What It Is Like to Go to War

By: Karl Marlantes

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

From the author of the bestselling and award-winning Matterhorn comes a brilliant nonfiction book about war and the psychological and spiritual toll it takes on those who fight.

“I wrote this book primarily to come to terms with my own experience of combat. So far—reading, writing, thinking—that has taken over thirty years.”

In 1969, at the age of twenty-three, Karl Marlantes was dropped into the highland jungle of Vietnam, an inexperienced lieutenant in command of a platoon of forty marines who would live or die by his decisions. Marlantes survived, but like many of his brothers in arms, he has spent the last forty years dealing with his war experience. In his first work of nonfiction, Marlantes takes a deeply personal and candid look at what it is like to experience the ordeal of combat, critically examining how we might better prepare our soldiers for war.

Just as Matterhorn is already acclaimed a classic of war literature, What It Is Like to Go to War is set to become required reading for anyone—soldier or civilian—interested in this visceral and all-too-essential part of the human experience.

Karl Marlantes, a cum laude graduate of Yale University and Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, was a marine in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Navy Cross, the Bronze Star, two Navy Commendation Medals for valor, two Purple Hearts, and ten Air Medals. He has lived and traveled all over the world and now writes full time. He and his wife, Anne, have five children and live on a small lake in Washington.

©2011 Karl Marlantes (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“A staggeringly beautiful book on combat…[Marlantes] is a natural storyteller and a deeply profound thinker.” (Sebastian Junger, New York Times bestselling author)

Not what I expected

This book is not what I expected! It is about some instances of combat during the Vietnam war, but the author goes into much more! Citing Carl Jung, workshops with Robert Bly, whiskey with Joseph Campbell....and introducing the shadow side of ourselves in a more modern way. I highly recommend reading this book. Even if you've never gone to war, you'll find parts of yourself in his narrative

The mental health of warriors should a priority.

The concept of preconditioning warriors prior to reaching the battlefield, and support post-battle is imperative.

A blessing

The perspective which Karl Marlantes unfurls in this marvelous work of art is a blessing to our present age and those ages long yet to come.

What many people need to hear

If you are a veteran or a friend or family member of one, this is a hard listen at times but I will tell you if you can get through it even if in parts at a time it will change your perspective of veterans and their families. The sacrifices both make for our country. Many don’t know the horrors seen in war and what one lives with daily while in combat and then the difficulties after returning. I want to thank Karl Marlantes for sharing this story for all of those who can not. I feel this book needs to be read by anyone who may judge a veteran for the way he/she may feel about their experiences.

a "Narrative"

some very interesting moments drug out with author's phsycology & religion. original and told from the heart

Very Introspective POV

Great stories coupled by a surgical analysis and expansion of the underlying topic at hand.

More than I'd imagined

The author and I inhabit the same age cohort. His descriptions of the moral domain of combat, and the context in which the war in Viet Nam was fought, but particularly what it was like to come home, broke my heart. It is so important that others read this account so that we can begin, collectively, to understand the terrible forces unleashed in those of us who find ourselves pursuing this path as young people.
Aside from being a great story teller, Marlantes has taken a depth psychological view of the subjective domain of the Warrior. He writes about the "temple of Mars", in a way that enlivens the commentary on morality that is his central thesis.
I like to think that I was savvy enough to have seen the handwriting on the wall by the end of the summer of 1966, where I'd been closely exposed to the life of a Marine fire team during an exercise at Camp Pendleton. As a 20 year old midshipman, I knew deeply that the grunt who was leading our little patrol, though he was my age, was inhabiting a different universe than mine, but not that different than the guy in Texas who had just wiped out 20+ students firing as a sniper from the Texas Tower. I decided at that point, I wasn't looking to get a Marine commission. Didn't think I needed to be a hero, and realized I'd rather have a steel hull around me than a jungle. Consequently, I have no PTSD. As a result, my coming to terms with Viet Nam has taken a different shape. I became a family therapist and have spent well over thirty years grappling with the struggles that all of us, particularly men, have in reconciling the parts of ourselves that go to war. I am very thankful for this book in a way that is quite personal and yet hope that everyone can find some link to the personal stories about war that haunt American lives.

Builds Beautifully, Kicks Horribly

This book is brutal and extraordinary - honest, forthright, the product of deep thought over decades, and a product of obvious personal pain. I could not recommend this book more highly if you are interested in the topic, and particularly if you know someone hungering to sign up for active duty in any military.

