The official Sebastian Junger community

Press Reviews

"This new book is about war the way “The Perfect Storm’’ was about weather. In both cases, Junger’s real interest lies elsewhere. Many journalists embed with the military. Junger wants to get inside something more private and inscrutable: the nature of courage . . . War is messy and improvisational and refuses to conform to a narrative arc, and much the same could be said — approvingly — about “War.’’ It does not unfold chronologically. It does not track the evolution of the war. It does not have a hero, or even a protagonist . . . Junger describes combat so lucidly . . . This is potent material, seldom rendered better. But there’s a price to be paid for Junger’s narrow focus. In seeing war as the men do, we miss everything they miss. And that’s a lot . . . you cannot fault a man for the book he didn’t write — especially when the book he did write is extraordinary. Last month, the US military closed the Korengal outpost, a tacit admission that the fight there was too costly or too insignificant (or, worse, both) to continue. For the men whose antiparadise is gone, the book is a stunning memorial. It is a flawed, troubling, terrific work, so good that one wishes it were perfect. But perhaps that is just a refracted desire, born of “War’’ itself: We see in it the good in us, and regret that we are not better."

Kathryn Schulz, Boston Globe, May 16th

http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2010/05/16/sebastian_junger_is_embedded_with_a_combat_platoon/?page=2

“With his blue-eyed, chiseled and starting-to-grizzle looks, Junger is just the specimen Hollywood would cast as a foreign correspondent in Afghanistan to ensure a box office hit . . . But to assume that Junger had easy access diminishes his reporting skills and his commitment to the story. At age 48, he's a generation older than most of the soldiers he accompanied into combat over the course of their 15-month deployment and who instinctively put up their guard against an outsider . . . The resulting book is written in the first person, but it is observational, offering no critique of the combat he witnessed, taking no position on the efficiency, logic or value of the war. He offers a close-up view of men and the raw elements of war: fear and courage, killing and death, love and brotherhood.”

Marjorie Miller, Los Angeles Times, May 16th

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/16/entertainment/la-ca-sebastian-junger-20100516

"Junger, who made five trips to Afghanistan for Vanity Fair magazine, is one of the few embeds out there who gets it . . . Junger is not a faux embedded Green Zone reporter . . . Junger writes about what these guys go through, the way they talk, how they view their war, the rush it gives them - honestly and in a language that's reminiscent of Michael Herr's Vietnam classic "Dispatches."

Colby Buzzell, San Francisco Chronicle, May 16th

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/05/15/RVOS1DBUK6.DTL

"[Junger] explains the soldiers' predicaments with an exacting clarity that lends the book the immediacy of a thriller novel . . . fascinating and even harrowing . . . Rather than detract from the intensity of the larger story, these carefully explicated passages lend the book real-world consequences, inviting the reader to put themselves in the soldiers' place . . . Even when Junger moves from the Korengal Valley to more familiar American homes and hospitals, the book never loses its grip or its powerful empathy."

Stephen M. Deusner, Washington Post Express, May 17th

http://www.expressnightout.com/content/2010/05/sebastian-junger-war-at-politics-prose.php

"...Junger, in addition to his macho persona, is also a thinker and a sentimentalist."

Steve Weinberg, Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 18th

http://www.cleveland.com/books/index.ssf/2010/05/for_war_sebastian_junger_goes.html

“It takes a very good book to carry off a title as portentous as WAR, and Sebastian Junger has written one . . . it is, among other things, an outstanding war report: a precise and gripping account of some of the fiercest battles involving American soldiers in recent times.”

The Economist, May 20th

http://www.economist.com/culture/displaystory.cfm?story_id=16160781

"You don’t call a book War – no article, no adjective – unless your goal is to stake a claim for a place in the canon of literature on the subject. Sebastian Junger has done just that with his new book..."

Brian Gallagher, Abu Dhabi’s The National, May 20th

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100521/REVIEW/705209970/1008

Arianna Huffington referenced Sebastian’s interview with Bill Maher in her column for The Huffington Post, “What Soldiers at War Can Teach Us About Surviving Financial Warfare.”

Arianna Huffington, Huffington Post, May 20th

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/what-soldiers-at-war-can_b_583564.html

“Junger's...substantial storytelling gifts have made him one of America's most successful adventurer/writers.”

Manuel Roig-Franzia, Washington Post, May 23rd

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/21/AR2010052101657.html

“Gripping, gritty, blunt and honest . . . an outstanding portrait of American soldiers at the front in a relentless conflict.”

Mark Dunkelman, Providence-Journal, May 23rd

http://www.projo.com/books/content/BOOK-WAR_05-23-10_47IEJF2_v11.1053bd40.html

“moving testament to the courage soldiers show under fire. They face -- and survive -- stresses that most of us would considerable unimaginable. But in the confines of a printed book, it's riveting.”

Doug Childers, Richmond Times-Dispatch, May 23

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/entertainment/books_literature/article/BWAR23_20100519-175005/345520/

“Junger strips combat of its Hollywood-style glory and instructs us in its harsh realities. That is a valuable service, and War is a valuable book.”

Philip Seib, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, May 26th,
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/05/26/2219316/review-nonfiction.html#tvg

“gritty and heartfelt.”

Jody Seaborn, Austin American-Statesman, May 29

http://www.statesman.com/life/books/sebastian-jungers-war-a-year-with-a-platoon-716399.html?printArticle=y

"the bloodiest and most compelling book you are ever likely to read on the enduring carnage in Afghanistan"

Giles Whittell, Times Online, May 29th

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/non-fiction/article7138175.ece

"A connoisseur of all things extreme, Sebastian Junger dissects and personalizes armed conflict in his empathetic chronicle . . . The book effectively communicates the feelings, let alone the physical conditions, of men in the platoon, including the nonjudgmental, fair-minded author, who in effect evolved from observer to member. The book can be unsettling -- not surprising considering the topic -- and Mr. Junger doesn't take sides. This is not an anti-war book, though Mr. Junger deplores the loss of men who become his friends. At the same time, it's not sensational; it's straightforward and analytical . . . This book is not fodder for tracts or political campaigns. Rather, it's a take on what Mr. Junger calls a "deep game," fueled by his attraction to conflict, the chemistry it triggers and the communities it generates. Readers seeking explanation of why we are in Afghanistan should look elsewhere. Those seeking insight into war's innards will appreciate the details Mr. Junger so sharply and respectfully delivers.”

Carlo Wolff, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, May 30th

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10150/1061273-148.stm

"Why go? Because he loves the men, the camaraderie, he said. He’s always gone to these hellholes — first to Bosnia in 1993, all over Africa and Asia ever since, and found units of men fighting for each other’s lives."

Reilly Capps, Telluride Daily Planet, May 30th

http://www.telluridenews.com/articles/2010/05/30/news/doc4c01b52a0a992264154406.txt

“a detailed, unvarnished, thought-provoking, jargon-laced war story.”

Rae Francoeur, Georgetown Record, May 30th

http://www.wickedlocal.com/georgetown/newsnow/x1621115626/Book-Notes-Junger-brings-home-stories-of-War

Press Reviews

Sebastian supports Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors

Sebastian supports Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America