Truth really can be stranger than fiction--and better reading, as well.Colonel Stanton's very impressive, highly readable memoir of his extraordinary adventures prior to and during the first Gulf War is a remarkable book--both for its ability to capture the inventive nature and casual courage of our finest military officers and for its ability to tell a thrilling personal story in a way that is neither bragging (too often a fault with first-person accounts) or pretentious.Stanton has the gift of telling a story straight and letting events speak for themselves.His experiences when stranded in Kuwait City during the opening phase of Iraq's invasion--when he kept an open line to U.S. authorities for days and reported directly from the Iraqi headquarters in his hotel--might have made a fine story in themselves, while revealing much about the Iraqi military's hidden weaknesses.His follow-on adventures as a prisoner-of-not-quite-war, absolutely true and corroborated, are better than the stuff of classic adventure novels.And he made it back to friendly lines in time to fight Desert Storm.This is a splendid military tale, well-told, of adventures that rival the great old military narratives from the Middle East, whether of Gordon Pasha, Lawrence or Wingate.And it's enormous fun to read, while making it very clear how we were able to defeat the Iraqis so handily.As this review is written, Colonel Stanton, whom I am privileged to have met as a consequence of my own military service, has served on the ground in our second Iraq war and is now in Baghdad, working on the reconstruction of Iraq.He's a soldier's soldier--and a superb storyteller.This book could not be more timely.The next time you feel the impulse to pick up a fictional thriller, skip it and read Stanton's book.It's more exciting--and it's true.Destined to become a modern military classic!Click Here to see more reviews about: Road to Baghdad: Behind Enemy Lines: The Adventures of an American Soldier in the Gulf War (Mass Market Paperback)
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