The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan

by Michael Hastings (Goodreads Author)

3.97 of 5 stars 3.97 · rating details · 473 ratings · 93 reviews

General Stanley McChrystal, the innovative, forward-thinking commanding general of international and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, was living large. He was better known to some as Big Stan, M4, Stan, and his loyal staff liked to call him a "rock star." During a spring 2010 trip across Europe to garner additional allied help for the war effort, McChrystal was accompanied by j...more

Hardcover, 432 pages

Published January 5th 2012 by Blue Rider Press (first published June 1st 2011)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Best Books of 2012

453rd out of 2,635 books — 7,525 voters

Banshee in the Well by Robin Lovejoy-Tolkien

Love and the Art of War by Dinah Lee Küng

Best books of January, 2012

24th out of 97 books — 209 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 1,250)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Jan 05, 2012 Dave Cullen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Wow. I plunged into this book now, and it's electrifying.

The writing is so crisp, candid and insightful. He rips back the curtain and takes us inside this world, of senior military in a war zone in the Middle East.

The stories are incredible but it's the voice that really hit me. Kind of revelatory, actually. He's setting a new benchmark for this generation of writers. I don't say that lightly.

Go get this book now.

like 7 likes · see review

Mar 17, 2013 Jessica Bruckert added it · review of another edition

The man whose writing you hate to love - Rolling Stone's Michael Hastings (whose infamous article was responsible for the dethroning of until then untouchable General Stanley McChrystal) - is back at it with a complete expose of the "operators" at the helm of the war in Afghanistan. While it's clear Hastings enjoys the inflammatory and controversial - with little thought to the consequence of what he's writing - it's exactly this which makes what he pens all the more intriguing and delicious to...more

like · see review

Jan 18, 2013 John rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hastings gives a deep, ground-level view of his time traveling with one-time commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Stanley McChrystal. He also gives a higher level overview of some of the politics behind various diplomats and commanding officers coming and going from Afghanistan in the first days of the Obama administration.

Hastings' weakness as a writer is the occasional need to spell out references in humorlessly exact detail. He can't mention that McChrystal's plane goes by "Ocean 11" with...more

like · see review

Jan 01, 2013 Justin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Anyone in the military or government, or any other relatively high profile job, could learn very valuable lessons from this book. Namely...

(1) All reporters are ratfinks. Do not/not talk to the press.

Also, policy makers and military officers could also learn important secondary lessons from this book, such as:

(2) All reporters are ratfinks. Do not/not talk to the press. Never. Ever. Ever.

Apparently General McChrystal skipped Julius Caesar, or for that matter any Shakespeare, or say, the New Tes...more Anyone in the military or government, or any other relatively high profile job, could learn very valuable lessons from this book. Namely...

(1) All reporters are ratfinks. Do not/not talk to the press.

Also, policy makers and military officers could also learn important secondary lessons from this book, such as:

(2) All reporters are ratfinks. Do not/not talk to the press. Never. Ever. Ever.

Apparently General McChrystal skipped Julius Caesar, or for that matter any Shakespeare, or say, the New Testament Gospels. Otherwise he might have been a little more scrupulous about letting some half-cocked rock and roll Judas reporter inside the circle-of-trust. Hastings' fig-leaf apologia is transparently self-serving, and I had the feeling even the author was more than a little embarrassed by his own amoral betrayal of people who (unwisely) trusted him.

Surprise! McChrystal is a little bit of a cowboy. There are essentially two archetypes of General Officers (perhaps, very unfairly), paper-pushing martinets and Patton-esque, good ole boy Cowboys. Both equally dangerous to the average Boot trooper in their own way. In this work, Hastings places McChrystal firmly in the Cowboy camp. McChrystal and his entourage quickly paid the price for the cardinal sin, drunkenly questioning the wisdom and intelligence of their superiors (apparently the first soldiers to do so) in a time of war.

Nevertheless, I awarded the book five stars. Why, you ask?

Because the S.O.B. Hastings can write, and write well. And write well on the absurdity of War, which is not a particularly common literary virtue. War is equal parts abhorrent and surreal, subtlety horrifying even at its most mundane. For my Pog money, not since "Imperial Life in the Emerald City" has an author so perfectly encapsulated the absurdity of War, the gonzo juxtaposition of bureaucracy and death.

