*UPDATE 1/11/2010: Military Times names The War I Always Wanted "one of the best military books of the decade."
"Compelling and moving . . . Among the many excellent war memoirs by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, Brandon's stands out as the best. I couldn't put it down."
-- General (Ret.) Wesley K. Clark, former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO
"Add Brandon Friedman's The War I Always Wanted to the ranks of outstanding non-fiction produced by officers from elite combat units in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Always truthful, often excruciatingly so, The War I Always Wanted rises at numerous points to the level of literature."
-- Steven Pressfield, New York Times bestselling author of Gates of Fire
More reviews of The War I Always Wanted:
"Emotionally honest . . . [Friedman] allows readers to experience things alongside him, rather than merely gasp in awe at his heroics or sit clucking in judgment."
-- Dallas Morning News
"This book should be obligatory reading for every . . . member of Congress who does not have a son or daughter in America's Armed Forces."
-- Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Paul Eaton, former commanding general in Iraq
"A candid, timely combat memoir . . . Well-written by an intellectual man, this book recalls classics such as Goodbye Darkness, The Coldest War, With the Old Breed, and countless others."
-- Virginian-Pilot
The "emotional whiplash" Brandon Friedman so eloquently describes in The War I Always Wanted has been a mainstay of serious art for a long time now . . . These moments are described with a gifted clarity, with immediate and searing writing that takes us as readers as close as we are ever likely to come to the edge.
-- Daily Kos
Friedman paints as compelling a case for war as he does against conflict in his highly personal, taut narrative. In the long light of history, it will stand well against similar works penned after World War II, Korea and Vietnam."
-- Shreveport Times
"Cynical but appealing . . . Friedman's voice is likely to be heard by sympathetic ears."
"You'll want to read parts . . . aloud to somebody. Friedman tells stories well, with a keen eye for war's absurdities and his own fading illusions of war's glory."
"The welcome mat for memoirs by veterans of operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom might never wear out so long as they write with the savvy of Brandon Friedman . . . Friedman's take is vivid, frank, precise and dramatic."
-- Army Times
"Rendered with more literary flair and sophistication than even the accounts by bigwigs . . . [Friedman's] book is an elegant meditation on his loss of innocence."
--Mobile Press-Register
"Tragically compelling . . . [Friedman's] work is fresh, angry, cynical, and riveting."
