One Soldier's War

By: Arkady Babchenko, Nick Allen - translator

Narrated by: Derek Perkins

Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

One Soldier's War is a visceral and unflinching memoir of a young Russian soldier's experience in the Chechen wars that brilliantly captures the fear, drudgery, chaos, and brutality of modern combat. An excerpt of the book was hailed by Tibor Fisher in the Guardian as right up there with Catch-22 and Michael Herr's Dispatches, and the book won Russia's inaugural Debut Prize, which recognizes authors who write despite, not because of, their life circumstances.

In 1995 Arkady Babchenko was an 18-year-old law student in Moscow when he was drafted into the Russian army and sent to Chechnya. It was the beginning of a torturous journey from naïve conscript to hardened soldier that took Babchenko from the front lines of the first Chechen War in 1995 to the second in 1999. He fought in major cities and tiny hamlets, from the bombed-out streets of Grozny to anonymous mountain villages. Babchenko takes the raw and mundane realities of war - the constant cold, hunger, exhaustion, filth, and terror - and twists them into compelling, haunting, and eerily elegant prose. Acclaimed by reviewers around the world, this is a devastating first-person account of war by an extraordinary storyteller.

©2006 Arkady Babchenko. Translation copyright 2007 by Nick Allen. Recorded by arrangement with Grove Atlantic, Inc. (P)2014 Audible Inc.

One of the Very Best Memoirs

“One Soldier’s War” is shocking and unbelievable. In the United States one can’t fathom treatment that these soldiers endure from their own and just in general. There are no words for the appreciation one feels living in a free nation. And as we let that slip away, we know what awaits us. But these brave men endured and all we can all just marvel at their bravery and ability to survive. Blown away. Derek Perkins is at his best here.

A thoughtful account of a thoughtless war

A morbid and detailed account of two of the most brutal wars of the late 20th century.
Not for the faint of heart.
But Babchenko manages to squeeze some humanity from shockingly dehumanizing conflict and that's a fantastic achievement in my book.
Only downside is the structure. It seems to have been organized in the order it was written, resulting in a story that jumps around the timeline frequently and can be confusing at times.

Incredible recollection of Chechen War

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know what real war is like.

Dark

As an Army Infantryman who served in the Iraq war, this book is one of the closest accounts to the brutality of the military and warfare I have yet to read. Often times I found myself reading words I have spoken to friends and therapists or thought deep in the back of my mind but never dared tell anyone. I am conflicted if I would recommend this book to other combat veterans as post traumatic stress is different for everyone but I believe if you are in the right headspace the book is a must read.

The best book about the Chechen war I’ve ever read

You feel like you’re physically in the carcasses when you read this book, it is truly an eye-opening story for anyone who wants to understand the post Soviet conflicts. He expertly details the effects of the bad leadership, supplies, poor food and carnage on the ordinary soldiers that were used as literal canon fodder. The soldier hazing described in the book was absolutely horrific and as a former servicemen, I cannot at all fathom this being done in the US military. We would have no noncommissioned officers which is a problem the Russians have today and I see why. I’ve listened to this twice in a row now and there are so many details you missed the first time. I cannot recommend this book enough

They're a lot like us.

The story is compelling. Whoever translated this from Russian deserves an award. it reads like something written by a lifelong English man or American with a great sense of irony, tragedy... and best of all... humor. I don't write reviews often. This may be my first. But I hope I succeed in getting you to listen to this man's story. SS

Disturbing, gritty, and very dark

Fascinating look into the Russian military. Not really a war book in a traditional sense. Although there are several scenes of combat, the story focuses on life outside of firefights.

Interesting insight

Interesting insight into the wars in Chechnya and the Russian Army. As a combat veteran, the end was fantastic.

A fantastic book

Loved the brutal story a must listen to or read,
Hopefully the author will tell more combat storys!

Must be read, absolutely.

Makes me really appreciate my own upbringing in a similar timeframe under vastly different circumstances. It still shocks me that the army of the 90's could be so incredibly cruel with it's own soldiers. Throws them away like they were never there.

Some of the descriptions remind me of other Russian war memoirs from World War Two with the horrific treatment from their own side, and the general horrors of war made worse by incompetence and negligence. I'm glad Babchenko made it out to tell this story.