Don't misunderstand me, this review is not meant to be some half-baked political indictment of this War, or any specific war, merely a reflection on War as a tragic, but persistent, phenomenon of the Human condition. As the old saying goes (attributed to Plato), "Only the dead have seen the last of war." So in the last days of General McChrystal, the new way of Technowar - with its predator drones and attendant PsyOps - bears little resemblance to the ancient horror faced by Socrates or Xenophon, but it nevertheless remains (perhaps, even more so) through-the-looking-glass nonsensical. For all the very evident flaws of both McCrystal and Hastings, this book does an exceptionally eloquent job of capturing that experience in amber.(less)

like · see review

Oct 28, 2012 Stephen Dorman rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviews

Tells the tale of Stan McChrystal's appointment as head of ISAF for Afghanistan. Less uncritically jingoistic than Filkins but not especially insightful about the war or Afghanistan. Nor, in all honesty, is it especially insightful about the decision-making process in McChrystal's command. He makes much of his "access" but McChrystal and his team actually maintain their various security standards.

Good as an undemanding, easily-paced, introduction to the war in Afghanistan, the deeply flawed nat...more

like · see review

Apr 17, 2012 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: afghanistan

I didn't realize when I requested this book it was by the "infamous" Rolling Stone reporter Michael Hastings. I had to overcome my initial feelings of disdain for this guy who got McChrystal fired. But it was McChrystal who got himself fired, not Hastings. Hastings did his job and this book reads like Bob Woodward's book or Megan Stack's "Every Man in this Village is a Liar." It's visceral, penetrating, and page turning. Hastings is no wimp nor a wallflower. Once when McChrystal's staff is tryin...more

like 1 like · see review

Apr 16, 2012 mark rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: young men & women

Shelves: nonfiction, war

We (American humans) in general, don’t like reality—to think about it (For example: death & the fact that we are going to die.) until it slaps us in the face. This book by Michael Hastings, which is the story behind the article in Rolling Stone, “The Runaway General,” that led to the resignation of Four Star General Stanley McChrystal, the man leading the American war in Afghanistan, is that—a slap in the face and a big dose of reality. Hastings exposes the war, and the men who administer an...more We (American humans) in general, don’t like reality—to think about it (For example: death & the fact that we are going to die.) until it slaps us in the face. This book by Michael Hastings, which is the story behind the article in Rolling Stone, “The Runaway General,” that led to the resignation of Four Star General Stanley McChrystal, the man leading the American war in Afghanistan, is that—a slap in the face and a big dose of reality. Hastings exposes the war, and the men who administer and fight it, for what and who they truly are. Having said that, I’ll say this: The Truth is not going to change anyone’s mind or effect ‘our’ participation in this war or future wars. But it can do this: If you are a young man of fighting age, or a woman involved with said man, you might want to read this book and think about whether or not you fit the profile – meaning have you the ‘correct’ personality – that can successfully engage in war. Are you a “War Junkie?”

War is fun for some and hell for others. This war is not about freedom, or security, for America – though many folks do tell themselves that to justify it, to make their selves feel good. This war is a continuation of tribal conflicts that have been going on inside of Afghanistan since forever. It’s about what men always fight about – resources (including women and children) and power and status. And we’re in it because … well that’s another story. War also is very profitable for some – there is a lot of money to be made – and some folks get very rich. On both sides of any war. That’s part of the fun – all that cash being passed around. Whose money is it? That’s another part of the reality that people don’t like to think about. In addition, almost everyone is complicit in this violent, titillating adventure. This is another truth Hastings exposes—that the media: the war correspondents, the TV stations, the newspapers, the magazines, the book publishers, are all a part of the program of “selling the war,” which is the general’s first responsibility. Then after that, he might think tactics—the nuts and bolts of how exactly he might go about “winning” the war. But then if he wins the war, he’s sort of out of a job. Unless there’s another one waiting to be waged out on the horizon. Some men love war. That’s what they do. That’s what they’re good at. And we make them into heroes, or “Superman.”

Here is my point, somewhat different from Hastings’s I think (His being to report what he saw and heard and maybe get one final big payday, because he’s probably screwed as a reporter now—for telling the truth.). Recent statistics on the current war show that one US fighting man dies every 36 hours in Afghanistan, and another commits suicide every 80 hours. Think about that before you sign on the dotted line.

