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What It Is Like to Go to War

3.9 of 5 stars 3.90 · rating details · 1,235 ratings · 333 reviews

Karl Marlantes' 2010 debut Matterhorn was a Discover Great New Writers selection and a Barnes & Noble fiction bestseller. Now this former Marine Corps officer and Rhodes Scholar follows up that Vietnam war novel with an awe-striking nonfiction book about the experience of combat and its often traumatic aftermath. Drawing deeply on his own combat experiences, he describ

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ebook, 272 pages

Published August 30th 2011 by Atlantic Monthly Press

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Sep 02, 2011 K. Elizabeth rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This wasn't an easy read. But then, nothing about war is easy, much less the psychological and spiritual effects of war on our combat vets. This was as thought provoking, challenging, and emotionally draining as any solid book about war should be.

A few caveats to add context to my review of the book:

1) I won this book through Good Reads.
2) I am a civilian.
3) I am a US citizen.
4) I am an opponent of the vast majority of wars that we have participated in.
5) I am a counselor; the counseling p...more

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Jun 06, 2011 Susan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: arc-edition, e-books, history-biography-memoir, personal_memoir_biography, social-issues-or-commentary

The author of the popular Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War has turned his talents to writing a nonfiction book about his experiences in Vietnam, how present-day warriors are not trained to emotionally and spiritually deal with the jobs they physically must do, what we've done wrong, what we need to do better. He looks at the history of war and warriors in ancient cultures and mythology, and how the wars we fight are changing every day. He has advice for warriors, those who are serving now,...more

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Oct 07, 2012 Terri rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: modern-war, history-non-fiction, own, vietnam-war, american-military-and-foreign-polic

Probably go so far as to say there was some over intellectualising going on here, but that aside, this book gave me many a valuable moment as it unlocks much of Matterhorn. The Marlantes fiction/memoir.
Marlantes reveals in this non fiction book what you no doubt already suspected, that much of his fiction was based on truth and at times, danced very close to being an exact blow by blow of events.

Many who know me on Goodreads, know that I lay my heart on the table in my review of Karl Marlantes...more

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Feb 12, 2012 Kathryn rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads

"Matterhorn" was certainly a notable book, so I had to enter the giveaway for this one! Marlantes as usual did not disappoint, and the subject matter of his book is one that everyone should be deeply concerned about, especially with the high suicide rate for out returning soldiers.

Marlantes provides a riveting account of what it is like to be sent to war and points out how ill-prepared our young men are. Previous generations spent years preparing warriors. Modern Americans should and could do mo...more

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Feb 16, 2013 Judith rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My grandson has just left college for a term to do army Basic Training in Georgia. Thus I thought it imperative to read this book, and I'm glad I did. It gave me new respect and understanding for the young man who makes such a decision, and helps me to appreciate the tremendous attraction going to war has for some people. It also showed me some of the reasons the Vietnam War, in which the author was a young lieutenant, has left such a large and disturbing legacy of troubled veterans. It was a ha...more

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Sep 09, 2011 Jessica Buike rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads

What It is Like to Go to War by Karl Marlantes was a book that I won through Goodreads, and I was looking forward to reading it. My husband is an Army vet who spent time in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as on the Korea DMZ. I thought that perhaps the book would touch on war experiences of multiple soldiers and provide insight on how the war affects soldiers.

However, I found that I just couldn't get through this book. It read very slow with lofty psychological language (and I even have my BA in P...more

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Aug 23, 2011 Roxanne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was a Goodreads First Reads winner of this book and I was fortunate to have this book land in my possession.

First, I appreciate that the author is writing about something he knows first hand about. (I get upset when people write or talk about something they have never experienced.) I felt Marlantes' experience was explained appropriately and held my attention without being over the top in bloody details.

