Jarhead: A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War

'A scathingly honest and bleakly powerful book. A hugely disturbing insight into the minds of the very young men who long to go to war' WILLIAM BOYD
'JARHEAD is not only a work of reportage from a "privileged" observer, it is also a display of genuine talent' MARTIN AMIS
'This is a terrific memoir: intelligently self-aware, moving and considered. Swafford's honesty and front line humour should make "Jarhead" required reading for all teenagers, policy-makers and captains of industry. I would recommend this book to anyone.' A.L.KENNEDY
'By turns profane and lyrical, swaggering and ruminative, "Jarhead" --
referring to the marines' "high-and-tight" haircuts, which make their heads look like jars -- is not only the most powerful memoir to emerge thus far from the last gulf war, but also a searing contribution to the literature of combat, a book that combines the black humor of "Catch-22" with the savagery of "Full Metal Jacket" and the visceral detail of "The Things They Carried." THE NEW YORK TIMES
'Until JARHEAD, nothing I've read has so precisely dissected the psychotic enhancement of being alive that is found in the middle of a war; the way in which the individual is cast adrift from social order, common sense, even a balanced perspective of what's going on, to run mad in fear and fantasy.
JARHEAD would at any time be an incomparable document of military record. Right now it has an additional, vast resonance. People can support the war or not, believe in the need to send troops to Iraq or not, but in order for their opinions to have any value they must be informed about what war involves. With your book at hand they cannot say they didn't know. I believe it will be read by millions.'
JONATHAN KAPLAN, author of THE DRESSING STATION
'This is a book that smokes and screams in your hands. Brash, honest and most unnerving, JARHEAD delivers coruscating and unpleasant truths about war and warriors' Joy Williams - STATE OF GRACE and TAKING CARE
'One of the most compelling accounts of men-at-arms in a generation' Scott Anderson, author of TRIAGE
‘Jarhead is an eloquently and deftly crafted work’
GUARDIAN27/12
‘As you might expect of a sniper, Swofford proves an intuitive observer and his writing is visceral, sharp and engaging’
OBSERVER4/1
'It is hard to imagine a more convincing and unglamorous book about what it is like to be one of the ludicrously young people who fight our wars' SUNDAY TIMES 18/1
'Precise and passionate prose. JARHEAD is an unusual anti-war book Swofford's lament is not for a soldier's death but a soldier's life' DAILY TELEGRAPH
'One of the best 'war reads' since DISPATCHES by Michael Herr' DAILY MAIL
"A raw and uncompromising account of life at the sharp end of war. It's not pretty but it is riveting'
MAIL ON SUNDAY 25/1
"Powerful and bitterly brilliant memoir"
The Times 24/1

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE
When Swoffordwet ot e Gulf as a nineteen-year-old scout-sniper in the Maines, he had been trained to kill with a single shot. To kill would mean he was a good soldier.
When he came back, he had lived through weeks of fear and boredom in the desert, under enemy and friendly fire, surrounded by men reduced to their basest instincts. The person he had come closest to killing was himself.
Praise for Jarhead
'Remarkable. A scathingly honest and bleakly powerful book. A hugely disturbing insight into the minds of the very young men who long to go to war' William Boyd
'Jarhead is not only a work of reportage from a "privileged" observer, it is also a display of genuine talent' Martin Amis
'A miniature masterpiece: a classic account of war and the warriors who wage it. Already Anthony Swofford's literary debut is being mentioned in the same breath as novels such as Catch-22 and The Naked and the Dead.' Daily Telegraph
'I have read many books about war and combat. Apart from actual events in Vietnam somewhat like Swofford's, nothing about war has affected me like Jarhead' Jonathan Mirsky, Spectator
'A book that combines the black humour of Catch-22 with the savagery of Full Metal Jacket and the visceral detail of The Things They Carried' New York Times