War is not going to change. Hastings quotes another old war correspondent turned writer turned suicide, Ernest Hemingway, “‘ The most colossal, murderous, mismanaged butchery that has ever taken place on earth. Any writer who said otherwise lied. So writers either wrote propaganda, shut up, or fought.”’ (p. 189) So said the big male writer, the manly man.

(less)

like · see review

Feb 24, 2012 Pamela Saenger rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

I was kind of riveted by this book, not only because it pulled back the curtain to reveal some of the machinations behind this seemingly never-ending conflict that has become almost an abstraction to me and the rest of the American public, but because I was fascinated by the fact that generals have PR guys and entertain offers for magazine covers. It was refreshing to read candid reportage that laid bare the waste, misunderstanding, and mismanagement behind this war.

The fact that McChrystal was...more

like · see review

Feb 18, 2012 Micheal rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Concerned citizens, students of military history

Recommended to Micheal by: Michael Hastings on Bill Maher

I shudder with sadness and regret for Afghanistan, my own country and at my own naiveté.

I believed, that for the purpose of women to be able to get out from under the persecution and violence of an archaic culture, for children (girls) to be able to go to school, and for a populace to eventually live in a peaceful environment, that US presence in Afghanistan was just and necessary. The counter terrorism argument lost its validity with the ouster of Osama and the start of the Iraq war; but the p...more I shudder with sadness and regret for Afghanistan, my own country and at my own naiveté.

I believed, that for the purpose of women to be able to get out from under the persecution and violence of an archaic culture, for children (girls) to be able to go to school, and for a populace to eventually live in a peaceful environment, that US presence in Afghanistan was just and necessary. The counter terrorism argument lost its validity with the ouster of Osama and the start of the Iraq war; but the protection of an innocent and defenseless populace in a vacuum of security was justification to stay and oversee some sort of stability.

And so I believed (with eroding conviction) as we plodded through ten years of escalation, rife with lies and burgeoning evidence of atrocities. Civilians dying in record numbers, women still being killed and mutilated by cruel men, misguided by culture and religion. Marines video taping themselves pissing on the dead, others forming kill teams and targeting civilians, succumbing to the malaise and cruelty we were supposedly there to eliminate. Pat Tillman's death and the subsequent cover up. The over all lie that we've been making progress when in truth we've been propping up a corrupt government. Another Vietnam like experience (I studied the Vietnam war at length and have some familiarity with the many failures there).

I wasn't incredibly surprised by Michael Hastings revelations about McChrystal and his team. I served under him briefly in the eighties, and have a vague memory of him as a higher ranking officer while I was a Private. Im familiar with the behavior and attitudes that permeate macho culture under the covers, out of sight of the public. Imagine the high school football team able to exist in a perpetual locker room. I don't think that their actions and comments were even that shocking by themselves, but joined with events reported out of Afghanistan and Iraq in the last ten years, it points to an absence of mature leadership that i've come to believe is rampant throughout the military. The reason that a lower ranking soldiers gets it in their heads that it is somehow alright to disrespect other human beings with labels like "haji" or "gook", or torture them, is because the example of superiority and disrespect is enforced more strongly than that of respect and honorable behavior. The concept that its okay to lie as long as you're not caught is an example thats being set at the highest levels of civilian and military leadership. In the military, and particularly in elite units, the question asked of a prospective member is: "Do you have the intestinal fortitude to be here?" What isn't being asked is: "Do you have the moral fortitude to be here? Are you prepared for a violent, complex, and perhaps ambiguous mission?"

This seems to be our more crucial failing, one being perpetuated by an old school, frat boy like officer corp that doesn't appear adequate promoting the high ideals, the indoctrination if you will, that as American Servicemen we will set an example of respect and honor even towards our enemies. This is given lip service in the press with cultural interaction training given public attention, but once the soldiers get into the field and the hard realities of combat become pervasive, this sort of action loses priority. And leadership allows it to be so.

For more evidence of this read Sebastion Jungers Restrepo. There are countless other books available on the Afghanistan war, which along With Hastings book have led me to the disheartening conclusion that we have no business telling anyone how to conduct themselves or how to construct their society. Especially with our military, because when we join the fray, instead of projecting the aura of higher ground, we succumb to the baser instincts of human nature, excusing ourselves with claims that the enemy cuts heads off, tortures, and kills innocents, so the ends, no matter how brutal, justifies the means. That its war.

But like I said in the beginning of this rant, I have been naive.

