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Nov 16, 2010
Sebastian Junger's "War" is based on his experiences following a single American Infantry platoon in Eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border for Vanity Fair magazine, done in 5 trips to Afghanistan over a period of 15 months. Junger's book is an observation and a contemplation, in which he describes a group of young men who find themselves at the outward edges of a war, becoming more cohesive with every firefight, but inevitably slipping away from any semblance of what society considers "normal". It is also an often fascinating social and psychological study of group dynamics, in which all purpose for being in the end boils down to the protection and preservation of the collective. Evoking both Michael Herr's writings on the Vietnam war and maybe just a bit of Sgt.Rock, "War" is a fascinating and thoughtful work that had me stopping to ponder and nodding in agreement.