Second, I want to thank all veterans who have served our country in the past and pre-thank...more

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May 17, 2013 Allan MacDonell rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What It Is Like to Go to War made me happy for two things in my life: One, that I was not old enough to have been conscripted to the Vietnam war, and secondly that I am too old to have been tempted to enlist for the military escapades in Afghanistan or Iraq. Karl Marlantes’s qualifications for writing on combat and its aftermath on the human psyche are unassailable. He was in it. He has killed; his friends have been shot to pieces and suffered unspeakable agonies and perished at his side; battle...more What It Is Like to Go to War made me happy for two things in my life: One, that I was not old enough to have been conscripted to the Vietnam war, and secondly that I am too old to have been tempted to enlist for the military escapades in Afghanistan or Iraq. Karl Marlantes’s qualifications for writing on combat and its aftermath on the human psyche are unassailable. He was in it. He has killed; his friends have been shot to pieces and suffered unspeakable agonies and perished at his side; battle decisions he made resulted in the deaths of enemies and comrades alike. In contrast to Marlantes, I am absolutely unqualified to offer any insight to the psychological impact of performing as an individual killer among an army of government-sanctioned killers, while simultaneously being prey to an opposing army of sanctioned killers. I am wrong to judge any human who has been pinched by circumstances or drawn by ideals to join an endeavor the sole purpose of which is to spread destruction, suffering and death. Nonetheless, I know enough to recognize the vacuum-packed delusion in Marlantes’s contention that participation in a process that destroys the spirits of vast multitudes of innocent noncombatants is some form of spiritual exercise. Collateral damage alone calls bullshit on the assertion that the “warrior” is a glorious spiritual archetype (especially considering the spiritually bankrupt motivations and consequences of almost every lethal incursion the United States has committed since World War II). The author’s suggestion that U.S. warriors would be well served to receive spiritual indoctrination prior to being deployed to sow annihilation and/or be annihilated is grim, laughable, pie-in-the-sky sophistry. These inductees will be killing to defend a governing class that has no interest in educating its populace, or in providing it meaningful work or adequate health coverage, and is apathetic to the fact that literally millions of its citizens miss meals on a daily basis or are housed in brutal imprisonment. Still, the reader is asked to believe that this governing class might plausibly display an interest in preserving the spirit and soul of the soldiers it sends to do its soul-sucking, spirit-crushing dirty work…. Marlantes is smarter than I am, tougher, more disciplined and earnest, better intentioned and less flinching in revealing unsavory aspects of himself, all qualities I admire in a human, but that war really fucked up the way he thinks.(less)

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May 12, 2013 Leon rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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In 1968, at the age of 22, Karl Marlantes abandoned his Oxford University scholarship to sign up for active service with the US Marine Corps in Vietnam. Pitched into a war that had no defined military objective other than kill ratios and body counts, what he experienced over the next thirteen months in the jungles of South East Asia shook him to the core. But what happened when he came home covered with medals was almost worse. It took Karl four decades to come to terms with what had really happened, during the course of which he painstakingly constructed a fictionalized version of his war, MATTERHORN, which has subsequently been hailed as the definitive Vietnam novel. WHAT IT IS LIKE TO GO TO WAR takes us back to Vietnam, but this time there is no fictional veil. Here are the hard-won truths that underpin MATTERHORN: the author's real-life experiences behind the book's indelible scenes. But it is much more than this. It is part exorcism of Karl's own experiences of combat, part confession, part philosophical primer for the young man about to enter combat. It It is also a devastatingly frank answer to the questions 'What is it like to be a soldier?' What is it like to face death?' and 'What is it like to kill someone?'

Amazon.com Review

Amazon Best Books of the Month, September 2011: With unflinching honesty, bestselling author Karl Marlantes captures What It Is Like to Go to War in his compassionate, powerful narrative on Vietnam. Marlantes does not shy away from recounting experiences that, outside the arena of war, are horrifying or embarrassing and addresses a soldier’s self-imposed “code of silence” as an attempt to fit back in to a society that “simply wants us to shut up about all of this.” While American pop culture celebrates the warrior spirit and winning the battle, “reconciling the moral conduct we are taught…with the brutal acts we do in war has been a problem for warriors of good conscience for centuries.” Marlantes tempers the brutal truths of fear, power games, and courage with a thoughtful prescription for our soldiers’ well-being; caring for our soldiers and their families differently will benefit society as a whole. In What It Is Like to Go to War, Marlantes sets a new standard for understanding the experience of war. --Seira Wilson

Review

“Karl Marlantes has written a staggeringly beautiful book on combat—what it feels like, what the consequences are and above all, what society must do to understand it. In my eyes he has become the preeminent literary voice on war of our generation. He is a natural storyteller and a deeply profound thinker who not only illuminates war for civilians, but also offers a kind of spiritual guidance to veterans themselves. As this generation of warriors comes home, they will be enormously helped by what Marlantes has written—I’m sure he will literally save lives.”—Sebastian Junger