To say I liked The Operators isn't quite accurate (it was painful). I was fascinated by, and interested in Stanley McChrystal, and fully supported him when he was espousing the protection of civilians on 60 minutes, much to the chagrin of the shoot first crowd. My opinion of him is different now, though not completely critical. Reading this book was like watching a train wreck thats been happening before my eyes even as I denied it. We couldn't have another quagmire like Vietnam...could we? The military doesn't still lie to us like it did back then...does it? The answer is yes and yes. Hastings sometimes irreverent style, which had me doubting him at first, was entertaining and ultimately set the right tone for the story being told. Well written and, I believe, objective, despite what his critics and those with disingenuous agendas have to say.

My heart breaks for the real losers of this war. The innocent women and children who will continue to live and die in misery as we draw down and eventually leave them to who knows what. All the young men, American and Afghan alike who are sucked into this war, losing life and limb and emotional stability; true pawns of an endless cycle of mediaeval myths, greed, corruption and violence that seems to know no end. The families who suffer in grief over an effort that ultimately shows no greater cause or meaning. The list is long....

and I despair.

(less)

like 5 likes · see review

Feb 13, 2012 Barry Eisler rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Operators covers, in excellent prose and with perfect pacing, three broad topics. First, the insanity and futility of America's war in Afghanistan. Second, the way decisions are made in Washington and at the Pentagon -- the bureaucratic battles, the petty resentments and one-upmanship, the alliances and betrayals. And third, the realities of journalism -- the tradeoffs journalists engage in between access and honesty, the way journalists allow themselves to be seduced and suborned by the pow...more

like 1 like · see review

Jan 30, 2012 Michel B. rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-reads

What to say. A story that needed to be told. Outrageous and shocking - but probably much more commonplace than we think. Just 3 stars though; mostly because of the style in which it was written. While I have no problem with profanity - I think it's useful when it reflects a persons spoken dialogue. Being profane to shock or carry emotion seems cheap, easy and the mark of an author of limited ability. Either that or the author is pandering to a certain demographic - which I guess doesn't include...more

like · see review

Jan 22, 2012 David Vaughan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history, non-fiction

This is an elaboration of Michael Hastings's Rolling Stone article--you know, the one that got four-star general Stanley McChrystal canned as head of the Afghan war. Hastings embeds with JSOC, the snake-eaters, for a wild ride through Paris, then on to Kabul and beyond.
We watch as Hastings checks in and out of hotels, flies with a Kiowa helo crew as they blow shit up, and compares watches with Hamid Karzai's corrupt half-brother. He drives directly into an Afghan town he's been told to avoid an...more This is an elaboration of Michael Hastings's Rolling Stone article--you know, the one that got four-star general Stanley McChrystal canned as head of the Afghan war. Hastings embeds with JSOC, the snake-eaters, for a wild ride through Paris, then on to Kabul and beyond.
We watch as Hastings checks in and out of hotels, flies with a Kiowa helo crew as they blow shit up, and compares watches with Hamid Karzai's corrupt half-brother. He drives directly into an Afghan town he's been told to avoid and interviews a warlord, and we get to listen to the Afghan security assistant and his translator whoop with joy that they weren't beheaded, or worse, as they drive out.
It's a royal hoot of a book, and we're privy to all kinds of star-studded events--a dinner party with Hillary Clinton, an affair of state with the heads of a dozen nations, diner sandwiches with Richard Holbrooke, special envoy to Iraq and Afghanistan, and his wake after his untimely passing, arranged by Hillary at the hospital as she calls out, "Where's the nearest bar?!"
Underlying it all is a Rolling Stone frame of reference, one where it's OK to bring down a man who has served his country in the riskiest of positions for decades, a West Point graduate who has been on thousands of covert missions and is revered by most of his troops, who not only answers their emails but visits them in their dangerous front-line outposts when they request it. When he gets drunk with his staff while in transit at a bar in Paris, Hastings is present with his tape recorder and notebook. He gets the story, McChrystal gets canned, and somehow we're supposed to be OK with that.
And for the most part we are, because the portrait of the Afghanistan war created by US policy painted by Hastings is one of overwhelming corruption, chaos, deceit, fantasy and ultimately, ignominious dissolution of the war effort which we shall call "victory," and no one will challenge because nobody comprehends what occurred.
Petraeus follows, the hallowed knight who won the war in Iraq. Only he didn't. One superior calls him "an ass-kissing little chicken-shit."
The puzzle of this book is whether Hastings, who seems to have some guts and a lot of experience on the ground, understands the military he so roundly criticizes, or cares to in the first place. There's a difference between traveling as a correspondent and traveling as a man with a rifle who may have to use it to commit state-sponsored killings, then live with the aftermath.
The difference between Hastings and Ernie Pyle--to whom he compares himself--is that when Ernie Pyle died, the Marines he traveled with buried him on their base, the only civilian to be so honored. This will not happen with Hastings. Quite the contrary. There are likely many who would plant him in the desert with no marker.
This is a book worth reading, but it's also a book worth reading with a highly critical eye. You'll learn much about Afghanistan, the military, the governments of Iraq, Afghanistan and the U.S., and how the wars evolved after 9/11. But Hastings is highly selective in the facts he chooses to present, and colors his interpretations with assumptions he assumes the reader shares.
This may not always be the case.(less)

