The March Up : Taking Baghdad with the 1st Marine Division

Rating:
Summary: More of a struggle to read than the taking of Baghdad was.
Review: Though the authors clearly had excellent connections, the telling of the story is rather sophomorish. The book lacks gripping suspense, interesting stories, and drama. It's a shame, too, because the U.S. Marines are a great outfit, and they deserve to have their story told professionally, with candor and color. I found this book hard to finish, though I desperately wanted to finish it--to get it out of my reading pile! There is a false leadup with Corporal Ferkovich that never seems to see the light of day. The book begins as if he is going to figure prominently in it, but in the end he's just another name to fill up pages with.

Do I recommend, The March Up? Not at this point. This is the second combat narrative I've read on the Iraq War, and neither one has been sterling. The other was In the Company of Soldiers by Rick Atkinson. Both books lack a real connection with the actual soldiers and both concentrate too much on officers.

Rating:
Summary: It could have been better
Review: Unfortunately the authors intruded too much into a narrative that was rather poorly written and somewhat confusing for authors of their background. This book, in my opinion, projects an unpleasant and annoying degree of narcissism by the authors and likewise a sense of gratuitous adventuristic exploitation of a Marine unit that certainly does deserve high praise and gratitude for their heroism, sacrifice, and perseverence in the face of tremendous stress, uncertainties and severe sleep deprivation. This certainly should not be considered the definitive history of the Marine Division it is the Marines themselves that will write the definitive history and so this book can only be considered as an interim and perhaps satisfactory initial written tribute to those brave young men.

Rating:
Summary: The fist real book on the war (and not biased)
Review: What a major sigh of relief I let out when I started reading the intro and first chapter to this book. The publishing landscape is so filled with so many biased politicos-turned-horrible authors hoping to outshock one another that I feared this book would push right or left in seconds. The March Up is non-fiction historial writing one the finest caliber; the authors fulyl disclose all a reader needs, the insight is fresh, and the accounts are interesting and subject to your own interpretation. I will spare you my own takes on what the war, the Marines, and the future for the U.S. in this region will hold, but i will tell you this: The March Up was the crucial document that led me to my conclusions.