War Nerd [Paperback]

Gary Brecher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2008

Self-described war nerd Gary Brecher knows he’s not alone, that there’s a legion of fat, lonely Americans, stuck in stupid, paper-pushing desk jobs, who get off on reading about war because they hate their lives. But Brecher writes about war, too. War Nerd collects his most opinionated, enraging, enlightening, and entertaining pieces. Part war commentator, part angry humorist àla Bill Hicks, Brecher inveighs against pieties of all stripes — Liberian generals, Dick Cheney, U.N. peacekeepers, the neo-cons — and the massive incompetence of military powers. A provocative free thinker, he finds much to admire in the most unlikely places, and not always for the most pacifistic reasons: the Tamil Tigers, the Lebanese Hezbollah, the Danes of 1,000 years ago, and so on, across the globe and through the centuries. Crude, scatological, un-P.C., yet deeply informed, Brecher provides a radically different, completely unvarnished perspective on the nature of warfare.

Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: Soft Skull Press (July 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979663687
• ISBN-13: 978-0979663680
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #752,129 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bloody. Brilliant., May 7, 2008

By 

Steven E. Martin "Steven" (Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: War Nerd (Paperback)

Sure, of course this is a mere collection of the Exile columns but I'm just tickled pink to be able to read these things in old school print and in a form where I can pass along the book to friends and enemies. Brecher's analysis of current events is not only frighteningly accurate but his writing is fit inducing hilarious. Buy this book. Often.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Third World repackaged for all us cubicle clones, August 5, 2008

By 

D. Halliday (Scotland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: War Nerd (Paperback)

Don't be deceived by the toilet humour, crudity and sweeping generalisations: this is a highly entertaining book with Brecher's observations on everything from the fashion choices of West African warlords to the conflict resolution style of Pakistani taxi drivers far more amusing than any serious comedy.

Certainly, this is just a collection of essays already available on the internet but besides the benefit of being printed in book form, this also gives the author and editor the opportunity to concentrate on what they judge the most important and worthwhile of Brecher's writings.

I found this book valuable for the following reasons:

Brecher's several page summaries of the bigger and more interesting Third World wars of the past few decades which generally receive so little attention in the West, despite containing some surprising omissions (for example writing dozens of pages on ethnic conflict in South East Asia without mentioning the overwhelming Chinese economic dominance in many of these countries), provide a superficial sketch of these conflicts for minimal reader effort (but don't expect rigorous references or justification).

Brecher's analysis of the nature of warfare itself and how it's changed since the end of the Cold War is very interesting: how Western military doctrines have not always yet caught up, particularly in regard to Iraq, Afghanistan and how the USA is potentially wasting much of its vast defence budget.

Brecher's understanding of the nature of typical ethnic relations (conflict rather than harmony) is essentially common sense to anyone with the capability of independent thought who pays attention to current affairs but apparently not yet recognised by the political class who runs Western societies or the media class who back them.

If you're interested in the rest of the world outside of the West, if you're interested in military conflict, this book is a worthwhile read.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent work, May 8, 2008

By 

D. Watt "pocketrubbish" (Vista, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: War Nerd (Paperback)

While it's just a collection of his columns at the eXile, I'm very pleased to give Brecher a little bit of money in return for all the entertainment he's given me over the years.