Nonfiction Book Reviews

A while ago, I read some posts put up by a blogger, Michael Yon, on his website, Michael Yon Online.  I thoroughly enjoyed his posts and so when a gentleman came into the library with fliers advertising Michael Yon’s new book, Moment of Truth in Iraq, I was excited to request that the book be ordered for our library.

I just finished reading it - I read it over the course of two days because I simply couldn’t put it down.  I’m kind of at a loss for words on how to describe the book, so I’ll start with the easy part: A little background about Michael Yon.

He’s a former Green Beret turned journalist/photographer.  He has spent more time embedded with US combat troops in Iraq than any other journalist in the world.  He is completely independent - he does not work for any news organization and is not paid by anyone.  He is equally critical of both the Republicans and Democrats, and he doesn’t pull any punches.  His picture of a soldier carrying a wounded little girl has become iconic (it’s the front cover of his book).

Now for my critiques of the book: It is composed of different “dispatches” (his name for blog posts) that he had written while in Iraq.  They are not connected and do not flow well.  They are not prominently dated, and he jumps around from year to year with no apparent rhyme or reason.

Basically, the book tries to be chronological, but fails miserably.  Also, if you were a dedicated reader of his website, you really don’t need to buy his book (other than if you want the info in a printed and bound form for some reason).  A good editor should have come along and straightened the flow and timeline out, but didn’t.

Speaking of good editing, you can tell that Michael Yon is photographer first, writer second. He’ll change the subject halfway through a paragraph, and never go back to the original subject, leaving the reader confused.  He also had some typos in here that bugged me (again, good editing.  Who worked on this project??)

All of that aside though, the book itself was excellent.  Case in point: When I read a book, I’ll fold down the corners of the book to mark a page that I think I might want to quote in my review of the book.  I try to find a couple of different sections that might be good to quote, so I have a nice variety to choose from in the end when I finally write up the review.

With Moment of Truth in Iraq, I realized that I was folding down every 10th page or so.  I basically just wanted to take the entire book and post it, because it was that good.  I cried a little, I laughed a little, I thought a whoooooole bunch.  Some of these stories that he reports are just amazing, and it’s hard for me to not tell you guys all of the best ones!

I finally decided on the following quote, because although it doesn’t encapsulate the exciting, nail-biting parts of the book, it does show his unique stance on the political point of view of this war:

All news organizations, from the newbie blogger to the New York Times, from right-wing talk radio to NPR, from CNN to Fox, all ultimately depend upon the financial support of their audiences.  So readers and listeners and viewers should not be surprised when media organizations tell them what they want to hear. 

Happy news for the Left was that US soldiers were demoralized and the war was being lost.  Happy news for the Right was that there was no insurgency, then no civil war; we always had enough troops, and we were winning hands-down, except for the left-wing lunatics who were trying to unravel it all. 

They say heroin addicts are happy too, when they are out of touch with reality. ~Moment of Truth in Iraq, page 214

Like I said, he really doesn’t pull any punches. He doesn’t try to make America look all good, or all bad.  He talks about the mistakes we made, and how we’re learning from them.  He talks about how Iraq is doing better now than ever before, and that the war is ours to win or lose.  It is an extremely thought-provoking book for people on both sides of the aisle.

This is one of those cases where the meat of the book is excellent enough that the drawbacks can be overlooked.  I highly recommend this book to everyone, Left or Right, whether you’re Republican, Democrat, or Libertarian.  I wish that every man and woman in America took the time to read this book, but especially the reporters for the mainstream media.  Perhaps they can take notes on how to really report on a war.

In the end, I have to give it 4.25 out of 5 stars.  With some editing help, it could have easily garnered 5 stars - it was that good.  Maybe next time Michael will contact me to help him out.

Hava

PS FYI, he’s put the first chapter up on his site - you have to download it as a PDF file.  That’s a great way to see if it’s something you would enjoy reading.

I remembered vaguely hearing about Not Without My Daughter by Betty Mahmoody when I spotted the book doing check-in at the library. Some lady got stuck in Iran and couldn’t leave was about all I could recall. So I checked the book out and brought it home - it sounded like an interesting plotline, and hopefully worth the read. I didn’t realize at the time that there had been a movie made from the book, nor have I watched the movie since, so if any of my readers out there have watched it, please pipe up - I want to hear what you thought about it.

As for the book, it was captivating. I was immediately drawn into the story and could hardly put it down. She reveals the backstory piece by piece throughout the book instead of hitting you all at once with it, so I kept wanting to read further, because there were certain things that she did that made no sense to me. She would hint at the reason, but then draw back and not actually state it. Then she’d do it again 50 pages later.  Arrgh!  Although it drove me crazy, it definitely kept my attention.

But as the backstory began to fall into place, her actions started to started to make sense (finally!) and I was by that point completely hooked. I had to know what happened next!

For those of you who haven’t read the book/watched the movie, it’s basically about how Betty marries Moody (that’s his nickname) who is from Iran.  She’d met him here in America when he was treating her as a patient - he was a doctor and apparently very Americanized, or so she thought.  Backstory, backstory, backstory (hey, if Betty made me wait, I’m going to make you wait, LOL!!!), they get married, backstory, backstory, and finally they end up in Iran on a trip, visiting his family. He completely changes his personality, and he ends up trapping her in Iran.

This trip happens in 1984, and in 1984 in Iran, a woman could be killed for using birth control without her husband’s permission.  She could also be killed for a host of other things (as Betty found out). Back then, women had zero rights - they were to be used and treated as the man saw fit. It was written into their constitution that way (as Betty also found out).  So if her husband didn’t want her to leave, there was no official way for her to get out.  She was stuck.

Betty tried to find a way to escape illegally, but every person who offered her help told her, “I can get you out, but you’ll have to leave your child.” Which is where the title of the book came from, because Betty told them all the same thing: “Not without my daughter.” She would not leave her little girl behind.

I don’t want to say anymore for fear of ruining the book, so I’ll leave the plotline there. I did want to say that there was one thing about the book that bothered me, and that was that Betty comes across as quite a snot at times, especially at the beginning. To me, his family not liking her didn’t exactly come as a surprise. She spends a lot of time bashing living conditions and food preparation, and I can just see her in my mind, looking down her nose at these “backward natives,” as she saw them.

I know it would have been hard to live through, but when you’re in Rome, sometimes you’ve got to do as the Romans do, not just sit in judgment of them and hold yourself as superior. That’s just manners.  So she kinda drove me nuts at points in the book.

Other than that quibble, I quite enjoyed the book, and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting a little more background into the Iranian government and people. Things have changed a lot in Iran in 24 years (not enough, but still, some progress) - but it’s worth the read, despite its age.

I give it 4.25 out of 5 stars.

Hava