MARINES IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN

The Battle for An Nasiriyah

Richard S. Lowry

photographs by Russ Bryant

NEW copy, hardcover with dust jacket. (Penguin Group, 2006). 448 pp.

From Booklist: An embedded reporter with the First Marine Division provides this excellent monograph on the Battle of An Nasiriyah. The first major ground engagement of the second Iraq War, the battle began with the ambush of the 5307th Maintenance Company amid poor visibility and, one suspects, faulty intelligence. The Marines quickly recovered their balance and tactical proficiency, and in close--quarters, combined-arms combat liberated the city from its own defenders' reign of terror. They also freed POW Private Jessica Lynch, about whom Lowry offers no sensational revelations. What he does offer is an excellent battle narrative, which, thanks to extensive interviewing, shifts from one unit to another, depending on which was most closely engaged. The result may not please antiwar readers, but probably neither Lowry nor the Marines had the slightest intention of doing that. A book that adds considerably to knowledge of the state of the U.S. Marines and the variety of human beings who "are proud to bear the title."

Hardcover OUT OF PRINT.

$25.00