Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story Of a Band of U.S. Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan [Paperback]

Doug Stanton (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1847376665
• ISBN-13: 978-1847376664
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.3 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (141 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,392,634 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Doug Stanton lives in his hometown of Traverse City, Michigan, and has worked as a creative writing and English teacher at the undergraduate and graduate college level, and at Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan as writer-in-residence. He has also worked as a commercial fisherman, and caretaker of Robert Frost's house in Vermont. He has traveled extensively as a contributing editor (under yearly contract) for Esquire, Men's Journal and Outside magazines, writing travel, adventure, and political pieces, as well as cover stories about Hollywood figures like Harrison Ford, George Clooney, and Clint Eastwood. He is a founder of the high-profile Traverse City Film Festival, an annual celebration of cinema. With his contacts in the Department of Defense, Pentagon, and various branches of the U.S. military, Stanton is a subject matter expert in the areas of insurgency, counter-insurgency, and unconventional and civil wars.

Stanton graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy as a creative writing and theater student, and from Hampshire College in Massachusetts with a B.A.; and he received an MFA from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excitement personified, June 21, 2009

By 

Charles G. Irvine "Page turner" (Des Moines, IA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan (Hardcover)

Mr Stanton has created a fascinating narrative of the exploits of the US Special Forces in what was prewar Afghanistan.
The book title refers to the fact that our US SF needed to mount horses in order to stay with the Northern Alliance tribesmen they were helping to drive out the Taliban. Many of them had never before been on a horse. Really tough duty, especially on makeshift wooden saddles. The SF people are introduced by name, and you are given their bios, leading to the reader becoming intimate with all of them. A most interesting approach to telling the story.
I highly recommend this book.

68 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a stunning account - The Charge of the 9/11 Brigade, May 6, 2009

By 

wogan "the book reader" - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan (Hardcover)

I was given this book by a friend, so I looked at it and immediately - sat down, started reading and finished it almost one sitting. Horse Soldiers is the impressive story of the US Special Forces team sent into Afghanistan after 9/11 to capture Mazar-I-Sharif. So the first action against terrorists of the 21st century winds up conducted on horse back, more accurately a cavalry charge much like Mosby's raiders during the Civil War. There is action, pathos and even a bit of humor as a group of Special Forces men who had only, for the most part ridden horses in summer camp ride into battle. There was so much that was captivating, I found myself stopping to read passages out loud to my husband.
If I was still teaching current history this would be on the reading list, and I know it would be well received. I will be surprised to not see this book become a movie, its tale is gripping and fascinating. The men in this story will make you proud of our service men, their bravery, courage and at the same time you will be intrigued and awed by the skill and methods of our modern military.
As one who grew up in the army and have always been near those whose hearts and souls are given to protect us - this is a stunning account that reaches the best of a story teller's writing, except this is true and will make those who read it, aware of, and thankful for the skill and bravery that is written of in this book .

61 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An epic tale brilliantly told, May 5, 2009

By 

Joe Mielke (Kingsley, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan (Hardcover)

Horse Soldiers will take readers from the freezing interior of a high tech Chinook helicopter flying higher than it safely can through the mountains of Afghanistan delivering soldiers to desert gun fights fought on horse back harkening America's old west. It's a modern day Odessy written with a journalist's penchant for detail and Homer's gift for telling a warrior's story.

In the end it is also the harrowing tale of how a small group of American Special Forces and the CIA working with Afghan soldiers managed to defeat the Taliban in one of the world's remotest battlefields.

It's not a book about politics. Stanton sets out to tell what happened, how it happened and who it happened to. He does this with startling attention to detail and a an objective overview of U.S. Military actions.

At one point American bombers can't seem to hit a target whether the bombs are guided by Global Positioning System coordinates or LASERs. Near the end of the book they drop a bomb on some of their own men.

But it is Stanton's ability to weave a story that brings the book alive and takes readers to places they would rather not be to hear things they would rather not hear and to see things they would rather not see and to smell things they would rather not smell.

The story is told in a narrative fashion sometimes switching between Afghan battle and a spouse battling her emotions about whether her husband will come back home. And, although this switching back and forth fills in interesting background, it's a technique more akin to screen writing than book writing. It makes it harder for readers to keep track of what's happening to whom.

There are unusual moments as when Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld actually calls and asks why the soldiers aren't making enough progress and one of Special Forces officers writes a reply that Rumsfeld reads from during a press conference describing the miserable conditions and bravery of the Afghan fighters.

Stanton writes about the complexity of flying a helicopter under extreme conditions; cold, wind and extreme altitude like this: "You had essentially flown to the dead end of a physics equation."

Stanton relied on more than 100 books, articles and web sites and an equal number of interviews in writing this well documented book. He also traveled to Afghanistan to flesh out details and to see the fort where one of the major battles took place.

The book appeals to general readers seeking a good story well told as well as to those with an interest in history and the military. It also is a testament to the effectiveness of soldier-philiosphers who can outthink their enemies and think with their allies before they start shooting.