Thomas Ricks is a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter that used to work for the Wall Street Journal. He now blogs for Foreign Policy and is a fellow scholar at the Center for a New American Security, a defense policy and military think tank. Recently, on NPR's Forum with Michael Krasny, he picked his top 5 books about the war in Iraq, and listed the author Rajiv Chandrasekaran and his book Imperial Life in the Emerald City as his favorite. Now, the business and marketing around these interesting books or book is odd. The Kindle version of the book is marketed as the Green Zone, while the original hardcover of course retains its original title (just in case that throws you off at the bookstore; check for both titles). Author Rajiv Chandrasekaran writes and edits for the Washington Post, and recently wrote "The Longest War: Afghan Strategy's Proving Ground." Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone [DECKLE EDGE] (Hardcover) won the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2007 and was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Awards for non-fiction. Other interesting books about the war in Iraq: Love My Rifle More than You: Young and Female in the U.S. Army, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer, House to House: An Epic Memoir of War.
Erik D. Prince, founder of private security firm Xe Services — formerly Blackwater Worldwide — has reached a deal to sell his company to a small group of investors in California. Blackwater became the center of a debate about using private security firms in foreign wars after an alleged skirmish between insurgents and Blackwater personnel in 2007 left 17 Iraqi civilians dead. In the wake of the controversy, the company lost a large State Department contract to protect the U.S. embassy in Iraq, but formed over 30 separate "shell companies" in order to continue to receive millions of dollars in other government contracts. What's next for the private security firm? We're joined by Allison Stanger, author of "One Nation Under Contract: The Outsourcing of American Power and the Future of Foreign Policy." Stanger tells us more about Xe Services, past and future.
Today on The World: Ireland prepares for the painful impact of financial austerity measures;Also, Israel battles the biggest forest fire in its history;Plus, an American poet is honored in Wales for a book of verse inspired by her husband's deployment to Iraq.
Christopher Brownfield’s memoir, “My Nuclear Family,” is not the best book written by an insider about America’s post-9/11 military, but it’s certainly the most entertaining. It’s got a cocky, star-spangled, wide-angle feel, as if a subversive young novelist had decided to rewrite a Tom Clancy thriller after first piloting some nuclear submarines as a gonzo practice drill. “My Nuclear Family” is, in part, the story of a political conversion. Mr. Brownfield voted for George W. Bush in 2000 and graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 2001. He gleefully chanted Oliver North’s name — “Ol-lie, Ol-lie, Ol-lie” — along with his brigade when Mr. North waved from the stadium stands at the Army-Navy football game.
won the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2007 and was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Awards for non-fiction. Other interesting books about the war in Iraq: Love My Rifle More than You: Young and Female in the U.S. Army
, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer
, House to House: An Epic Memoir of War
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