Book
Horse soldiers : the extraordinary story of a band of U.S. soldiers who rode to victory in Afghanistan
Record details
- ISBN: 9781416580522 (pbk.)
- ISBN: 9781416580515
-
Physical Description:
xvi, 393 p., [8] p. of plates : ill., map ; 24 cm.
print - Edition: First Scribner hardcover ed.
- Publisher: New York : Scribner, 2009.
Content descriptions
| General Note: | Includes bibliography p. 383-393. |
| Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references (p. 383-393). |
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Available copies
- 6 of 6 copies available at BC Interlibrary Connect. (Show)
- 1 of 1 copy available at Prince Rupert Library.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 6 total copies.
Other Formats and Editions
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prince Rupert Library | 958.1047 Stan (Text) | 33294001675321 | Adult Non-Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
More information
- Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 2009 March #1
An action-packed, breathless account of American special-forces heroics that helped defeat the Taliban in the months after 9/11.Stanton (In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors, 2001) apparently belongs to the history-is-boring school of writing, so he converts his material into a dime-novel narrative complete with strong-jawed American heroes, sneering villains, colorful natives and a relentless series of melodramatic cliff-hangersâan odd authorial choice, given that the plain facts are irresistible. Enraged at the Taliban's refusal to hand over Osama bin Laden after 9/11, the United States resolved to invade Afghanistan. When military leaders realized it would take months to move soldiers to the distant, landlocked nation, they sent small numbers of elite Special Forces to support opposition fighters, guide precision air attacks and bribe local warlords to join. It worked brilliantly. Stanton recounts the lives of a dozen such soldiers and undercover CIA operatives, revealing their emotions and thoughts, quoting inner monologues and inventing dialogue to dramatize events. He invents similar scenarios for many Afghan figures and for John Walker Lindh, the American who fought for the Taliban. Using diplomatic skills, money, airdropped supplies and high-tech communications equipment, the soldiers inspired Afghan forces, who did almost all the fighting, to unite and crush the Taliban. In the final pages Stanton admits that America squandered this dazzling triumph. Happily proclaiming victory, the administration turned its attention elsewhere as Afghanistan descended into chaos from which the Taliban emerged again to control most of the country.Dumbed-down history delivered in purple prose. Copyright Kirkus 2009 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved. - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 2009 June #2
In the heady days immediately after the American invasion of Afghanistan, a few hardy soldiers infiltrated the country's Taliban strongholds and fought a guerrilla war. They often used horses, worked with indigenous fighters, called in air strikes, and gathered vital intelligence. Their high point was the ousting of the Taliban from Mazar-i-sharif. A lively and exciting battle chronicle that will be popular.
[Page 84]. Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information. - PW Annex Reviews : Publishers Weekly Annex Reviews
In this absolutely riveting account, full of horror and raw courage, journalist Stanton (In Harm's Way) recreates the miseries and triumphs of specially trained mounted U.S. soldiers, deployed in the war-ravaged Afghanistan mountains to fight alongside the Northern Alliance-thousands of rag-tag Afghans who fought themselves to exhaustion or death-against the Taliban. The U.S. contingent, almost to a man, had never ridden horses-especially not these "shaggy and thin-legged, and short. descend[ents of] the beasts Genghis Khan had ridden out of Uzbekistan"-but that was not the only obstacle: rattling helicopters, outdated maps, questionable air support and insufficient food also played their parts. Stanton brings each soldier and situation to vivid life: "Bennett suddenly belted out: `It just keeps getting better and better!' Here they were, living on fried sheep and filtered ditchwater.calling in ops-guided bombs on bunkers built of mud and wood scrap, surrounded by Taliban fighters." In less than three months, this handful of troops secured a city in which a fort had been taken over by Taliban prisoners, a tangle of firefights and mayhem that became a seminal battle and, in Stanton's prose, a considerable epic: "Dead and dying men and wounded horses had littered the courtyard, a twitching choir that brayed and moaned in the rough, knee-high grass." (May) Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.