like 1 like · see review

Jun 04, 2012 Garth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A fascinating and terribly depressing book.
The US and its allies are fighting a war in Afghanistan but its leading generals cannot define what success might look like. While young soldiers and civilians are maimed and killed senior officers see this war as their chance for glory and promotion.
The values of the US military are seriously fucked up - the US military have 27,000 PR people to help shape their agendas with the public and politicians, and values like loyalty, honour and honesty to and...more

like · see review

Aug 18, 2012 Steve rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

This book was facinating and frusterating in equal measure. This is the story of the writing of "The Runaway General," the Rolling Stone article that got general McCrystal fired, and it's aftermath as told by the war correspondent who wrote the article. This story was a very facinating look into the politics of conducting the war in Afghanistan, the personalities involved and the situation on the ground in Afghanistan. The frustration came from the amount of political bull that goes into the pro...more

like · see review

Jul 10, 2012 Robert Hill rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I want to start my review with my own opinion of the War in Iraq and Afghanistan. The war in Iraq, I believe was motivated at best by the belief by a few that the US could democratize the Middle East and bring about world peace. The Iraq war in my view was sold by a US president on faulty facts which the President and CIA knew were cherry-picked and knew were false. The American public was lied to and to this day the story of the Iraq war has been spun as successful by a Pentagon that knows bett...more

like · see review

Apr 30, 2012 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: american-foreign-policy, non-fiction

http://philadelphiareviewofbooks.com/...

The American male, as a species, is in crisis. At least in the realm of public life, the norms for masculine behavior in our society have deteriorated to such an extent that American men are now expected to act like frat boys for the rest of their lives. You just wouldn’t be manly if you acted any other way. This is the message we get from our popular publications, television and movies. The wild bachelor party where a prostitute is accidentally (or purpos...more

like · see review

Apr 17, 2012 Chris rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In July 2010, the author of this book wrote an article, "The Runaway General", for Rolling Stone magazine. As a result of this article, President Obama fired General Stanley McChrystal. This book expands upon that article and lists some of the after-effects of his story.

The book itself is an interesting read. I just think the author is a bit confused. On the one hand, he says he feels guilty that he gets a rise out of the war. But he hates the war. So he blows McChrystal out of the water in a 20...more

like · see review

Jul 11, 2012 Bradley Farless rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history

As a US Army Veteran that served for 8 years and did two combat tours (one during the first six months of the war with Iraq and one later with an ADA unit), so much of what Hastings describes regarding military culture, the feeling on the ground among people who are actually doing the work and the disconnect that often exists between command officers (and sometimes E-8s) and the rest of the troops is spot on. It was also nice to see a real profile of higher ranking people that portrays them as h...more

like · see review

May 02, 2012 NYKen marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Table of Contents

Part 1: The Plan

1] Delta Bravo
2] It's Not Switzerland
3] Lady Gaga
4] "Intimidated by the Crowd"
5] Arc de Triomphe
6] "A Violent Act"
7] On the X
8] The A-Team
9] "Bite Me"
10] The Photo Op
11] Totally Shit-Faced
12] "Dead Silence"
13] The Horror, the Horror
14] We're Actually Losing
15] Petraeus Can't Do Afghanistan
16] The Elections, Part 1
17] Texas to Berlin
18] The Elections, Part 2
19] Team American Rols the Ritz
20] On Principle
21] Spies Like Us
22] "I'm President. I Don't Give a Shit What...more

like · see review

Dec 20, 2012 Og rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The book is about the author's investigation into writing a Rolling Stone article (June 2010) on Gen. Stanley McChrystal who was in charge of the war in Afghanistan as well as the fallout after publication of the article.

