Synopses & Reviews
Since the launch of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars—now the longest wars in American history—the US military has struggled to recruit troops. It has responded, as Matt Kennard’s explosive investigative report makes clear, by opening its doors to neo-Nazis, white supremacists, gang members, criminals of all stripes, the overweight, and the mentally ill. Based on several years of reporting,
Irregular Army includes extensive interviews with extremist veterans and leaders of far-right hate groups—who spoke openly of their eagerness to have their followers acquire military training for a coming domestic race war. As a report commissioned by the Department of Defense itself put it, “Effectively, the military has a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy pertaining to extremism.”
Irregular Army connects some of the War on Terror’s worst crimes to this opening-up of the US military. With millions of veterans now back in the US and domestic extremism on the rise, Kennard’s book is a stark warning about potential dangers facing Americans—from their own soldiers.
Review
"I have been following Matt Kennard’s work for years, with much appreciation. He is a fine journalist and political analyst, acute and perceptive, and his work is based on real insight and understanding over a broad range." Noam Chomsky
Review
"Matt Kennard is a fluent, powerful and authoritative writer whose debut book will surely establish him as one of Britain’s best-known investigative journalists." David Crouch
Review
"I have been following Matt Kennard’s work for years, with much appreciation. He is a fine journalist and political analyst, acute and perceptive, and his work is based on real insight and understanding over a broad range." Noam Chomsky
Review
"Matt Kennard’s new book expertly exposes the effect of the American colonial capitalist war machine on poor American soldiers as well as the stricken peoples of Iraq and Afghanistan living under them. I hope it is read by many people." Financial Times
Review
"An exceptional author. Matt Kennard never tries to paint a pig pretty. Thanks, Matt, for keeping it ugly." Nawal El-Saadawi
Review
"Matt Kennard is a creative and dogged investigative reporter whose probe of hidden realities inside the US military promises to be a revelation." Hunter Glass, former gang investigator for the US military
Review
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“Chilling…Illuminating…Kennard's nonpartisan portrait of martial waywardness is foreboding.”" Publishers Weekly
Review
"A startling new investigation that reveals the depths of the extremist and criminal elements that have infiltrated the US military over the past two decades. Irregular Army is a powerful investigation that exposes both the roots of defective military recruitment and its deadly aftershocks. Kennard’s book issues an urgent warning to the American public." Daryl Johnson, senior domestic terrorism analyst at the US Department of Homeland Security (2004-2010)
Review
"Chilling … Illuminating … Kennard’s nonpartisan portrait of martial waywardness is foreboding." Esther Kaplan, editor of the Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute
Review
"Irregular Army is an excellent piece of journalism … As a result of [Kennard’s] research and fresh angle, it stands out amid the vast sea of literature already published on the failings of the War on Terror." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Irregular Army makes a ... strong case that nothing good lies in the future so long as the American government continues to dissolve its standards of human decency to keep the pipeline filled with new soldiers." Time Out
Synopsis
Reveals the US military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach to extremists in its ranks.
Synopsis
Reveals the US military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach to extremists in its ranks.
About the Author
Matt Kennard is a journalist based in London. He has worked for the Financial Times in Washington, New York, and London, and has written for Salon, the Chicago Tribune, and the Guardian. He graduated as a Stabile Investigative Fellow from the Columbia Journalism School.