“Marlantes brings candor and wrenching self-analysis to bear on his combat experiences in Vietnam, in a memoir-based meditation whose intentions are three-fold: to help soldiers-to-be understand what they’re in for; to help veterans come to terms with what they’ve seen and done; and to help policymakers know what they’re asking of the men they send into combat.”—The New Yorker

“What It Is Like to Go to War is a well-crafted and forcefully argued work that contains fresh and important insights into what it’s like to be in a war and what it does to the human psyche.”—The Washington Post

“Marlantes is the best American writer right now on war . . . With What It Is Like to Go to War a second Marlantes book resides on the top shelf of American literature.”—Anthony Swofford, author of Jarhead

“What It Is Like to Go to War ought to be mandatory reading by potential infantry recruits and by residents of any nation that sends its kids—Marlantes’s word—into combat.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“In this thoughtful, literate work of self-exorcism, Marlantes tells tales of incredible bravery as well as brutality.”—People Magazine

“A precisely crafted and bracingly honest book."—The Atlantic

“Marlantes knows what he writes. . . Raw, unsettling honesty pervades the work.”—Time.com

“Marlantes has written a sparklingly provocative nonfiction book. . . He is an exceptional writer and his depictions here are vivid.”—BookPage

“A gripping, first-person plea to consider the impact on the human spirit of being a soldier.”—Huffington Post

“To say that this book is brilliant is an understatement—Marlantes is the absolute master of taking the psyche of the combat veteran and translating it into words that the civilian or non-veteran can understand. I have read many, many books on war and this is the first time that I've ever read exactly what the combat veteran thinks and feels—nothing I have ever read before has hit home in my heart like this book.”—Gunnery Sergeant Terence D’Alesandro, 3rd Batallion, 5th Marines, U.S. Marine Corps

“Wrenchingly honest. . . . Digging as deeply into his own life as he does into the larger sociological and moral issues, Marlantes presents a riveting, powerfully written account of how, after being taught to kill, he learned to deal with the aftermath.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A valiant effort to explain and make peace with war’s awesome consequences for human beings.”—Kirkus Reviews

“What It Is Like to Go to War offers profound insight on how we must prepare our youth who become our warriors for their hard and uncompromising journey through war’s hell and back home again.”—Vietnam Magazine

“With war such a part of contemporary American life, this book is deeply important, as timely and urgent as contemporary on-the-ground reporting from Afghanistan and Iraq.”—The Minneapolis Star Tribune

“A sound debunking of anything smacking of the glory of warfare—but written with compassion, honest and wit for men and now women who fight and for all of those who care about them.”—St. Louis Dispatch

“A slim spiritual guide. . . Marlantes’s book is a sincere plea for better soldiers and veterans.”—Seattle Weekly

“What It Is Like to Go to War is a courageous, noble and intelligent grapple with myth, history, and spirituality that beautifully elevates the cultural conversation on the role of the military in today’s world. It is an emotional, honest, and affecting primer for all Americans on war and the national psyche, and we ignore this book at our own peril.”—Ed Conklin, Chaucer’s Books, Santa Barbara

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Feb 03, 2013 Jeff rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biographies, non-fiction

I highly recommend it to any reader. It's not just a book about a combat veteran telling his story, it's about how to overcome adversity and pain in your life and overcome it.

One of the best parts of the book was when he wrote about how he had a "Death Mass" in a church that help liberate him from his guilt and pain from the Vietnam War.

It should most certainly should be read by every combat veteran and every in coming serviceman and woman in the military. It'd be a good book for Police Officers...more

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Oct 19, 2012 Chuck rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I found "What It is Like to Go to War" by Karl Marlantes a most unexpected treasure. I had purchased it expecting to read of the human experience in combat. (As opposed to historical, tactical, or strategic studies.) I did find some of that, but much more.

Marlantes was a Marine Lieutenant during the Vietnam War. Well educated (Yale, Rhodes Scholar) and quite literate, he writes about his journey to understand his experiences, the after-effects, and his reaction to his service in Vietnam.