Now that I have finished the book, I'm dying to read the RS article. The author never realized what a sh*tstorm the article would create - and it did.

The middle part of the book is a little boring but stick with it. The end where the sh*t hits the fan and the fallout at the Whi...more

like · see review

Aug 09, 2012 Adam Heffelfinger rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

There's a somewhat meta moment early in The Operators when author Michael Hastings references Cameron Crowe's 'Almost Famous' and its fabled story of a Rolling Stone reporter swept along on a whirlwind tour with a band that quickly forgets that as a reporter he is "the enemy."
The Operators is very much that story, but instead of the Allman Brothers/Led Zeppelin stand-in of Stillwater, we get the very real 4-star General Stanley McChrystal and his team of strategists and PR people. The book is al...more

like · see review

Feb 27, 2013 Ray rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Most people reading "The Operators" will be aware of the fact that General Stanley McChrystal resigned his position as commander of the International Security Assistance Force and the top US military officer in Afghanistan, following the publishing of an article in "Rolling Stone" magazine which attributed a number of unflattering remarks about civilian leaders in Washington and Afghanistan to members of the General's staff. The author of that article was Rolling Stones staff writer Michael Hast...more Most people reading "The Operators" will be aware of the fact that General Stanley McChrystal resigned his position as commander of the International Security Assistance Force and the top US military officer in Afghanistan, following the publishing of an article in "Rolling Stone" magazine which attributed a number of unflattering remarks about civilian leaders in Washington and Afghanistan to members of the General's staff. The author of that article was Rolling Stones staff writer Michael Hastings, and this book, "The Operators", is Hastings more detailed story.

It's probable that McChrystal felt somewhat betrayed by the release of these unflattering comments by Hastings, a writer who was allowed unfettered access to the General and his staff in Afghanistan. But there is no implied allegiance between journalists and the military, and Hastings no doubt felt he owed his readers his honest impressions of the war and its progress. Whether it was necessary to reveal typical "locker room" comments made by members of the General's staff, recognizing that soldiers are likely to complain about most everything, is subject to further discussion, but the result was that McChrystal felt obliged to offer his resignation after the release of so many insubordinate and unflattering comments by his staff.

The Army conducted a follow-up review of the Rolling Stones article, and could not find evidence to support many of the Hastings allegations. McChrystal himself subsequently wrote his own book, "My Share of the Task", which I haven't yet read, and may give some additional insights into the events which led to his resignation. Because of the controversy associated with the Rolling Stones article, its consequences, and because the subsequent military review raises questions about the article, "The Operators" is interesting in that it offers much more background and details than was originally included in the Rolling Stones article. Hastings left me with the feeling that his reporting was most likely accurate, and was treated dismissively by the military mostly because it's hard for them to admit, as the article pointed out, that we've made such limited lasting progress after nine years of military action there.
(less)

like · see review

Mar 07, 2012 David Gallin-Parisi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

At first, I couldn't get into Hastings' book-length, extended mega-mix, treatment of his Rolling Stones article. The tone is casual, almost an On the Road-style of self-reflection, objective reporting, and straight facts about Afghanistan. After about fifty pages though, I was hooked. Knowing the outcome of his article, General McChrystal's firing, doesn't hurt. Instead, Hastings portrays a tumultuous snapshot of people reading pdf versions of his article the day of publication, asking him, "Hey...more

like · see review

Apr 19, 2013 Jim rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

This is a book by the Rolling Stones reporter, whose story on General Stan McCrystal, ended up getting the general fired by President Obama. It is obviously a much more detailed and comprehensive account of the author's up-close experience with McCrystal and his staff over a couple of weeks in both Europe and Afghanistan.

The book is shocking. Shocking in the attitudes taken by the general and his staff toward the Administration; shocking in the lack of understanding on the part of the general o...more

like · see review

Apr 04, 2013 Benjamin Swierczek rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Growing up, I read a lot of historical non-fiction about the Vietnam War. In particular, "About Face," the biography of Col. David Hackworth, was particularly memorable. The story about how bureaucratic mismanagement of a war and the wrong strategy cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers seemed farcical but it was true.

