Sebastian Junger - "War" and "Restrepo"

On Thursday night, I had the great fortune of seeing Sebastian Junger speak about and read sections of his book, War.   Here is part of a review of the book by Philip Caputo, author of the famous Vietnam War novel, Rumor of War, which provides a great summary of the book:

"The ambitiousness of Sebastian Junger's "War" is summed up in its title. It's a story about war that is much more than a war story  As a correspondent for Vanity Fair magazine, Junger made five trips to Afghanistan's Korengal Valley in 2007 and 2008, embedded with the 2nd Platoon, Battle Company of the storied 173rd Airborne Brigade. "War" is the result of those journeys into a world so alien to civilians it might as well be a planet in some distant solar system.  .  .  With his narrative gifts and vivid prose -- as free, thank God, of literary posturing as it is of war-correspondent chest-thumping -- Junger masterfully chronicles the platoon's 15-month tour of duty. But what elevates "War" out of its particular time and place are the author's meditations on the minds and emotions of the soldiers with whom he has shared hardships, dangers and spells of boredom so intense that everyone sits around wishing to hell something would happen (and wishes to God it was over when, inevitably, it does)."  (Read more.)

Yesterday, we saw the video documentary of the book that Junger made with his cameraman, Tim Hetherington, called Restrepo.  It was brutal.  Bottom line - both the book and the movie are worth you checking out.