What It Is Like To Go To War

**#3 on Amazon.com’s 10 Best Books of 2011__The New Yorker__ Favorite Books from 2011Hudson Booksellers Best Books of 2011Barnes & Noble Best Nonfiction Books of 2011__St. Louis Post Dispatch__ Favorite Books of 2011A __Shelf Awareness__ Reviewer’s Top Pick of 2011**One of the most important and highly-praised books of 2011, Karl Marlantes’s __What It Is Like to Go to War__ is set to become just as much of a classic as his epic novel __Matterhorn__.In __What It Is Like to Go to War__, Marlantes takes a deeply personal and candid look at the experience and ordeal of combat, critically examining how we might better prepare our young soldiers for war. War is as old as humankind, but in the past, warriors were prepared for battle by ritual, religion, and literature—which also helped bring them home. In a compelling narrative, Marlantes weaves riveting accounts of his combat experiences with thoughtful analysis, self-examination, and his readings—from Homer to the __Mahabharata__ to Jung. He makes it clear just how poorly prepared our nineteen-year-old warriors—mainly men but increasingly women—are for the psychological and spiritual aspects of their journey. “A precisely crafted and bracingly honest” memoir of war and its aftershocks from the New York Times–bestselling author of Matterhorn (The Atlantic). In 1968, at the age of twenty-three, Karl Marlantes was dropped into the highland jungle of Vietnam, an inexperienced lieutenant in command of forty Marines who would live or die by his decisions. In his thirteen-month tour he saw intense combat, killing the enemy and watching friends die. Marlantes survived, but like many of his brothers in arms, he has spent the last forty years dealing with his experiences. In What It Is Like to Go to War, Marlantes takes a candid look at these experiences and critically examines how we might better prepare young soldiers for war. In the past, warriors were prepared for battle by ritual, religion, and literature—which also helped bring them home. While contemplating ancient works from Homer to the Mahabharata, Marlantes writes of the daily contradictions modern warriors are subject to, of being haunted by the face of a young North Vietnamese soldier he killed at close quarters, and of how he finally found a way to make peace with his past. Through it all, he demonstrates just how poorly prepared our nineteen-year-old warriors are for the psychological and spiritual aspects of the journey. In this memoir, the New York Times–bestselling author of Matterhorn offers “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).

#3 on Amazon.com’s 10 Best Books of 2011
The New Yorker Favorite Books from 2011
Hudson Booksellers Best Books of 2011
Barnes & Noble Best Nonfiction Books of 2011
St. Louis Post Dispatch Favorite Books of 2011
A Shelf Awareness Reviewer’s Top Pick of 2011

One of the most important and highly-praised books of 2011, Karl Marlantes’s What It Is Like to Go to War is set to become just as much of a classic as his epic novel Matterhorn.

In What It Is Like to Go to War, Marlantes takes a deeply personal and candid look at the experience and ordeal of combat, critically examining how we might better prepare our young soldiers for war. War is as old as humankind, but in the past, warriors were prepared for battle by ritual, religion, and literature—which also helped bring them home. In a compelling narrative, Marlantes weaves riveting accounts of his combat experiences with thoughtful analysis, self-examination, and his readings—from Homer to the Mahabharata to Jung. He makes it clear just how poorly prepared our nineteen-year-old warriors—mainly men but increasingly women—are for the psychological and spiritual aspects of their journey.

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?' From the author of the *New York Times* bestseller *Matterhorn*, this is a powerful nonfiction book about the experience of combat and how inadequately we prepare our young men and women for war. War is as old as humankind, but in the past, warriors were prepared for battle by ritual, religion and literature -- which also helped bring them home. In a compelling narrative, Marlantes weaves riveting accounts of his combat experiences with thoughtful analysis, self-examination and his readings -- from Homer to the *Mahabharata* to Jung. He talks frankly about how he is haunted by the face of the young North Vietnamese soldier he killed at close quarters and how he finally finds a way to make peace with his past. Marlantes discusses the daily contradictions that warriors face in the grind of war, where each battle requires them to take life or spare life, and where they enter a state he likens to the fervor of religious ecstasy. Just as Matterhorn is already being acclaimed as a classic of war literature, *What It Is Like To Go To War* is set to become required reading for anyone -- soldier or civilian -- interested in this visceral and all too essential part of the human experience. #3 on Amazon.com’s 10 Best Books of 2011 The New Yorker Favorite Books from 2011 Hudson Booksellers Best Books of 2011 Barnes & Noble Best Nonfiction Books of 2011 St. Louis Post Dispatch Favorite Books of 2011 A Shelf Awareness Reviewer’s Top Pick of 2011 One of the most important and highly-praised books of 2011, Karl Marlantes’s What It Is Like to Go to War is set to become just as much of a classic as his epic novel Matterhorn . In What It Is Like to Go to War , Marlantes takes a deeply personal and candid look at the experience and ordeal of combat, critically examining how we might better prepare our young soldiers for war. War is as old as humankind, but in the past, warriors were prepared for battle by ritual, religion, and literature—which also helped bring them home. In a compelling narrative, Marlantes weaves riveting accounts of his combat experiences with thoughtful analysis, self-examination, and his readings—from Homer to the Mahabharata to Jung. He makes it clear just how poorly prepared our nineteen-year-old warriors—mainly men but increasingly women—are for the psychological and spiritual aspects of their journey. La guerra es tan antigua como la humanidad, pero en el pasado, los guerreros se preparaban para la batalla mediante el ritual, la religión y la literatura, que también les ayudaban a volver a casa. En esta narración, el autor entrelaza los relatos de sus experiencias de combate con el análisis reflexivo, el autoexamen y sus lecturas, desde Homero hasta el Mahabharata y Jung. Habla con franqueza de cómo le persigue el rostro del joven soldado norvietnamita al que mató de cerca y de cómo finalmente encuentra la manera de hacer las paces con su pasado. Habla de las contradicciones diarias a las que se enfrentan los guerreros en la rutina de la guerra, en la que cada batalla les exige quitar la vida o perdonar la vida, y en la que entran en un estado que él compara con el fervor del éxtasis religioso. También subraya la necesidad de que los veteranos que regresan sean asesorados adecuadamente War is as old as humankind, but in the past, warriors were prepared for battle by ritual, religion and literature, which also helped bring them home. In this narrative, the author weaves accounts of his combat experiences with thoughtful analysis, self-examination, and his readings from Homer to the Mahabharata to Jung. He talks frankly about how he is haunted by the face of the young North Vietnamese soldier he killed at close quarters and how he finally finds a way to make peace with his past. He discusses the daily contradictions that warriors face in the grind of war, where each battle requires them to take life or spare life, and where they enter a state he likens to the fervor of religious ecstasy. He also underscores the need for returning veterans to be counseled properly.