Jarhead - by Anthony Swofford (Paperback)

About the Book

When the Marines were sent to Saudi Arabia for Operation Desert Storm, Anthony Swofford was there, with a hundred-pound pack on his shoulders and a sniper's rifle in his hands. This is his scorching memoir of life on and off the battlefield.

Book Synopsis

"Searing...combines the black humor of Catch-22 with the savagery of Full Metal Jacket." --The New York Times

"Jarhead will go down with the best books on military life." --Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down

"A brutally honest memoir...gut-wrenching frontline reportage." --Entertainment Weekly

In his New York Times bestselling memoir of military life, Anthony Swofford weaves his experiences in war with vivid accounts of boot camp, reflections on the mythos of the marines, and remembrances of battles with lovers and family.

When the U.S. Marines--or "jarheads"--were sent to Saudi Arabia in 1990 for the first Gulf War, Anthony Swofford was there. He lived in sand for six months; he was punished by boredom and fear; he considered suicide, pulled a gun on a fellow marine, and was targeted by both enemy and friendly fire. As engagement with the Iraqis drew near, he was forced to consider what it means to be an American, a soldier, a son of a soldier, and a man.

Review Quotes

"Jarhead will go down with the best books ever written about military life." --Mark Bowden Author of Black Hawk Down

"A bayonet in the eye...brutal and unforgettable." --The Sacramento Bee

"A brutally honest memoir...gut-wrenching frontline reportage." --Entertainment Weekly

"A searing contribution to the literature of combat, a book that combines the black humor of Catch-22 with the savagery of Full Metal Jacket and the visceral detail of The Things They Carried....An irreverent but meditative voice that captures the juiced-up machismo of jarhead culture and the existential loneliness of combat...Mr. Swofford conveys a chilling sense of what it is like to be under enemy fire, and he also communicates a palpable sense of the fog of war." --Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

"Extraordinary: full of insight into the minds and rucksacks of our latter-day warriors." --Kirkus Reviews (starred)

About the Author

Anthony Swofford served in a U.S. Marine Corps Surveillance and Target Acquisition/Scout-Sniper platoon during the Gulf War. After the war, he was educated at American River College; the University of California, Davis; and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. He has taught at the University of Iowa and Lewis and Clark College. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The New York Times, Harper's, Men's Journal, The Iowa Review, and other publications. A Michener-Copernicus Fellowship recipient, he lives in New York.