In doin...more

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Sep 18, 2012 Chris rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Another audiobook I downloaded on a whim from my public library. (Hooray, government!) This book is a reflection on war written by a Vietnam veteran. The author has clearly put in the work to understand his experiences, and to think through the many moral and sociological questions raised by warfare. A large part of this work is a reflection on how to be a soldier who does not lose one's humanity or morality, but still does the job needed. Marlantes is neither anti-war nor a war hawk. He underst...more Another audiobook I downloaded on a whim from my public library. (Hooray, government!) This book is a reflection on war written by a Vietnam veteran. The author has clearly put in the work to understand his experiences, and to think through the many moral and sociological questions raised by warfare. A large part of this work is a reflection on how to be a soldier who does not lose one's humanity or morality, but still does the job needed. Marlantes is neither anti-war nor a war hawk. He understands and supports the need of a solider to violently defeat the enemy, while also making suggestions for how that soldier can maintain their integrity and humanity. On the civic side he argues that the citizens of a country need to take full accountability for their military engagements, supporting the soldiers who go, and recognizing just what they are asking those soldiers to do on their behalf.

Marlantes talks a lot of philosophy and spirituality in this book. He mixes Christianity, germanic mythology, and Jungian psychology (among other things) in his attempt to understand human needs and spiritual growth. All of that will undoubtedly annoy people from many different backgrounds, but I found it interesting despite not sharing his pluralistic spirituality.

I'd definitely recommend this book for people who think about warfare and its consequences. It's a thoughtful work written by someone who fought in, and spent years trying to recover from, one of America's most brutal conflicts. The author does tell many accounts of his experience in Vietnam, some heroic, some harrowing, and some candid reports of his own darkest actions. But this is not a war memoir as much as it is an attempt to understand and educate. His insights on particular concepts, such as how Vietnam war objectives encouraged a culture of lying in the army, are truly thought-provoking. Also, I have made some personal decisions about how to respond when I come into contact with soldiers as a result of this book.(less)

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Aug 07, 2012 Ben Kane rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm a sucker for books about war, or the effect that war has on people. Until I saw this book, I had never heard of Karl Marlantes. I mentioned this on Twitter soon after starting it, and was deluged with people recommending that I read his book, Matterhorn - called by many 'the best novel written about Vietnam'. Reel back to when I picked up What It Is Like To Go To War. I was hooked within a page. Good enough reason to buy, so I bought it, and read it all in about 24 hours.

This is a great piec...more I'm a sucker for books about war, or the effect that war has on people. Until I saw this book, I had never heard of Karl Marlantes. I mentioned this on Twitter soon after starting it, and was deluged with people recommending that I read his book, Matterhorn - called by many 'the best novel written about Vietnam'. Reel back to when I picked up What It Is Like To Go To War. I was hooked within a page. Good enough reason to buy, so I bought it, and read it all in about 24 hours.

This is a great piece of writing. Marlantes survived the hell of Vietnam, where he served as a Marine Corps officer, fighting in the most awful conditions, killing Viet Cong, losing his own men, and winning a large number of medals for bravery. When he came back to the USA, it's not surprising that he had been deeply, permanently scarred by his experiences. It took him several decades, but he worked his way out of the hell of PTSD. This book is about his journey from that hell, and his opinions on how modern armies could better equip the soldiers of today to face what will happen to them when they are thrown into the white hot, unforgiving cauldron of war. In a world where men can kill their enemies by sitting at a computer screen and clicking a mouse, before going home to their wives/girlfriends and families, there is no space for contemplation, no room for the mind and psyche to process what has been done.

As Marlantes says, this is not a good thing. War has been brought so close to 'ordinary' life, and yet the average person in the street still wants to know nothing about its terrible reality. Marlantes offers humane and sane alternatives in his book, which I believe would greatly help those who otherwise often come back to the real world as damaged individuals. He should be applauded for this magnificent effort, but I fear that it will be many years before any government implements these kind of processes. Sadly, and despite the trite words offered by politicians, soldiers are all too often expendable units to be used in poorly thought out wars that have no clearly laid out endgame. In this, nothing has changed in more than 2,000 years.(less)

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Jul 23, 2012 Franz rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm not sure how to describe this book. It is must reading for anyone who considers sending warriors into battle. In America, that would be all of us.

