No Worse Enemy - by Ben Anderson (Paperback)

About the Book

Informed by more than 300 hours of firsthand frontline footage with the U.S. Marines, documentary filmmaker Anderson (HBO's "The Battle for Marjah") provides a gripping account of the Afghanistan war in Helmand province.

Book Synopsis

The most comprehensive and gripping account of the Afghan war, by a BBC journalist.

The war in Afghanistan is over ten years old. It has cost countless lives and hundreds of billions of pounds. Politicians talk of progress, but the violence is worse than ever.

In this powerful and shocking exposé from the front lines in Helmand province, leading journalist and documentary-maker Ben Anderson (HBO, Panorama, and Dispatches) shows just how bad it has got. Detailing battles that last for days, only to be fought again weeks later, Anderson witnesses IED explosions and sniper fire, amid disturbing incompetence and corruption among the Afghan army and police. Also revealing the daily struggle to win over the long-suffering local population, who often express open support for the Taliban, No Worse Enemy is a heartbreaking insight into the chaos at the heart of the region.

Raising urgent questions about our supposed achievements and the politicians' desire for a hasty exit, Anderson highlights the vast gulf that exists between what we are told and what is actually happening on the ground. A product of five years' unrivalled access to UK forces and US Marines, this is the most intimate and horrifying account of the Afghan war ever published.

Review Quotes

Unusually courageous... With humor, compassion and a fine eye for detail, Anderson meticulously pieces together each scene with the skill of a good choreographer... [This is] an engrossing blow-by-blow account of the nuts and bolts of modern warfare.-- "Kirkus Reviews"

Essential reading-- "The Bookseller"

Similar to Michael Herr's high-octane Vietnam War classic, Dispatches, Anderson delivers a gritty, brutal, realistic account of British and American troops on the Afghan frontlines in a bitter counterpoint to all the policy concessions and peace chatter.-- "Publishers Weekly"

About the Author

Ben Anderson is an acclaimed journalist and documentary filmmaker. In a career spanning fourteen years, he has filmed and presented over forty films for the BBC, HBO, Channel 4, and the Discovery Channel. He has presented five of his own series for BBC2, and is a regular reporter for Panorama and Dispatches. He was twice a finalist for the RTS young journalist of the year award and his HBO film The Battle for Marjah was nominated for three Emmys. In addition, he has written for The Times, GQ, Esquire and the London Review of Books. When not reporting from the field, he lives in London.