'What It Is Like to Go To War' is not a glorification of causes or combat, or really even pro- or anti-war. I found this a very clear-eyed, realistic, and also soft-hearted and broken meditation focused on the effects and causes. My favourite chapter was on 'the club' of men and the boys who want in; Marlantes' personal story is the motor which keeps the text moving.

The book also builds its argument well, meaning it gets better and goes deeper toward the end of the book. The only drawback to the listen is the occasional didactic tone Marlantes engages in specifically around policy - "we can't expect young kids to become warriors and then come back to us...we should...we must...etc" - which is aggravated by the narrator's sometimes overly-strident tone. Given the author's deliberately emotional arguments and his close-to-the-bone experience, this is very pardonable, and the book serves an effective argument over a layer of devastating memoir. To be clear, his experiences are visited in detail and are unavoidable.

Finally I have to say also that if you are a combat veteran, this is one author you are likely to respect and book you are likely to well, 'enjoy' among the BS which litters the so-called gods of war genre.

War - Made Subject to Deep Considerations

A philosophy of going to war. Where Sun Tzu teaches how to wage the strategies and tactics of war, Carl Marlantes teaches how to achieve the best state of mind to wage war and, after war how to bring our troops home to be productive members of society. How we need to care for our warriors before, going into, during and coming out of war.

George W. Bush, please do not read this book, it will make it difficult to swallow. Dick Cheney, don’t worry, you probably won’t care to grasp its logic; it may be antithetic to your perceptions.

Presuming philosophy means a methodology of addressing problems by critical, systematic and rational argument - this book is a philosophical analysis of the only circumstance in which we may cause violence to achieve a more secure world. (That last statement reminds me of the logic of one of the posters in the Rock Opera “Hair,” “Warring for peace is like f***ing for chastity.”) Marlantis though, sets down a logical path for the former part of the inconsistent syllogisms, while keeping an eye on the veracity of the second deductive synthesis, the chastity part.

I think, I hope, Marlantes has laid before us a much better way of caring for the men and woman of our armed forces. I think, I hope his theories prove to be justifiable. If so, I think, I hope his thoughts will have everlasting effect.

A different kind of war story

Would you listen to What It Is Like to Go to War again? Why?

I would listen again. I would recommend this book to those who have experienced combat and those who are about to become involved in combat. I don't pretend to understand what Vietnam veterans lime Marlantes went through. He provides insight with the benefit of coming to grips with his own demons from Vietnam. Marlantes sometimes wanders into a spiritual analysis of warfare that felt strangely foreign to me. His insights were always interesting even when I had trouble comprehending his intended impact on the reader. I was made well aware of the fact that he was a man who had been forever changed by war. With that in mind, I had no problem letting him run into strange views and interpretations about life in general. It is a good book, but do not go into it expecting a story you might hear sitting at the local VFW with a few cold brews extolling the glory of war.

Would you be willing to try another book from Karl Marlantes? Why or why not?

I look forward to reading Marlates' book, Matterhorn. I would definitely encourage those who are dealing with their own war demons. I think some of his views are dead on, while I can only raise eye brows at others. Again, I have not reservations about letting him go on with his thoughts. He has been there and he deserves his right to talk about it from his point of view. Some of his fellow veterans might disagree with him, and they have earned that right as well. I feel that Marlantes has a deep love for his country, the Corps, and those men and women who are called upon to engage in "policy by other means.

Which scene was your favorite?

I was especially touched by some of his descriptions of actual combat experiences and his responsibility to make life and death decisions for his men.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I was greatly moved by his discussion of moral obstacles he faced in going to war. The Vietnam war forced men who were too young to make conscious decisions that would have been challenging for even the wisest among us. The fact that Marlantes seems to be still on a journey of resolving these issues forty years later helped me get a better grasp of just how much combat experiences steeps into ones marrow, and becomes one with the mind and Psyche.

Any additional comments?

I found his discussion of religious issues strange (not necessarily in a bad way). He is a great story teller; however, there were points in his story where I simply had to dismiss what he was saying and conclude that I have reference point to understand nor jude the validity of his statements. I felt Bronson Pinchot did an excellent job of narrating the story. If you are easily offended by the "f" word, you may want to steer clear. Marlantes was a Marine, and the language sometimes brought back my own flashbacks of being with the Marines at Camp LeJeune. I gave the story a modest three due to the fact that he sometimes went on rants, and at other times the overall story was disjointed, however, I did find the book worthwhile, and I will likely revisit parts of it again as I do more research on the war in Vietnam.