To say that it is a meditation on war and warriors does not do it justice. It's evident that for Marlantes, writing about his experiences as a young Marine lieutenant in Vietnam was a spiritual and psychological exercise. But more than that, he warns us how ill-prepared our warriors are spiritually, psychologically, and morally for the horrors of w...more

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Apr 14, 2012 Brooks rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this as the third book in a war trilogy which included O’Brian’s, “The Things They Carried” and Junger’s “War”. This was the final book that provided the context and explanation of the first two books. Marlantes is a Yale Rhodes Scholar and Navy Cross awarded Marine. It has taken him fifty years to be able to have the perspective on his experience and wants desperately to help those who will need to fight future wars. He is able to provide an abstract view of war using the metaphor of the...more

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Apr 09, 2012 Helen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this because my husband spoke highly of it, and I was reading a lot of Vietnam/Laos/Cambodian books at the time, and thought this might add yet another perspective to my knowledge of the American war in Vietnam. I'd just read De Mille's 'Up Country', which is a marvellous piece of historical fiction based on a protagonist US vet who returns to Vietnam some years after the war to do some 'mop up' work for the US government. So, with my appetite whetted for Vietnam (and on the brink of trav...more

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Mar 28, 2012 Colette Guerin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was thought provoking and heart wrenching. I am a huge fan of Joseph Campbell and I thought it was excellent how he wove in the mythology and the transformation of the hero. We do not bring our best assets back to us fully transformed. It is something that takes time if not a lifetime and our military deserves our best. Ancient stories ring true.

I recommend watching the Bill Moyers interviews with Joseph Campbell before reading this book. (Netflix) It will give you a greater understanding o...more

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Feb 26, 2012 Timothy Bazzett rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As one of tens of thousands of readers who read and marveled at Karl Marlantes' best-selling novel of the Vietnam war, MATTERHORN, and wondered either privately or publicly how he managed to write such a viscerally real, honest and gut-wrenching fictional account of that war, here is our answer. Or at least Marlantes' attempt to answer that question. Because this "follow-up" book, WHAT IT IS LIKE TO GO TO WAR, reads like a cross between a psychological and sociological inquiry into the hell that...more As one of tens of thousands of readers who read and marveled at Karl Marlantes' best-selling novel of the Vietnam war, MATTERHORN, and wondered either privately or publicly how he managed to write such a viscerally real, honest and gut-wrenching fictional account of that war, here is our answer. Or at least Marlantes' attempt to answer that question. Because this "follow-up" book, WHAT IT IS LIKE TO GO TO WAR, reads like a cross between a psychological and sociological inquiry into the hell that is war and a personal examination of conscience. Marlantes lays bare his soul in this volume, or perhaps as close as one can come to doing this.

The chapter headings in the book say it all: Killing, Guilt, Numbness and Violence, Lying, Loyalty, Heroism, and Home. Marlantes investigates thoroughly every aspect of what it was like for him and thousands of other young men who were torn from home and family, trained to kill and then thrust precipitously across an ocean and into an unforgiving jungle world filled with other young men who were trying to kill them.

Although Marlantes also attempts to put the Vietnam combat experience into a larger historical context going all the way back to the Greeks and Mars the god of war, it is when he tells of his own personal agonies and fleeting madness in the heat of battle that he is most effective and touches the reader most deeply. And it is in the chapter on heroism that this comes through in the most profound way, when he tells of the specific events that earned him some of the highest medals, awards he's not sure he really earned, considering so many other he knew of who did and sacrificed so much and were never decorated at all.
One of his exploits which earned him a medal involved trying to rescue one of his men who had been wounded, crawling and firing up a hill under a machine gun barrage, then dragging and rolling with the man back down a hill where the man died, "a neat hole in the top of [his] skull." Decades later, Marlantes remembers that hole, and still wrestles with guilt and crippling doubt.

"He had been lying head down toward me. The bullet went into the top of his head. I could have put it there myself when I was trying to keep the machine gun fire down as I crawled toward him. I'll never know."

And later, in the chapter called "Home," Marlantes summarizes what so many returning veterans no doubt felt in those years, with no little bitterness and anger - "To me, and to my parents, I'd been gone an eternity; to everyone else, a flash. This is no one's fault. Life is busy and full."

I can remember how I felt coming home from the army after nearly three years away and people I knew acting surprised that I'd even been gone. But I was a Cold War veteran who never saw combat, so it's hard for me to imagine how such a reaction would have felt to someone who had undergone horrendous living conditions in a faraway jungle, risked life and limb and been wounded multiple times. In fact Marlantes didn't just get casual indifference from people; he got rejection and outright hostility. Indeed he even recalls having his uniform spit on by a woman on a train. Such were the sixties.

