HACKER SAFE certified sites prevent over 99.9% of hacker crime.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE...
Martyrs' Day: Chronicle of a Small War
Martyrs' Day: Chronicle of a Small War
by Michael Kelly
I Am a Soldier Too the Jessica Lynch Sto
I Am a Soldier Too the Jessica Lynch Sto
by Rick Bragg
Monkey Dancing: A Father, Two Kids, and Journey to the Ends of the Earth
Monkey Dancing: A Father, Two Kids, and Journey to the Ends of the Earth
by Dan Glick
RELATED AISLES

Barbara Walters Read our exclusive interview with Barbara Walters and save 30% on Audition: A Memoir.

Audition $20.96
Hardcover Add to Cart



 
Jarhead: A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles
by Anthony Swofford

Jarhead: A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles Cover

Only 3 left in stock at $6.95!

Powells.com Staff Pick

Excruciatingly direct and exceedingly well written, Anthony Swofford's memoir of Marine Corps life during the 1991 Gulf War is one of the most articulate, unflinching portrayals of military service the public has ever seen. "The individual soldier has not really been considered and is not being given a voice," the author explained during a visit to Powell's. "My book offers a soldier's voice at a time when one needs to be heard." Dave Weich, Powells.com

Review-a-Day   (What is Review-a-Day?)

"There are varieties of pain in Jarhead, submerged beneath the terrors of battle and the pangs of a rotten crotch, so exquisite they'd do a torturer proud. The biographical information on the book's jacket flap explains that Swofford attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and it's easy to imagine him there, this guy who read The Iliad during breaks in weapons training. I can picture him striving to make a new, better life that transcends the 'loneliness and poverty of spirit' of his jarhead adventures, while surrounded by fresh-faced, unscarred young aspirants who envy him his fabulous, fabulous material." Laura Miller, Salon.com (read the entire Salon review)

"Yes, there have been many, many books about combat in the Gulf War, but none as beautifully written or as ferocious as Jarhead. Anthony Swofford's account of his life on the front lines is so honest and uncompromising as to be brutal." Adrienne Miller, Esquire (read the entire Esquire review)

Synopses & Reviews

From Powells.com:

War is one of the few great literary topics. Since Homer immortalized the Trojan War 3,000 years ago, legions of writers have been glorifying, lamenting, dissecting, and parodying the soldier's life. So, can the world really bear yet another soldier's memoir? If the reception Anthony Swofford received last year for his Gulf War memoir is any indication, the answer is an unqualified yes. Only time will confirm or deny the early enthusiasm of reviewers, but if they got it right, Jarhead will remain in print for decades to come. This is not only because it is the best chronicle yet written about the soldier's life near the turn of the third millennium. But also because Anthony Swofford, like only the very best writers, is able to draw his readers into the particular conundrums, thrills, terrors, and absurdities of his experiences in the Persian Gulf and make us feel they are our own. Farley, Powells.com

Publisher Comments:

Anthony Swofford's Jarhead is the first Gulf War memoir by a frontline infantry marine, and it is a searing, unforgettable narrative.

When the marines — or "jarheads," as they call themselves — were sent in 1990 to Saudi Arabia to fight the Iraqis, Swofford was there, with a hundred-pound pack on his shoulders and a sniper's rifle in his hands. It was one misery upon another. He lived in sand for six months, his girlfriend back home betrayed him for a scrawny hotel clerk, he was punished by boredom and fear, he considered suicide, he pulled a gun on one of his fellow marines, and he was shot at by both Iraqis and Americans. At the end of the war, Swofford hiked for miles through a landscape of incinerated Iraqi soldiers and later was nearly killed in a booby-trapped Iraqi bunker.

Swofford weaves this experience of war with vivid accounts of boot camp (which included physical abuse by his drill instructor), reflections on the mythos of the marines, and remembrances of battles with lovers and family. As engagement with the Iraqis draws closer, he is forced to consider what it is to be an American, a soldier, a son of a soldier, and a man.

Unlike the real-time print and television coverage of the Gulf War, which was highly scripted by the Pentagon, Swofford's account subverts the conventional wisdom that U.S. military interventions are now merely surgical insertions of superior forces that result in few American casualties. Jarhead insists we remember the Americans who are in fact wounded or killed, the fields of smoking enemy corpses left behind, and the continuing difficulty that American soldiers have reentering civilian life.

