAL and our current world."
"This was a great read that helped resolve the crazy stories about UBL."
"Concise and honest without the fanfare or hyperbole."
Find Best Price at Amazon