by Evan WrightWhen I watched the HBO version of Generation Kill, I was immersed in the activities of the Recon Marines who basically led the way into Iraq for the American forces during their invasion. The thing was, I felt that the TV series didn't provide any context to the activities of the Marines, and I decided to seek out the original book, which is itself based on a series of articles Wright wrote for Rolling Stone.
The problem is, the book doesn't add much context or background either. It is definitely a page-turner - especially the first half - but the reader, like the Marines, never really get to see past the next corner, or over the next berm, as would be more appropriate. The different people that Wright travels with for the thirty-odd days he was embedded with First Recon rarely develop into more than just a character sketch. Even the soldiers that rode in the same Humvee as him remain mercurial and unknowable. There are plenty of details shared, but they don't seem to add up to full people.
Beyond that, this is a very readable book. The first half are full of Marine hijinks and command screw-ups. As the book progresses, and First Recon's role in the war becomes more and more unclear, it slowly changes into a mild condemnation of American policy. Wright never explicitly trashes the war or leadership himself, but he does allow his Marines to have their say, and he does provide a clear window into a tiny corner of the war effort.
This book is at its best when it deals with the ineffective officers, from Captain America, Encino Man and Casey Kasem, right up to Godfather himself. I would like to think that this book would have resulted in at least some of these men being demoted, but as is shared in the afterward, they all advanced in their careers. This book won't survive as one of the classic pieces of literature of this war - I'm sure those are still to come - but it does stand as both a testament to the skills and heart of the men fighting it, and the lack of planning and forethought of the people who orchestrated it.
1 comment:
I just read HELLA NATION, a book Evan Wright published recently. There is some military stuff in it–about 101st Airborne troops in Afghanistan– but mostly it’s writing he did for Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair about Americans, from Anarchists to Ultimate Fighters to some pretty insane stuff about Hollywood. A lot of the writing in HELLA NATION has the same darkness and humor and oddball characters as Generation Kill. Wright also goes into his background writing at Hustler, which he mentions in Generation Kill, but here it’s much more personal. His essay about the porn industry is definitely creepy and fascinating. HELLA is very much the same writing as Generation Kill, but the subjects are very different.
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