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8 reviews for:
American Cipher: Bowe Bergdahl and the U.S. Tragedy in Afghanistan
Matt Farwell, Michael Ames
4.09 AVERAGE
8 reviews for:
American Cipher: Bowe Bergdahl and the U.S. Tragedy in Afghanistan
Matt Farwell, Michael Ames
4.09 AVERAGE
I deeply appreciated this deeply empathetic and humane perspective on Bergdahl. In many ways, it was heartbreaking and genuinely challenging. The story of American institutions, exploiting or ignoring him to their own ends should trouble anybody reading this. I truly hope Bowe has found peace since his return.
American Cipher is the incredibly well-written book about Bowe Bergdahl and as a result the war in Afghanistan. Whether you're a student of history, human behavior or even if you're trying to understand the current events in the United States, the book is for you. There are so many lessons in this book, not least that 'truth' is not just a casualty of the last 4 years.
"Five years after Bergdahl was freed and more than seventeen after the war began, those trees bear no signs explaining why they were planted, and Americans are still serving and dying in Afghanistan for reasons most people can't explain."
adventurous
reflective
fast-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
An excellent book about Bowe Bergdahl. The book chronicled his early life, military career, capture, rescue, and the aftermath. The book also covers the Iraq and Afghanistan war starting from the Soviet invasion leading all the way to more or less present time. The book does a really good job explaining the shortcomings of the war and how the US bureaucracy and Military complex royally messed everything up. Very well written. Similar to and Isabella Wilkerson book.
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
I was pleasantly surprised at how this was a critical, multi-dimensional look at the Bowe Bergdahl case. The authors didn't present any party involved as inherently heroic or flawless - not Bowe who made a reckless decision, not the national security community whose motives were varied, and not the media personalities who profited from their sensationalist takes. I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in the Bergdahl case as a striking case study of how the military-industrial complex serves politicians and the aspirations of its leaders, not the individual servicemen and women in their command. It also serves as a decent primer on U.S. military history in Afghanistan and the Middle East.
emotional
informative
tense
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture
"Bergdahl’s truth was far sadder than the version that his country had written for him upon his return. His truth also matched what Coe and his friends in Idaho had believed all along: Bowe was a well-intentioned, remarkably naïve twenty-three-year-old with the impulsiveness and judgment of a kid half his age."
- Matt Farwell, et al, American Cipher
I was conflicted both about reading this book and reviewing it. The book was a bit tender for me. Bergdahl's parents came to my brother's funeral about 9 years ago in South Eastern Idaho. My brother had recently died in a black hawk crash. He served in Iraq twice, served in Afghanistan twice, was awarded numerous medals for valor, including the Distinguished Flying Cross. My little brother served 16 months in Eastern Afghanistan in the same area, roughly as Bowe Bergdahl spent spent his first month+ in Afghanistan. My father-in-law was a contractor in Kabul, Afghanistan for almost 3 years. My brother-in-law was an Army artillary officer who trained Afghans on using big guns. It is hard for me to have a conversation with a male in my family without discussing Afghanistan. I've read a bunch on Afghanistan, but felt a bit overwhelmed by the subject.
We've been in this war for nearly 18 years. Men and women are going over to Afghanistan now who weren't alive when 9/11 began. Like many in the West, I can also pretend for days and weeks and months that there isn't a war going on; that people aren't dying, being shot, and being broken (on both sides). In truth, I'm exhausted by it. But I also, at the same time, feel a tremendous responsibility to TRY to understand why we are there, to uncover the "truth" from the wreckage of time, politics, and propaganda. So, I continue to try to read books that get me a bit deeper into understanding the mess that IS the war in Afghanistan.
So, why did I find it hard to review this book? Well, this book was basically the brain-child of, and co-written by, my brother. My brother and Michael Hastings broke the story open years ago in Rolling Stone. Matt brought the story to Hastings and Hastings mentored my brother as they worked on this piece in 2012. A few years after they began their collaboration (they co-wrote several articles in Rolling Stone) Hastings died. Bowe Bergdahl and Afghanistan has consumed my brother since. How do I review THAT? How do I keep my bias to a minimum?
The reality was, however, once I actually started the book I was hooked. The writing was great. There were a couple jumps that were a bit wonky but other than that it seemed to sit easily on the shelf next to Wright's [b:The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11|110890|The Looming Tower Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11|Lawrence Wright|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320471617s/110890.jpg|2567720] and Junger's [b:War|7519640|War|Sebastian Junger|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1344271278s/7519640.jpg|9737203]. Just look on the back. [a:Sebastian Junger|16494|Sebastian Junger|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1458242367p2/16494.jpg], [a:Karl Marlantes|2904306|Karl Marlantes|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1286209558p2/2904306.jpg], [a:Andrew Bacevich|7510031|Andrew Bacevich|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], [a:Andrew Cockburn|85050|Andrew Cockburn|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1397060432p2/85050.jpg], and [a:Anand Gopal|117677|Anand Gopal|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1442456113p2/117677.jpg] all wrote stunning praise for the copy. Perhaps, my love for the book was independent of my love for one of its authors.