There have been countless personal narratives detailing the Vietnam war experience. Two of the best that immediately come to mind are Philip Caputo's A RUMOR OF WAR and Robert Mason's CHICKENHAWK. But Karl Marlantes has spent most of his life trying to figure out exactly what happened to him in Vietnam, going over it and over it and over it again. Finally he gave birth to a most moving and enormously successful novel, MATTERHORN. In this new book, WHAT IT IS LIKE TO GO TO WAR, he finally explains his own personal experiences and the absolute hell that war has always been and how it can destroy lives. It's a pity that politicians don't make time to read books like these. Perhaps they would not be so quick to rush into wars. I hope, finally, that Marlantes has managed to expiate some of his own personal demons and doubts by writing. He deserves a separate peace. He has earned it.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER(less)

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Jan 19, 2012 Joe rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was a huge fan of Marlantes' MATTERHORN, which is one of the Great War Novels, up there with NAKED AND THE DEAD, THE THINGS THEY CARRIED (which is, I know, a collection of stories), CATCH 22 and SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE. I admired this work of non-fiction from Marlantes and found a lot of interesting and often powerful insights into what it means to be a soldier. Most of the book is an outstanding meditation on not just war but what it's like to be a human being. The aspect of it that kept it from...more

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Jan 06, 2012 Jason rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Marlantes, a Yale grad and Rhodes Scholar, is a thoughtful man. I read this because I also plan at some point to read his novel Matterhorn about the Vietnam War. There are not too many books in this genre of deep reflection on the nature of war from a personal perspective rather than the usual rote recitation of movements, tactics, and strategy. Others that are similar include J Glenn Gray's The Warriors: Reflections on Men in Battle (WW II) and, more recently, Nathanial Fick's One Bullet Away:...more

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Dec 17, 2011 Scott rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

By far the best part of Karl Marlantes' massive Vietnam War novel Matterhorn of a few years ago was the way he evoked the everyday, obviously often horrific details of what fighting and living and dying in the jungle was really like. So when What It's Like to Go to War came out, and Amazon gave it a "best of whatever-month" award, I thought, excellent, more of the same, but now as a memoir. The result: sort of. In this much slimmer, MUCH more pseudo-philosophical essay-ish book, Marlantes does i...more

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Oct 30, 2011 Shaun rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is an amazing book, which describes quite articulately, what it's like to go to war. It is very insightful to military personnel and civilian alike. I would highly recommend this book to all people if you are a soldier, know a soldier, or have a cause like freedom that may at sometime need to be defended by a soldier. The author served as a platoon leader in Vietnam and had to make some pretty serious decisions and saw lots of bloody combat. He goes into detail about what it's like to put o...more

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Oct 26, 2011 Philip Virta rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I appreciate Mr. Marlantes' book and how it puts the human experience of war in context. Everyone should have to read this book and get a better understanding of what we ask our soldiers to do, to commit to. Perhaps then there would be a bit more compassion and support for soldiers at home, in the field, and those just returning. For someone who has, thankfully and especially thanks to soldiers like Mr. Marlantes, never had to go to war, I appreciate the perspective he provides. His book offers...more

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Oct 09, 2011 Jsavett1 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a really interesting book. I read much of Marlantes's novel Matterhorn and though disturbing found it to be a well written and thoughtful account of war. This book, being his non-fiction entre into this topic is an easier and shorter read, but for me, more compelling. Marlantes's honesty and meta-cognition is unflinching here; he may be afraid to but is not unwilling to admit that he got quite a rush of of some parts of war, that that rush was intoxicating and that denying this is a deep...more

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Sep 15, 2011 Readnponder rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Last summer I read the novel "Matterhorn" and it made a deep impression on me. So did this second book by Karl Marlantes. It is non-fiction and half the length of "Matterhorn." The first sobering moment was the realization that much of "Matterhorn" was true. No longer could I comfort myself by saying "it's just a story." As Marlantes writes about his real-life experiences, the reader will recognize scenes from "Matterhorn." For example, the Canadian soldier "Vancouver" was a real person. When th...more

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Sep 06, 2011 Jackie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 5-star, books-i-think-i-should-read, formative, hmmmmmmmm, nonfiction, work-review-related-reading

I've met Karl Marlantes a couple of times now, and each time I've been deeply impressed with his intense intelligence, his ability to tell a story, and his bravery to talk so very honestly about war, what he did in it, what he got out of it, and what he wishes were different, then and now. This book is very much like having a long conversation (albeit with footnotes) with the man himself. He opens up about everything which requires a depth of bravery that far surpasses that of a traditional warr...more

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Feb 02, 2013 Jenny rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I figured since I'll never go to war I'd read it to help me be a better friend to some of my friends who have been, or will be going to war.

