War Dogs

Good, fun, easy read. Style of writing was poor. Did, t explain what happened after legal process. Something I felt was important was just left out, preety amateur style of writing, but I did enjoy and thought the story to be amazing.

IM GOING TO SAVE YOU 3 HOURS OF READING

Efraim Diveroli was greedy , he tried to repackage chinese ammunition as non chinese (even though chinese ammunition was fine to use) the US had a ban on buying from communist countries. They got caught, and Efraim went to prison as well as his buddy David Packouz.

However, if you have an interest in being a Federal contractor on the Fed Biz Opps site, then its worth the read

A necessary read after watching the movie version, War Dogs. There were many liberties the writers/director of the movie took with the story, which quickly became apparent after I read Mr. Lawson's article in RollingStone in March 16, 2011. The discrepancies were material enough to warrant the reading of the book, and an entertaining one at that. Great investigative journalistic work.

This book is a fascinating and compelling work of balanced and fact-seeking investigative journalism. It reveals a top heavy and cumbersome Pentagon bureaucracy, a corrupt Federal investigative team, and a complicit Federal Court system bent on hanging scapegoats with a completely underwhelming non-scandal.

One of my frustrations in historical books/films/television is the need by writers to veer far from known or widely accepted fact. To the point that I probably mutter "truth is stranger than fiction" in my sleep.

Here is a fantastic example of such. Granted this is not historical fiction. This is a deft investigative look at a story that simply boggled this mind.

Lawson manages to be the detail oriented journalist and still deliver a great narrative that captivates and entertains and even frustrates more than once at the outrageous sequence of events plays out in a way seems almost impossible. But true! (sorry could not resist).

This is a fast read and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

A page-turner indeed! This book has all the ingredients of a thriller: war, money, drugs, guns, gangsters, conspiracies, murder, and even a little sex. It is at heart a story of friends who ignored the flashing neon sign that their buddy would lure them into trouble and then abandon them. It is a story of precocious, plucky (and stoned) underdogs who win by daring--to inevitably crash and burn in the end. Am I the only one who thought, as I read the story of the 20 year old making millions in arms dealing, "man, what a lucky guy, I wish I could do that"?

There is more to this book than lurid tales of opportunists. "Arms and the Dudes" examines how the media framed this story when it first came out, as a story of incompetence in the Department of Defense. But sometimes fiascos really can be put down to conspiracy, rather than written off to stupidity. The bonanza that was the occupation of Iraq is now widely recognized. This book well documents in an entertaining way one story in one current of that gold rush funded by the American taxpayer.

I thought it was the novelization of the movie based on my hero, Nik-Uhernik's, series of books from the 80's, entitled "War Dogs." Wrong. It's just about some Loser Dopers from Miami who tried to rip off the US Army and ended up going to jail. Clowns.
-Jack Hawkins

This is a great read! The Rolling Stone article was incredible but the book really opens your eyes to how your tax dollars are spent and how the arms business functions-from negotiation to acquisition and logistics of delivery. Guy Lawson's style is both stimulating and engaging. I had to hold myself back from reading too fast as I couldn't wait to find out what happens next! The characters' ingenuity and ability to overcome the most incredible of odds never fails to fascinate. Worth two three to reads and is most certainly a classic in the little known but unbelievably fascinating world of the arms trade! I would rate it with more stars if possible! This is my wife Lucy's account but she was kind enough to let me make use of it! Again, a great read!-Bob Silverman, Troy, Michigan.

Guy Lawson is hilarious. He tells the bizarre story of these great Miami Beach characters deadpan, with very little editorializing. Meanwhile, you're learning all about the international arms trade. The book makes you want to find out more about Lawson's views on the whole thing. Maybe John Stewart or his replacement, Trevor Noah, will get to ask him.

An article-worthy piece posing as a book. With better research and tighter writing, this could have been a great commentary on the contractors-gone-wild era of GWOT fiasco. Instead it's a snapshot of a couple of wannabes working the system's weak spots.

Amazing that this story could be true. Very worrisome that our government allows this. Two druggy post-teens became high-flying arms dealers. It's mindboggling and scary. We think our governments is run by competent people who are keeping us safe. We need to reevaluate.

Fantastic book! You just can't believe the chuckleheads in the Bush Administration who let something like this happen. A black comedy in both the best (writing standpoint) and worst (government standpoint) sense.

Read the real book by the Legend himself Efraim Diveroli "ONCE A GUN RUNNER'....amazing story I couldn't put it down. Efraim says the Real story and how he landed a 300 million dollar deal at the age of 21

Horribly boring,I can usually crank 40-50 pages an hour in a book i really like given the time.But it took me 3 days to break 100 pages.The characters are so unlikable and so totally idiotic that i could not give a rats behind about anything they did or were trying to do.The author literally goes day by day and up to a point that is important to lay the groundwork for the story and I get that.But one inept moment after another gets mighty tedious.I know it's a great story but i will wait for the movie.I have rarely never finshed a book but I am not going to fight with the book if i don't care about the people in it.