Lost in Kandahar (Kindle Single) [Kindle Edition]

Alex Berenson (Author)

Book Description

When novelist and former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson traveled to Afghanistan for an embed with the 101st Airborne Division, he found great soldiers – and a seemingly hopeless mission. The gripping non-fiction tale of how the United States is spending $100 billion a year on a war that even the men on the front lines can't explain.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Kandahar, Afghanistan, February, 2011--Spy novelist and former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson arrives to embed with the 101st Airborne Division, as American forces find their mission of liberating small towns and villages from the Taliban threat increasingly difficult. At Kandahar Air Field, he spends three days, wandering its enormity, meeting collegial soldiers, browsing through shops selling goods emblazoned with the "Enduring Freedom" logo. "At KAF the war feels like nothing so much as a giant and profitable machine," Berenson writes, "paid for by the Chinese and greased with just enough American, British, and Canadian blood to keep it running." But don't mistake this author for glib. The suite of stories he goes on to tell--of combat, of corruption, of "hearts and minds"--depict a lost war, feeding on itself in a land with a history of swallowing invaders whole. But it's the immediacy of Berenson's writing that insists, right now, that "it is worth asking what all this blood and treasure is buying." --Jason Kirk

Product Details

• File Size: 117 KB
• Print Length: 21 pages
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004S41OLI
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #45,332 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #17 in Kindle Store > Kindle Singles > The World Stage
  • #21 in Kindle Store > Kindle Singles > Reporting
  • #24 in Kindle Store > Kindle Singles > Page-turning Narratives

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

140 of 155 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Biased, but still accurate and informative. March 21, 2011

By Paul Croteau

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This was my first Kindle "Single" download, I guess I should have expected it to be article length, not a short book. But it's worth $1.99 to get an up close look at the hard work our soldiers are doing.

Cut to the chase: I'm a conservative, the author is a liberal. That being said, I found this short book to be very descriptive and informative. The author is a talented writer and paints vivid pictures with lasting imagery. The more I read about our deployments, the more I support our troops and question our government.

Part of this book describes an aid station. This station that Berenson visited has dealt with over 100 trauma cases (military and civilians), and they have had to put lots of our solders (or parts of our soldiers) into body bags. I know this because I am good friends with the Captain interviewed in Chapter IV. I would like to note that the author failed to include any of the positive things we have done to help the locals, my guess is that this is due to his personal bias. But he does not claim this book to be a documentary, it is an opinion piece, and it is a well-written one at that.

Yes, Afghanistan is a mess, and it happens to be the one war that President Obama supported, but our troops are doing the best they can given the rules of engagement they are forced to live by, and given the lack of will of the people they are trying to help. Afghanistan is a horribly corrupt and backwards society (in my opinion), at some point we have to ask ourselves, "why are we there?"

98 of 110 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A snapshot of the War in Afghanistan March 16, 2011

By Jeremy Aldrich

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

A cynical journalist (Alex Berenson) spends an uneventful time embedded with US soldiers in Senjaray in Kandahar Province. He talks to the soldiers there about dealing with a baffling local culture, narrowly avoiding IEDs, and surviving an ambush which killed several of their company. Along the way, Berenson explains Army organization (from the fire team up to Gen. Petraeus) and details the costs of the war, finally concluding that the US effort is a quagmire with little or no positive lasting impact. My favorite part of the work was his description of Kandahar Airfield, an oasis of Western civilization and a babel of coalition forces.

The author did a good job mixing big picture facts with the granular experience of those on the ground, but the style was too flippant at times and his pronouncements on difficult issues were too facile. Ultimately, it came across as a somewhat glib recasting of potentially compelling source material.

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars keeping it real March 30, 2011

By sylvie Lacroix

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Most of us who read these "war" books just want a realistic view of what is going on over there. I felt this book did just that. My only regret is that it was so short. I have no regrets spending the 1.99, and recomend it to anyone who is interested in what the soldiers are enduring. My husband is currently in Afghanistan and since he can't tell me much about his day to day activities, it's given me good insight. I've read a number of these books.

shannah

More About the Author

As a reporter for The New York Times, Alex Berenson has covered topics ranging from the occupation of Iraq to the flooding of New Orleans to the financial crimes of Bernie Madoff.