This YA military memoir recounts a nineteen-year-old Army engineer's tour of duty in Iraq: "profoundly moving . . . poignant, and often harrowing" (Kirkus, starred review).
Ryan Smithson was an ordinary teenager until he witnessed the devastation of September 11th, 2001. Watching the Twin Towers fall motivated him to enlist in the Army Reserve at the age of seventeen. In Ghosts of War, Ryan vividly chronicles his experience...

When Lieutenant Matt Gallagher began his blog with the aim of keeping his family and friends apprised of his experiences, he didn't anticipate that it would resonate far beyond his intended audience. His subjects ranged from mission details to immortality, grim stories about Bon Jovi cassettes mistaken for IEDs, and the daily experiences of the Gravediggers--the code name for members of Gallagher's platoon. When the blog was shut down in June 2008...

The story of a wild dog who befriended Marine Major Brian Dennis in Iraq, and, when they were separated, trekked seventy miles through the desert winter to rejoin his friend.

A former captain in the Marines' First Recon Battalion, who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq, reveals how the Corps trains its elite and offers a point-blank account of twenty-first-century battle. Only one Marine in a hundred qualifies for Recon, charged with working clandestinely, often behind enemy lines. Fick's training begins with a hellish summer at Quantico, and advances to the pinnacle--Recon--four years later, on the eve of war with Iraq. Along...

"In 2005, Dana Canedy's fianč, First Sergeant Charles Monroe King, began to write what would become a two-hundred-page journal for his son in case he did not make it home from the war in Iraq. He was killed by a roadside bomb on October 14, 2006. His son, Jordan, was seven months old. Inspired by his example, Dana was determined to preserve his memory for their son. A Journal for Jordan is a mother's fiercely honest letter to her child about the...

"Dust to Dust" is an extraordinary memoir about ordinary things: life and death, war and peace, the explorations of childhood and revelations of adulthood by Busch--a U.S. Marine who served two combat tours in Iraq, an actor on "The Wire," and son of celebrated novelist Frederick Busch.

"The recipient of multiple Peabody and Murrow awards, Clarissa Ward is a world-renowned conflict reporter. In this strange age of crisis where there really is no front line, she has moved from one hot zone to the next. With multiple assignments in Syria, Egypt, and Afghanistan, Ward, who speaks seven languages, has been based in Baghdad, Beirut, Beijing, and Moscow. She has seen and documented the violent remaking of the world at close range. With...

From 1999 to 2009, U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle recorded the most career sniper kills in United States military history. Kyle earned legendary status among his fellow SEALs, Marines, and U.S. Army soldiers, whom he protected with deadly accuracy from rooftops and stealth positions. Gripping and unforgettable, Kyle's masterful account of his extraordinary battlefield experiences ranks as one of the greatest war memoirs of all time. A native Texan who...