In his New York Times bestselling chronicle of military life, Anthony Swofford weaves his experiences in war with vivid accounts of boot camp, reflections on the mythos of the marines, and remembrances of battles with lovers and family.

When the U.S. Marines--or "jarheads"--were sent to Saudi Arabia in 1990 for the Gulf War, Anthony Swofford was there. He lived in sand for six months; he was punished by boredom and fear; he considered suicide, pulled a gun on a fellow marine, and was targeted by both enemy and friendly fire. As engagement with the Iraqis drew near, he was forced to consider what it means to be an American, a soldier, a son of a soldier, and a man.

"A bayonet in the eye...brutal and unforgettable."

--The Sacramento Bee

Michiko Kakutani

The New York Times

A searing contribution to the literature of combat, a book that combines the black humor of Catch-22 with the savagery of Full Metal Jacket and the visceral detail of The Things They Carried....An irreverent but meditative voice that captures the juiced-up machismo of jarhead culture and the existential loneliness of combat...Mr. Swofford conveys a chilling sense of what it is like to be under enemy fire, and he also communicates a palpable sense of the fog of war.

"A brutally honest memoir...gut-wrenching frontline reportage."

--Entertainment Weekly

Scott Anderson

War journalist and author of Triage and The Man Who Tried to Save the World: The Dangerous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Fred Cuny

Swofford's Jarhead is not just the finest memoir to emerge from Operation Desert Storm but one of the most honest and compelling accounts of men at arms in a generation. With a keen eye and biting wit, Swofford has rendered the true face of the battlefield — what it looks and sounds and tastes like — as only one who has been there can. In an age when politicians are again talking about good and just wars, Jarhead should be required reading for all those who would believe them.

Chris Offutt

Author of No Heroes: A Memoir of Coming Home

Jarhead tells us why boys go to war and how they return as men, told by someone who truly knows the perils of battle — a decorated veteran of the Gulf War. Anthony Swofford's courageous and lyric prose is matched by a searing personal honesty that will break your heart with its compassion. He reveals the inner life of a marine from boot camp to bombardment, to victory and peace. Like all great memoirs of war, humanity is at stake instead of politics. Anthony Swofford entered his adult life as a warrior, but has emerged as an artist of the highest order. This book is a great achievement. Everyone should read it.

William Boyd

Author of Any Human Heart

A scathingly honest and bleakly powerful book. A hugely disturbing insight into the minds of the very young men who long to go to war.

"A searing contribution to the literature of combat."

--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

Mark Bowden

Author of Black Hawk Down

Jarhead will go down with the best books ever written about military life.

When the Marines were sent to Saudi Arabia for Operation Desert Storm, Anthony Swofford was there, with a hundred-pound pack on his shoulders and a sniper's rifle in his hands. This is his scorching memoir of life on and off the battlefield.

Anthony Swofford served in a U.S. Marine Corps Surveillance and Target Acquisition/Scout-Sniper platoon during the Gulf War. After the war, he was educated at American River College; the University of California, Davis; and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. He has taught at the University of Iowa and Lewis and Clark College. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The New York Times, Harper's, Men's Journal, The Iowa Review, and other publications. A Michener-Copernicus Fellowship recipient, he lives in Portland, Oregon, where he is at work on a novel.