Black Knights: The Bloody Road to Baghdad - Softcover

Poole, Oliver

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1906702187 ISBN 13: 9781906702182

Publisher: Reportage Press, 2008

Synopsis

"The best reporter's book of the war so far—and it deserves to be one of THE books of the whole Iraqi crisis."—Robert Fox, Evening Standard

"This is an exhilarating, honest, often scary account of modern war as close-up spectator."—The Sunday Times

"Poole is a great reporter . . . possessed of a cool eye, natural sympathy and curiosity, and brisk honesty. He has immortalised [the Black Knights] in a true, funny and poignant book."—Patrick Bishop, The Daily Telegraph

"[Poole's] account of the baptism of fire endured by a US tank company is starkly horrific in places. It is also witty, often laugh-out-loud funny, and spiced with some wonderfully colourful pen portraits"—Soldier

Oliver Poole was one of the first journalists embedded with the US tank corps known as the Black Knights as they spearheaded the push into Baghdad in spring 2003. How did the troops—many of them under the age of twenty, some of whom had only recently acquired US citizenship—cope with fear and injury? How did they react to the killing? How were they changed by war? What, finally, was the impact on the people of Baghdad? Poole has written a frank and revealing narrative of life in the US Army.

Part of the proceeds from Black Knights will go to International PEN, who helped Poole's translator and his family flee Iraq for America.

Oliver Poole was The Daily Telegraph's Iraq correspondent from 2003–2006. He is the author of Red Zone: Five Bloody Years in Baghdad.

About this title

Product Description:

Rare Book

Review:

'The best reporter's book on the war so far – and it deserves to be one of the books of the whole Iraq crisis. The eyewitness accounts of the fighting, the terrible guilt of the soldiers and bystanders at the killing of civilians, the overwhelming confusion, the continuous questioning of why they are there are exhilarating and chilling...from his embedded experience, Oliver Poole gives the clearest account of what the fighting was like, and the problems encountered then, which have now become the problem of full-scale guerrilla war. Poole's eye and pen are sharpened by being a lonely Brit among the American legions' Robert Fox, Evening Standard
'Poole's reportage has an edgy adrenaline-fired freshness...This is an exhilarating, honest, often scary account of modern war as close-up spectator' Peter Millar, Sunday Times
'[Poole's] account of the baptism of fire endured by a US tank company is starkly horrific in places. It is also witty, often laugh-out-loud funny, and spiced with some wonderfully colourful pen-portraits' Soldier magazine
'This extraordinary account of the spectacle and emotion of warfare rings with authenticity. Oliver Poole has dramatically captured the face of modern battle' Patrick Bishop, author of Fighter Boys

About this edition

• Publisher: Reportage Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1906702187
• ISBN 13: 9781906702182
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 235