The Long Road Home: A Story of War and Family [Hardcover]

Martha Raddatz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2007

From ABC White House correspondent Martha Raddatz, the story of a brutal forty-eight-hour firefight that conveys in harrowing detail the effects of war not just on the soldiers but also on the families waiting back at home.

In April 2004, soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division were on a routine patrol in Sadr City, Iraq, when they came under surprise attack. Over the course of the next forty-eight hours, 8 Americans would be killed and more than 70 wounded. Back home, as news of the attack began filtering in, the families of these same men, neighbors in Fort Hood, Texas, feared the worst. In time, some of the women in their circle would receive "the call"-the notification that a husband or brother had been killed in action. So the families banded together in anticipation of the heartbreak that was certain to come.

The firefight in Sadr City marked the beginning of the Iraqi insurgency, and Martha Raddatz has written perhaps the most riveting account of hand-to-hand combat to emerge from the war in Iraq. This intimate portrait of the close-knit community of families Stateside-the unsung heroes of the military -distinguishes The Long Road Home from other stories of modern warfare, showing the horror, terror, bravery, and fortitude not just of the soldiers who were wounded and killed but also of the wives and children whose lives now are forever changed.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Violent resistance in post-invasion Iraq kicked into high gear on April 4, 2004, when American troops in Sadr City faced a massive assault that claimed eight soldiers' lives and wounded more than 70 others. Raddatz, an Emmy-winning correspondent for ABC News, clearly aims to equal the storytelling in Mark Bowden's Black Hawk Down in her account of the battle, and hits the mark with distinction. Extensive interviews with the commanding officers of the army's 1st Cavalry division and the soldiers pinned down in the streets provide a clear narrative of how U.S. troops, prepared for "a babysitting mission," found themselves in a bloodbath, as efforts to rescue the first soldiers fired upon met with even greater resistance from Mahdi militiamen who did not hesitate to use small children as frontline attackers. Heroic moments abound, like Casey Sheehan's volunteering to take another man's place on the rescue team, which resulted in his death. Raddatz touches upon the reaction of his mother, noted antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan, but this is just one of many perspectives from families on the home front. The gripping account eschews politics and focuses squarely on the soldiers and their sacrifices. (Mar. 1)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Raddatz, the chief White House correspondent for ABC News, has also spent considerable time not on the White House lawn or in the pressroom but covering, in person, the war in Iraq. To personalize war is usually the province of fiction and cinema, with nonfiction often left to be the more analytical side of war coverage. But here Raddatz infuses, with a professional elan belying the fact that this is her first book, her observations with the immediacy and even the discomfort that a novel would be expected to bring home to the reader (the discomfort being an unavoidable but perhaps necessary byproduct of any realistic depiction of war). Home is a particularly appropriate word here, because the home front is the flip side of her account. She's right there describing in horrific detail all the blood and guts, fear and anguish and bravery, of what the men and women she talked to and learned from endured on the front line. But she alternates these graphic scenes with poignant ones from back home, where mothers and wives await their loved-ones' deployment or dread the fateful knock on the door with bad news. To read her succinct, trenchant prose is to experience what we may not want to experience--but need to. There is considerable publisher push behind this book, so expect demand. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult; First Edition edition (March 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399153829
• ISBN-13: 978-0399153822
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (81 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #257,915 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read For All Americans, March 1, 2007

By 

Military Wife (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Long Road Home: A Story of War and Family (Hardcover)

I found this book to be a very thorough and accurate description of the unrelenting bravery of our military, the hell our soldiers go through during combat, and the emotional strain that the families back home endure. The Long Road Home is very well written and should appeal to a variety of audiences, both male and female. It is important for the American public to fully understand what going to war means for our military and its families, and Martha Raddatz has captured this impeccably in her book.

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bravo Martha....., March 7, 2007

By 

Chris Mclaughlin "teamsheltie" (Hawley, Ma USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Long Road Home: A Story of War and Family (Hardcover)

If you are prepared to know firsthand what our troops and the people who love them are facing day in and day out while we go about our lives in the safety of our borders read this book. It'll break your heart and make you proud...yes, we have gotten ourselves in a mess but that does not minimize the sacrifice our soldiers are facing everyday...and their families...such courage in the face of overwhelming adversity. Thank you Martha for one of the most, if not THE most important book about the Iraq War/Civil War.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The last word in the book (on pg 310) is a reminder for us all: "Remember.", April 3, 2007

By 

Craig Matteson (Saline, MI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Long Road Home: A Story of War and Family (Hardcover)

One of the problems in understanding what is happening in Iraq is in understanding what our soldiers are facing there. Too often, we forget that understanding of World War II and Korea came many years afterwards. It is always dangerous to think that news sound bytes or third hand analysis will provide for you what you need to know. Martha Raddatz had done some especially important reporting in this book that I believe everyone should read. At least everyone who cares about what is actually going on over there.

I want to emphasize the quality and style of the reporting. It is rare nowadays for a reporter to not also telegraph their own politics and opinions of the events they describe. Raddatz has higher standards. It is impossible for the reader to be sure about her thoughts about the events. Oh, you might project some onto her words, but if you carefully read what is on the page you cannot honestly infer her views. This is all one can ask of a reporter and Raddatz delivers.

The book centers on the battle that took place in Sadr City on April 4, 2004. A platoon that had newly arrived in Iraq was assigned the glorious daily detail of cleaning up the rivers of raw sewage the run in the streets. It isn't that the sewage runs because of wrecked sewers. There just are not any. This is normal life for these folks. One would think these folks would be grateful for the help. Instead, the Shia Muslims that made up the local population decided to declare their independence by attacking this maintenance detail. Hundreds of militia began firing at them.

The vehicles used for such work were not all armored and while they were armed they were not prepared for fighting on this scale. They quickly found an alleyway and commandeered a house and set up a defense. One of their number was killed and many were wounded before they set up the defense. They called for help and it was sent right away.

However, the help sent did not really understand the scope of the difficulty and brought humvees with canvas tops and opened backed troop carriers. They, too, suffered tremendous injury and death from the rooftops and doorways. It took a number of efforts over the next three hours to rescue the first platoon.

There are many scenes of heroism, loss, and horror. Many questions are raised. However, one should not play the awful bureaucratic political game of looking at what actually happened and then criticize the actions taken as if what happened could have actually been known beforehand. I will leave you to read about these incidents for yourself, but at the end of that day's battle eight soldiers had died and more than seventy were injured.

One of those who died in the efforts to pacify the city after the rescuer was Casey Sheehan. He was a humvee mechanic who was recruited to go out and help the wounded because he had some training in dealing with injuries. When all the random lead was flying he took a high powered round through his helmet and into his brain. I mention Specialist Sheehan because of the notoriety of his mother not because his sacrifice was any different than that offered by every other soldier on that day.

One of the most dramatic parts of the book is comparing Cindy Sheehan's reaction to hearing of her son's death (pg 261) with that of Diane Ibbotson when she heard about the death of her son, Forest (pg 262). I am not criticizing one over the other, but I am sure you will have a reaction to them. One moves me more with the quiet and selfless dignity, but you will have your own thoughts about these events.

Raddatz also shows us the families of these soldiers and what their support of their soldiers ON OUR BEHALF cost them. It is heart warming and heart breaking. The author achieves a great deal in making the soldiers real people with real wives, real children, parents, and siblings. The friendships among the soldiers also matter. However, in a fight you are comrades with the soldiers all around you whether you know them or not. Your survival depends on that trust and sacrifice.

This is a very moving book that I am glad I read and firmly recommend that you read.