A harrowing yet inspiring portrait of a tormented consciousness struggling for inner peace, Jarhead will elbow for room on that short shelf of American war classics that includes Philip Caputo's A Rumor of War and Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, and be admired not only for the raw beauty of its prose but also for the depth of its pained heart.

Review:

"By turns profane and lyrical, swaggering and ruminative, Jarhead...is not only the most powerful memoir to emerge thus far from the last gulf war, but also a searing contribution to the literature of combat, a book that combines the black humor of Catch-22 with the savagery of Full Metal Jacket and the visceral detail of The Things They Carried." Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

Review:

"Jarhead is not only a work of reportage from a 'privileged' observer. It is also a display of genuine talent." Martin Amis

Review:

"This is not a pretty memoir — but veined with beauty. It is as outrageous, irreverent, funny, and obscene as an Aristophanes comedy, and as rich in pain and moral understanding as the Iliad." Jonathan Shay

Review:

"This is a book that smokes and screams in your hands. With a sniper's cold and unforgiving eye, Swofford has found the nexus between nihilism and language, a language ripped, homegrown, American-made, trashy and lyrical and bold. He hits the troubling, difficult mark again and again in this remarkable memoir. Brash, honest, and most unnerving, Jarhead delivers corsucating and unpleasant truths about war and warriors." Joy Williams

Review:

"Anthony Swofford's Gulf War memoir, Jarhead, could hardly be more timely. But the author, who served as a Marine sniper in Desert Storm, has wisely avoided virtually every nod toward direct commentary on current politics and every cliché of battlefield memoir....Jarhead emerges as a scary, detailed, well-written indictment of life in the military." Marc Herman, Mother Jones

Review:

"Jarhead is some kind of classic, a bracing memoir of the 1991 Persian Gulf war that will go down with the best books ever written about military life." Mark Bowden, New York Times Book Review

Review:

"A witty, profane, down-in-the-sand account of the war many only know from CNN....With blunt language and bittersweet humor, [Swofford] vividly recounts the worrying, drinking, joking, lusting and just plain sitting around that his troop endured while wondering if they would ever put their deadly skills to use." Publishers Weekly

Synopsis:

When the Marines — or "jarheads" as they call themselves — are sent to Saudi Arabia to fight the Iraqis, Swofford is there, with a hundred-pound pack on his shoulders and a sniper's rifle in his hands. It's one misery upon another. He lives in sand for six months, his girlfriend back home betrays him for a scrawny hotel clerk, he is punished by boredom and fear, he considers suicide, he pulls a gun on one of his fellow soldiers, and he is shot at by the Iraqis and by another unit of the U.S. military. At the end of the war, Swofford hikes for miles through a landscape of incinerated Iraqi soldiers and later is nearly killed in a booby-trapped Iraqi bunker.

In this powerful memoir, Swofford weaves his war experience with vivid accounts of boot camp, reflections on the mythos of the Marines, and remembrances of battles with lovers and family. As war draws closer, he is forced to consider what it is to be an American, a soldier, a son of a soldier, and a man.

A harrowing yet inspiring portrait of a tormented consciousness struggling for reconciliation and inner peace, Jarhead is authentic, revelatory, and brilliantly crafted.

back to top

About the Author

Anthony Swofford served in a U.S. Marine Corps Surveillance and Target Acquisition/Scout-Sniper platoon during the Gulf War. After the war, he was educated at American River College; the University of California, Davis; and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. He has taught at the University of Iowa and Lewis and Clark College. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The New York Times, Harper's, Men's Journal, The Iowa Review, and other publications. A Michener-Copernicus Fellowship recipient, he lives in Portland, Oregon, where he is at work on a novel.
back to top
back to top

Product Details

ISBN:
9780743235358
Subtitle:
A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles
Author:
Swofford, Anthony
Author:
Swofford, Anthony
Publisher:
Scribner
Location:
New York
Subject:
United states
Subject:
Military - United States
Subject:
Military
Subject:
Middle East - General
Subject:
Military - Persian Gulf War
Subject:
Persian gulf war, 1991
Subject:
General Biography
Subject:
Military - Persian Gulf War (1991)
Copyright:
2003
Series Volume:
107-215
Publication Date:
March 2003
Binding:
Hardback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
272
Dimensions:
9.36x6.26x1.06 in. 1.02 lbs.
back to top