The book does two things amazingly well: 1. It humanizes Bowe Bergdahl. 2. It illuminates, through the Bergdahl episode, the disfunction of the US military, political system, foreign policy, and our press. This isn't a superficial and partisan look at Bergdahl. The authors don't trash one party, they show the weakness of every administration going back to Carter (and perhaps even Eisenhower) in dealing with Afghanistan. Matt is able to bring out the devil in the details of the military, the CIA, and the bureaucracy in Afghanistan. Michael Ames (and previous work done by Michael Hastings and Matt) provides background on Bowe's youth and family in Idaho. It is hard to read this story without appreciating the complexities of Bowe's relationship with his father.
But it is the way this book weaves the story of Bowe with the policies and decisions in Afghanistan that make this a great (and yes important) book. The prose is fantastic (go read shorter pieces written by my brother in the New York Times or Vanity Fair or Playboy to see my brother knows how to bend a sentence and expand a word). It is well-researched, balanced, and does what good reporting is supposed to do - inform. It also, in the end, provides a nice, neat metaphor for our experience in Afghanistan. It was easy to get over there, but because of our overconfidence and naïveté, extremely expensive and complex trying to leave.
If you still doubt me, just read Matt's interview with the New York Times. It is fire:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/magazine/bowe-bergdahl-afghanistan-book.html
- Matt Farwell, et al, American Cipher
I was conflicted both about reading this book and reviewing it. The book was a bit tender for me. Bergdahl's parents came to my brother's funeral about 9 years ago in South Eastern Idaho. My brother had recently died in a black hawk crash. He served in Iraq twice, served in Afghanistan twice, was awarded numerous medals for valor, including the Distinguished Flying Cross. My little brother served 16 months in Eastern Afghanistan in the same area, roughly as Bowe Bergdahl spent spent his first month+ in Afghanistan. My father-in-law was a contractor in Kabul, Afghanistan for almost 3 years. My brother-in-law was an Army artillary officer who trained Afghans on using big guns. It is hard for me to have a conversation with a male in my family without discussing Afghanistan. I've read a bunch on Afghanistan, but felt a bit overwhelmed by the subject.
We've been in this war for nearly 18 years. Men and women are going over to Afghanistan now who weren't alive when 9/11 began. Like many in the West, I can also pretend for days and weeks and months that there isn't a war going on; that people aren't dying, being shot, and being broken (on both sides). In truth, I'm exhausted by it. But I also, at the same time, feel a tremendous responsibility to TRY to understand why we are there, to uncover the "truth" from the wreckage of time, politics, and propaganda. So, I continue to try to read books that get me a bit deeper into understanding the mess that IS the war in Afghanistan.
So, why did I find it hard to review this book? Well, this book was basically the brain-child of, and co-written by, my brother. My brother and Michael Hastings broke the story open years ago in Rolling Stone. Matt brought the story to Hastings and Hastings mentored my brother as they worked on this piece in 2012. A few years after they began their collaboration (they co-wrote several articles in Rolling Stone) Hastings died. Bowe Bergdahl and Afghanistan has consumed my brother since. How do I review THAT? How do I keep my bias to a minimum?
The reality was, however, once I actually started the book I was hooked. The writing was great. There were a couple jumps that were a bit wonky but other than that it seemed to sit easily on the shelf next to Wright's [b:The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11|110890|The Looming Tower Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11|Lawrence Wright|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320471617s/110890.jpg|2567720] and Junger's [b:War|7519640|War|Sebastian Junger|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1344271278s/7519640.jpg|9737203]. Just look on the back. [a:Sebastian Junger|16494|Sebastian Junger|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1458242367p2/16494.jpg], [a:Karl Marlantes|2904306|Karl Marlantes|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1286209558p2/2904306.jpg], [a:Andrew Bacevich|7510031|Andrew Bacevich|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], [a:Andrew Cockburn|85050|Andrew Cockburn|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1397060432p2/85050.jpg], and [a:Anand Gopal|117677|Anand Gopal|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1442456113p2/117677.jpg] all wrote stunning praise for the copy. Perhaps, my love for the book was independent of my love for one of its authors.
The book does two things amazingly well: 1. It humanizes Bowe Bergdahl. 2. It illuminates, through the Bergdahl episode, the disfunction of the US military, political system, foreign policy, and our press. This isn't a superficial and partisan look at Bergdahl. The authors don't trash one party, they show the weakness of every administration going back to Carter (and perhaps even Eisenhower) in dealing with Afghanistan. Matt is able to bring out the devil in the details of the military, the CIA, and the bureaucracy in Afghanistan. Michael Ames (and previous work done by Michael Hastings and Matt) provides background on Bowe's youth and family in Idaho. It is hard to read this story without appreciating the complexities of Bowe's relationship with his father.
But it is the way this book weaves the story of Bowe with the policies and decisions in Afghanistan that make this a great (and yes important) book. The prose is fantastic (go read shorter pieces written by my brother in the New York Times or Vanity Fair or Playboy to see my brother knows how to bend a sentence and expand a word). It is well-researched, balanced, and does what good reporting is supposed to do - inform. It also, in the end, provides a nice, neat metaphor for our experience in Afghanistan. It was easy to get over there, but because of our overconfidence and naïveté, extremely expensive and complex trying to leave.
If you still doubt me, just read Matt's interview with the New York Times. It is fire:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/magazine/bowe-bergdahl-afghanistan-book.html