Forever War: Dispatches from the War on Terror

Gooder. A unique on the ground "I was there" perspective. Never heard anything like this in any news reports either left or right. If you have an interest in how and why things happened in Iraq, this book is invaluable. In fact It is a "goodest".

This is as powerful a presentation of the reality (and folly) of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as one could hope to discover.
George W. Bush (whom I stupidly voted for 2x!!) will have to explain before God why he wasted so many American and Iraqi lives for nothing more than ego and testosterone driven personal reasons, and this book explains why that is true.
It is a powerful presentation of the reality of war including the stupidity that exacerbated the misconduct and mistakes made while prosecuting it.
My prayer is that future leaders --the "old men" who send boys into war---will read this and start thinking with their brains instead of their balls before doing it again. WE created ISIS because we had no idea what we were doing over there.
Thank you Mr. Filkins.

Assigned it to my students, super insights into the Iraq War. The first three chapters on Afghanistan require background information, but the remaining chapters on Iraq are great for readers at all levels.

This book is about Zero-Sum-World, or more precisely zero-or-negative-sum-world.
Dixit and Nalebuff's "The Art of Strategy" has a great quote something like, even with zero-sum-games, you can reduce the cost of playing the game.
This is such a depressing book, but it's the "Ghost of Christmas Future", a must-read.
In the USA what we call "peace" is really "kicking the can down the road".
Agricultural zoning forces everyone into cities( read Howard Kohn's "The Last Farmer" ), while the government promises if you can't make it in the city then there will always be food stamps, paid for by those who CAN make it in the city.
It's quite a leap of connection, but if you read Biderman's "In Deadly Combat", it has a first-person-account of what it's like in a POW-camp when they lean out the food supply.
Fortunately in America a city does not a POW camp make, as long as you've got your CAR. James Howard Kunstler's blog has a name which can't be entered into an the store review, but his full name searches instantly and he has a great vision of "The Ghost of Christmas Future", when the food stamps run out and we can't afford the cars anymore.

from the first hand accounts of a reporter who was there, with access to both our military and the people of Iraq, this book details the difficulties of trying to unify a country politically adrift and deeply divided along religious lines

THis book belongs in anyone's permanent collection of war histories. The writing style is fluid, the story telling engaging. Filkins makes the reader feel part of the action. A modern classic, on a par with Herr's "Dispatches" from the Vietnam war.

Filkins's collection of essays on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are an unflinching view of how things have been at the combat front line. The descriptions are direct and vivid and analysis, of which there is little, is made superfluous. It's an unforgettable book.

This is a really really good book and I recommend it to anyone who wants to get a better idea of what our guys went through in the war in Iraq. This is a ground level day by day account of what our troops went through and also a look at the other side; an exploration of Iraq citizens and customs.

Mr. Filkins offers a unique perspective of current two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This book is an excellent recollection of his experience working in the area before and during these two wars. I highly recommend this book.

Expertly written account of American misadventures in post Saddam Iraq. You are left wondering how a NY Times reporter had access to go just about anywhere he wanted to go. You and I would have stayed bunkered somewhere in the middle of the Green Zone. The best book yet that I have read about the Iraqi War.

"Forever War" is a must read for Americans trying to understand what is going on in Iraq in 2014. It covers seven years of the Iraq war as seen through the eyes of a reporter embedded with a US Marine unit. It is not a continuous story but a series of short chapters, not necessarily in chronological order, that taken together describe the agony and futility of the war. The book also deals with the political/religious infighting in the country that makes it improbable that today's crisis can be solved without breaking the country apart.

I assume that the media (and reporters by extension) have a bias. I was unable to discern one in Filkins' account of the war in and around Iraq. Good read by someone that spent a lot of time on the streets of Bagdad and other very bad places. Reminiscent of Bernard Fall, which is high praise coming from me.

Afghanistan ... Iraq ... leave 'em to it.
Reasonably good journalism. Transitioning was not always good. I didn't always know where Dexter was or why he was there. I came away from Filkins' work with the impression 2-3 generations of Iraqis are corrupt, ruthless and don't give a damn about their neighborhoods let alone their country; Shia, Sunni or Kurd, they're total hypocrites about devotion to tenets of their religion. All-aahhhhh indeed.
That about right, Dexter?
As for Afghanistan, from all I've read, including Filkins' reporting, here is the 16th century whose people apparently want to stay that way.

The book was in great condition and the service was good. I was disappointed by the seller's lack of response to my email when I emailed him saying that although I ordered the book, I didn't need it for the class, so I wanted to return it. I contacted him as soon as I received the book but I never received a response.

This will, I think, become the classic book of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. It is non-political and consists of multiple snapshots rangng over many years, not always in chronological sequence. These are Filkins's carefully selected memories of his life as a N.Y. Times reporter on the front lines, as well as his experiences on 9/11 at ground zero.

He makes no effort to "explain" the turmoil of the Middle East, but one puts the book down with a new understanding of some of the powerful and destructive forces at play. He is respectful of the U.S. military and his sketches of the bravery of the Americans fighting against bad odds, most of them only teenagers, is very moving.

Politics don't even intrude in the brief chapter on Ahmad Chalabi, it is rather a sketch on the personality of this complex and slippery player in the power struggles of the time.

I recommend this book as a companion to the excellent "Imperial Life in the Emerald City" which documents the appaling stupidity of U.S. policy in Iraq flowing down from the top. The "Forever War" balances that with the street smarts courage of our military. Still, Filkins would, I am sure, agree that imposing "democracy" by military force guarantees a forever war.

This is a powerful book, well and clearly written, by an experienced and compassionate observer.

As my review title suggests, I had not followed the conduct of the war as closely as I might have over the years. Mr. Filkins' work is amazing. I suggest this book to anyone with a thirst for understanding. Well done.