But as I read it, I'm struck with the similarities between ER nursing at times, and the kind of intense situations that occur (internally, spiritually, intellectually, morally) in combat. This quote helps explain why I don't need or even enjoy being praised by management at times after a really difficult shift:

"I now don't blame those who were cheering. They...more

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Jan 02, 2012 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, 2012

“Wanting a medal in a war is just killing yourself at a faster pace, for all the same wrong reasons.” (re: wanting a bigger job, house, more accolades, etc.)

This book is less about the physical aspects of war (though there is that) and more about the mental and emotional. Though I’m not one to care about moving this company in such-and-such vehicle up blah-blah-blah pass the explanations Marlantes gives about the mindset of and emotional toll on soldiers, particularly those of the Vietnam War, a...more “Wanting a medal in a war is just killing yourself at a faster pace, for all the same wrong reasons.” (re: wanting a bigger job, house, more accolades, etc.)

This book is less about the physical aspects of war (though there is that) and more about the mental and emotional. Though I’m not one to care about moving this company in such-and-such vehicle up blah-blah-blah pass the explanations Marlantes gives about the mindset of and emotional toll on soldiers, particularly those of the Vietnam War, are startling and profound. If you’ve ever been judgmental about the “types” of people who become soldiers then this will change your mind. He draws many parallels between the vagaries of war/combat/the military and things the average civilian does/feels. One interesting point he makes is about how similar war is to religion. We all know religious beliefs can cause wars, but it is a different connection he makes.

There are some emotionally gripping parts that take place completely off the battlefield. One scene he retells near the end of the book had me bawling so hard I had to put the book down. And this occurred several decades after the end of the war. Also, I didn’t fully appreciate just how ostracized vets were when they returned. The war was obviously highly unpopular but there were restaurants that had signs reading “no military,” to name one of the minor things. That blew my mind. And my father was in Vietnam!

Marlantes does an excellent job explaining the dichotomy that must go on in a soldier and he really invokes how hard it is to assimilate once returned. He also does a fascinating assessment of how warfare has changed, even just since Vietnam.

The author poses a lot of theories and suggestions, most of these very interesting and seemingly brilliant. It gets a little long on the fables/myth aspects and I must confess any hardcore fighting scenes were hard for me to get through. It’s not all told in a scholarly manner, however, He is brutally honest about his own foibles and wayward ways without this seeming like a “memoir” (which it’s not, not really).

I’m not “into” the military. I’m not even sure why I picked this book up. It’s unforgettable and profound (I realize I already used that word once in this review) and should be required reading, really, for any American. (less)

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Jun 18, 2012 Luke Sineath added it · review of another edition

Shelves: war

Very thought-provoking. Not having been in war, I can't testify to its accuracy, but many of his observations seem consistent with what I've read in war diaries and memoirs: that war is pretty terrible and can change you. However, Mansur Abdulin, in "Red Road to Stalingrad" says it all pretty succinctly. The most important things for a soldier, he wrote, are to be fed, to know why he's fighting, and to respect his commander. There seem like important central insights, especially the second. Marl...more

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Mar 21, 2012 Mark Schlatter rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: new_book_area, shreve

Interesting read for a pacifist....

What impresses me about the book is Marlantes' focus on the spiritual side of war. He argues that many of the facets of combat (e.g., attention on the now, a heightened sense of community, etc.) are similar to those of experiences of spiritual transcendance. The major difference being the the view: the mystics see heaven, the warriors hell.

I think the strength of the book is Marlantes' willingness to acknowledge all the psychological impacts of war on the sold...more

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About Karl Marlantes

A graduate of Yale University and a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, Karl Marlantes served as a Marine in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Navy Cross, the Bronze Star, two Navy Commendation medals for valor, two Purple Hearts, and ten air medals. He is the author of Matterhorn, which won the William E. Colby Award given by the Pritzker Military Library, the Center For Fiction's Flaherty-Dunna...more

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“We mistakenly assume that bodily survival has a higher precedence than ego survival. This is simply not generally true. Ego will happily destroy the body for its own sake. Look at overweight executives headed for heart attacks on the way to getting their pictures in Fortune or anorexic models suffering slow starvation on their way to getting their pictures in Vogue. Protecting ego is the general case.” — 4 people liked it

“War is society's dirty work, usually done by kids cleaning up failures perpetrated by adults.” — 4 people liked it

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