Wounded: Vietnam/Iraq [Paperback]

Ronald J. Glasser (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 17, 2006

Glasser sheds light on the profound wounds, physical and emotional, that our troops face in Iraq.

In this gripping account of the human cost of the war in Iraq, Dr. Ronald Glasser offers an unparalleled description of the horror endured daily by the troops on the ground. Written by the author of bestselling 365 Days, this critical analysis focuses on those wounded in combat. Throughout, Glasser compares the U.S. military engagement in Vietnam to the current involvement in Iraq, drawing significant and frightening parallels.

With more than 10,000 American soldiers and 100,000 Iraqis already injured, Wounded is tragically relevant. This timely account—a powerful reminder of the physical, financial, and psychological costs of war—will only grow more important as our wounded continue to come home.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The relatively light body count among American soldiers fighting in Iraq is but the tip of an iceberg of suffering, argues this harrowing meditation on the hidden costs of war. Glasser (365 Days), who served as an Army physician during the Vietnam war, details the breakthroughs in technology, medical procedures and body armor that have made the Iraq war more survivable than previous conflicts but notes a depressing side effect: soldiers now survive horrific wounds that would have killed them in the past, wounds that will saddle them with physical and financial burdens for decades to come. The litany of "polytraumas" he describes-sometimes in grisly clinical detail-is varied and heart-rending, from the multiple amputations, seared lungs and brain-damage inflicted by road-side bombs to the psychological scars borne by a group of panicky Marines who open fire on a car, only to find they have killed an innocent woman and her three young daughters. Glasser mixes in his own Vietnam reminiscences to point up the similarities between the two quagmires, from moral corruption (he deplores the current involvement of physicians in interrogating prisoners) to social and economic inequalities that force the disadvantaged to bear the brunt of the fighting and maiming, to the false claims and false optimism officials deploy to justify war. The insights he draws are not always cogent ("In any war, but particularly this one, you can run, but you can't hide," he muzzily intones), but Glasser offers a sobering look at the new circles of hell being pioneered in Iraq.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Ronald J. Glasser is a physician and the author of seven books, including bestsellers 365 Days and Ward 402, which have been translated into nine languages. Glasser has written articles for magazines including Harper's, The Atlantic Monthly, and The Washington Monthly, and has appeared on several TV programs, including the Today Show. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: George Braziller; 1 edition (July 17, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807615692
• ISBN-13: 978-0807615690
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #933,691 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Facts, figures and compassion, June 26, 2006

By 

Mary Evelyn Lewis "Lynn" (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wounded: Vietnam/Iraq (Hardcover)

If you've ever wondered about what America's young men, and women, serving in the war on terror in Iraq face everyday, this book is for you. Ron Glasser has done an excellent job describing in facts and figures what this war is costing now and what will be paid in the future. Not only in monetary terms, but in the permanent disfigurement and disability of the wounded.

He explains, in sometimes terribly graphic detail, the horrors of being injured in Iraq, and how those injuries compare and contrast to injuries suffered in the Vietnam conflict. It's a different war, in a different time, but people are being injured and killed, just the same.

Everyone has questions about the war in Iraq. This book answers some, but leaves the reader with more.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gives the lie to to the low American mortality figures in Iraq., November 17, 2006

By 

Tim Johnson (Fremantle, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wounded: Vietnam/Iraq (Paperback)

I have long looked for the true figures about the nature of death in Iraq.
Fortunately the Australian media is slightly better than the pap served up by the media in the country that is causing the sickening mayhem in Iraq and we know only a little of the true monstrousness of this war to bring democracy to the unwashed masses of Iraq. Glasser lays it on the line and spells out, particularly in the chapter Final Diagnosis, the enormity of the American soldier's burden in this conflict. On page 73 he writes that there were 600 ammunition dumps scattered around Iraq when the Shock and Awe invasion ended. There's nothing unexpected in this but the problem happened when none of the Shock and Awe victors policed these dumps and they were cleaned out by the "defeated" Iraqi army. What this means in the reality of ground combat is that there is a virtually unlimited supply of hugely powerful explosives available to mine roads and anywhere else American soldiers find themselves in the horror of Iraq. Glasser goes into medical detail about what happens to middle aged reservists who are caught in these explosions. He talks as the expert he is about the wounds suffered by soldiers caught in an explosion of this huge power. He talks about what 155mm shells hooked to butane gas tanks does to a person's head when it explodes. Because of quick evacuation and superb treatment these poor wounded live but the impact on, particularly the head, causes horrific , lifelasting injuries.

I do not think, because of the media, America and the world in general knows what is happening to American soldiers in Iraq; I believe that the low death rates for US soldiers has led America to tolerate this war more than its true horror would indicate. Glasser's wonderful, readable and understandable book lifts the veil on the terrible price being paid for what has become a cesspool for American youth.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful!, April 30, 2009

By 

Jean A. Ostrom "JO" (Hutchinson, MN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wounded: Vietnam/Iraq (Paperback)

Every American should read this little book. Dr. Glasser describes the physical and mental conditions that will stay with the veterans of Iraq/Afghanistan for the rest of their lives.