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48 reviews for:
The Prisoner in His Palace: Saddam Hussein, His American Guards, and What History Leaves Unsaid
Will Bardenwerper
3.96 AVERAGE
48 reviews for:
The Prisoner in His Palace: Saddam Hussein, His American Guards, and What History Leaves Unsaid
Will Bardenwerper
3.96 AVERAGE
informative
medium-paced
Super interesting story. The book itself was a little slow at times, but still kept my interest. Very interesting juxtaposition to consider about what it must have been like for those soldiers.
dark
emotional
informative
medium-paced
Really interesting. The juxtapositions of Hussein's crimes with the moments with his guards made it clear that Bardenwerper wasn't trying to drum up sympathy. A good reminder that there's humanity on either side of a given set of battle lines.
This was one of the most interesting books I've read in a long time. I never thought I would learn that Saddam liked Mary J. Blige or Lipton tea, yet here we are.
This book is a hard one to deal with. I found myself, even when being reminded of some of the numerous atrocities Hussein committed, feeling sympathy for the man. That makes me feel kind of yucky, but at the sane time, I can't really help it. How do you reconcile those two faces of Saddam? I don't think you can; he was at once both a murdering, vicious tyrant and a loving father, kind to his friends. Oi.
This book is about the capture and arrest of SH from the perspective of the American Army. The author, if I'm not mistaken, was one of the soldiers involved at the time. He tells the story of SH in prison. Some were amazed and some were afraid. This author really wrote what he saw of SH as it was.
But in my opinion, this book is worth reading. Because, also from this book, we can understand the complexity of someone like SH.
But in my opinion, this book is worth reading. Because, also from this book, we can understand the complexity of someone like SH.
I was thinking about three quarters of the way through this book that maybe it should have been a long article rather than a whole book. But having finished the book and having had it affect me so deeply, I now understand. This is a story that needed to be fully told.
First, Saddam Hussein's final days are fascinating. Second, the look into his trial and execution are truly disturbing in terms of how they were handled. Third, the death penalty is a bad thing--parts of this book reminded me a bit of the book, "Dead Man Walking." No matter how bad some people are, there is humanity to be found in them, and we should be looking for that humanity rather than sinking to the level of an eye for an eye. As Jesus taught, there is a better way.
Finally, and most importantly...the impact this experience had on the soldiers who guarded Saddam Hussein and got to know him absolutely is a story that needs to be known. It shows the complexity of the human spirit and the ways our soldiers are harmed by war in expected and unexpected ways.
If you can read the final chapters of this book without shedding a tear or two for Saddam Hussein and especially for the men who were with him in his final days, you have a harder heart than I do.
First, Saddam Hussein's final days are fascinating. Second, the look into his trial and execution are truly disturbing in terms of how they were handled. Third, the death penalty is a bad thing--parts of this book reminded me a bit of the book, "Dead Man Walking." No matter how bad some people are, there is humanity to be found in them, and we should be looking for that humanity rather than sinking to the level of an eye for an eye. As Jesus taught, there is a better way.
Finally, and most importantly...the impact this experience had on the soldiers who guarded Saddam Hussein and got to know him absolutely is a story that needs to be known. It shows the complexity of the human spirit and the ways our soldiers are harmed by war in expected and unexpected ways.
If you can read the final chapters of this book without shedding a tear or two for Saddam Hussein and especially for the men who were with him in his final days, you have a harder heart than I do.
The near-mythical allure of Saddam Hussein and an enduring interest in the U.S. invasion of Iraq kept me turning the pages through this well-researched book. However, my enjoyment of the book as a work of literature was undermined throughout by stodgy, repetitive writing, choppy pacing, and lack of in-depth characterization. I could barely tell the American military guards apart, despite the fact that the author hammered home the same handful of characteristics for each one of them throughout the book. I guarantee I'll never forget that Saddam's translator was Lebanese-American, for example, because Bardenwerper makes sure to remind you each time he crosses the page, but I couldn't tell you anything else about him. The best parts were the anecdotes about Saddam, an endlessly fascinating figure who the author more or less manages to humanize. However, I think perhaps the greatest drawback to this book is its failure to manage the reader's expectations properly. The publishers did this book a disservice by comparing it, in the back cover blurb, to the literary masterpiece that is [b:In Cold Blood|168642|In Cold Blood|Truman Capote|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1424931136s/168642.jpg|1940709]. An interesting story, for sure, but a masterpiece it ain't.
After reading Phil Klay's editorial in the NYT yesterday (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/10/opinion/sunday/what-were-fighting-for.html?_r=0), I moved this to the top of the book stack. Using Army oral history and follow-up interviews with the participants, Bardenwerper has reconstructed the time a dozen young American MPs (with guest appearances by assorted CIA and FBI interrogators) spent guarding Saddam Hussein in one of his former palaces in the months leading up to his execution. In the shadow of Abu Ghraib, this confinement was under close scrutiny, but just as had happened with the Nuremberg prisoners, it was impossible not to have personal contact with a man whose behavior swung between cartoonish autocrat and charming, avuncular roommate. Bardenwerper manages a story that is part banality of evil, part fundamental American decency and all surreal.