The Good Soldiers

By: David Finkel

Narrated by: Mark Boyett

Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

It was the last-chance moment of the war. In January 2007, President George W. Bush announced a new strategy for Iraq. He called it "the surge". "Many listening tonight will ask why this effort will succeed when previous operations to secure Baghdad did not. Well, here are the differences," he told a skeptical nation.

Among those listening were the young, optimistic Army infantry soldiers of the 2-16, the battalion nicknamed the Rangers. About to head to a vicious area of Baghdad, they decided the difference would be them. Fifteen months later, the soldiers returned home forever changed.

Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter David Finkel was with them in Bagdad almost every grueling step of the way. What was the true story of the surge? Was it really a success? Those are the questions he grapples with in his remarkable report from the front lines.

Combining the action of Mark Bowden's Black Hawk Down with the literary brio of Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, The Good Soldiers is an unforgettable work of reportage. And in telling the story of these good soldiers, the heroes and the ruined, David Finkel has also produced an eternal tale - not just of the Iraq War, but of all wars, for all time.

©2009 Dave Finkel (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

100 Notable Books of 2009 (The New York Times)

Best Books of 2009 (Publishers Weekly)

Best Nonfiction of 2009 (The Boston Globe)

Best Reads of 2009 (Slate.com)

Best Books of 2009: Nonfiction (Christian Science Monitor)

"Finkel's keen firsthand reportage, its grit and impact only heightened by the literary polish of his prose, gives us one of the best accounts yet of the American experience in Iraq." ( Publishers Weekly)

"A superb account of the burdens soldiers bear." ( Kirkus Reviews)

Phenomenal book

This book ells the story of the soldiers, commander and occasionally the interpreters of 2-16 during their deployment in the years 2007-08.

The book is told from a neutral stand point and does not delve into the politics of the war, or the surge though the author is a little harsh on Colonel K. The 2-16 was deployed into a very difficult situation and the cost was high in both physical and mental casualties.

The author and narrator do an excellent job portraying the human cost of the war and for this alone the book is worth listening.

Tillman story continues….if you are interested!

The story will focus around an infantry unit commanded by Ralph Kauzlarich during the “surge” (2007-2008)…who by the way, was the Ranger Regimental XO for Pat Tillman in Afghanistan. Kauzlarich conducted the second investigation into Tillman’s death. I have no respect for our government using Tillman’s death as advertising…but I couldn’t help but feel poetic justice as Kauzlarich faced the real impact of command…the wounded, the dead, the stress. The book is a “not so pretty look” at the war in Iraq…I commend Finkel on his work, and the time he spent…slow at times, I still must put into the MUST read category!

An eye opener and a heart string tug

A brutal open documentation of the war in the middle East and the life of the soilder

This is a must read

This is a great first-hand account of the effects of the surge in Iraq. The narrator was magnificent. Highly recommend

Eye opening

With so much negativity and political issues regarding what should have been done or should not have been done in this war much of the sacrifices and suffering our soldiers endured is often lost. This book shares many amazing events that these true heroes lived and died through.

I thought that the author and narrator provided an eye opening view into the monotonous and corroding dangers the soldiers faced each day. The emotional, mental and physical toll that the soldiers were exposed to were presented in a way that gave a small glance into not only how it change the soldier’s but also their loved one’s lives. This is one of those books that will stay with me forever and I highly recommend it unless you are faint of heart. Thank you to the soldiers and their families who give so much and often their lives to improve the world we live in.

Get them young!

This is an excellent book and I urge you to think about what you are reading or hearing. Research- real research- tells us that the human brain does not mature until a person reaches their early 20s and for the people in the 2-16 the average age is 19 just like Vietnam.
You can call them Men and Women but they are not- physically they are close enough but mentally it is not there yet so the Army wants to get the Infantry YOUNG - they will not know what is going to hit them.
If you know Military Psychiatry you know that average Americans can take about 200 days of combat risk and then they begin to come apart psychologically though some will not even last that long and some will last much longer. Combat risk means days when you might have reasonably been at risk of cobat not simply when you were actually shot at or bombed, mortared, rocketed, etc. A 15 month deployment at Camp Rustamiyah will be 400 days of combat risk. To subject a soldier to 1000 days of combat risk riding up and down the same roads waiting to be blown to pieces means the Pentagon is just .... you fill out the rest.
This book was written prior to 2009 and it is now 2018 and if you have not learned by now you just cannot learn and that is okay- its all good.

Compelling and brutal

Hard-hitting and one of the best accounts of the infantry's experience during the Iraq War that I've read. Finkel appears to have gained a remarkable level of trust with the soldiers and officers of 2/16th Infantry, enabling him to convey much of the weight of what they were asked to endure and achieve during their deployment. Recommended for anyone wanting to have some insight into what we ask of our soldiers. Personally, I'd make this required reading for elected officials, military officers and senior DoD civilians. Mark Boyett's narration is solid and effective.

Ok for the type of book it is

So many soldiers I had a hard time following which soldier was which. I finished it but wasn’t sad about it being over. Definitely a sad, graphic, a tale of the times.

Sad, Intruiging, inspiring....

This should be required high school reading. A great first hand account of the war experiences in Iraq just a few short years ago. Highly recommmend.

interesting, well written, hard to read

I was surprised I liked this book. Very informative and REAL. I WOULD SUGGEST YOU READ IT