"The Operators" is an interesting inside look at the shell that forms around a "rock star" General through as they are presented a biased world view by their senior st...more

like · see review

Mar 10, 2012 Rick rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Careening through this book on my iPhone while eating meals at some swanky Hilton Head hotel waiting for a course to start. Surreal to think that so many of our young men and women are overseas fighting this war. And that the cards are so (unintentionally) stacked not-in-their-favor. This book is illuminating to say the least. Pulls back the curtain on things that one assumes are much more professional, deliberate and planned. I guess we're all just human and flawed. All of us. The civilians, th...more

like · see review

May 10, 2012 Scott Stahl rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"The Operators" is a longer version of Hastings' famous Rolling Stone feature, "The Runaway General," that ended in the firing of the Afghanistan commander, Gen Stanley McChrystal. It's a well-written, engaging book that shows the behind-the-scenes version of the war in Afghanistan, much different from the boring press release propaganda we receive from mainstream sources.

Hastings accurately communicates the drama, excitement, fear, addiction, and complexity of being a young war correspondent em...more

like · see review

Dec 22, 2012 Steve Davis added it · review of another edition

Hastings is a young but exerienced writer for The Rolling Stone - NOT my favorite magazine. He got himself inserted into the top US army military leaders in 2010-11 and this book accurately (according to the author and his extensive bibliography) records the mindset of these guys and their interactions with our top politicians. The story IS scary -- really.
Not an easy read as the narration timeline switches back and forth between years and relates current events with previous political decision...more

like · see review

Nov 26, 2012 Phil rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I remember reading the original Rolling Stones article about General McChrystal and thinking that it was fairly innocuous. Of course, Obama didn't think so and fired him. What was a revelation in the book (basically a fantastically expanded version of that article plus the aftermath) was that Obama was implored to KEEP McChrystal on by Sec State Clinton, Sec Def Gates and US Ambassador to Afghanistan Eikenberry. Obama, under some advisement by several 3-star Gens, said "adios amigo" to McC.

Hasti...more

like · see review

Jan 14, 2012 Jason Roselander rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This isn't primarily about how Obama gets pushed around, undermined, and ignored by those who ostensibly work for him, but it couldn't help but remind me of Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President in that respect.

The Operators is a quick, engaging read. Rolling Stone is now home to some of the best reporters in the business. Here's hoping that Hastings and Matt Taibbi keep up the good work.

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 41 42 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (16)

More editions...

Genres

Non Fiction

33 users

Politics

21 users

History

19 users

War

11 users

War > Military

11 users

Military > Military History

5 users

Biography

3 users

History > American History

3 users

Writing > Journalism

2 users

Politics > Political Science

2 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Michael Hastings

Michael Hastings is a contributing editor to Rolling Stone. Over the past five years, he’s regularly covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He started his career at Newsweek magazine in 2002, and was named the magazine’s Baghdad correspondent in 2005. In 2008, he reported on the U.S. presidential elections for Newsweek. His work has appeared in GQ, The Washington Post, the L.A. Times, Slate, Sa...more

More about Michael Hastings...

Books by Michael Hastings

I Lost My Love in Baghdad: A Modern War Story

Panic 2012: The Sublime and Terrifying Inside Story of Obama's Final Campaign (a Buzzfeed/Blue Rider Press Book)

The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan. Michael Hastings

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About The Operators: Th...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from The Operators: The Wil...

“The simple and terrifying reality, forbidden from discussion in America, was that despite spending $600 billion a year on the military, despite having the best fighting force the world had ever known, they were getting their asses kicked by illiterate peasants who made bombs out of manure and wood.” — 2 people liked it

“Janet Malcolm had famously described journalism as the art of seduction and betrayal. Any reporter who didn't see journalism as "morally indefensible" was either "too stupid" or "too full of himself," she wrote. I disagreed. Without shutting the door on the possibility that I was both stupid and full of myself, I'd never bought into the seduction and betrayal conceit. At most, journalism - particularly when writing about media-hungry public figures - was like the seduction of a prostitute. The relationship was transactional. They weren't talking to me because they liked me or because I impressed them; they were talking to me because they wanted the cover of Rolling Stone.” — 2 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan
avg rating	preview: The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan Goodreads rating: 3.97 (473 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12989710-the-operators?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327936972l/12989710.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12989710-the-operators?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan by Michael Hastings[/url]

The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website