David Finkel

In January 2007, the young and optimistic soldiers of the 2-16, the American infantry battalion known as the Rangers, were sent to Iraq as part of the surge. Their job would be to patrol one of the most dangerous areas of Baghdad. For fifteen months, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter David Finkel was with them, following them almost every grueling step of the way. The resulting account of that time, The Good Soldiers, is a searing, shattering portrait of the face of modern war. In telling the story of these soldiers, both the heroes and the ruined, David Finkel has also written a classic work of war reporting.

Every politician must read this book before sending their country's soldiers into battle. Dear soldier, before going to war, read this book. To understand the damage done by war, read this. --Barry Heard 'I'm urging everyone I know to give Thank You for Your Service just a few pages, a few minutes out of their busy lives. The families honoured in this urgent, important book will take it from there.' --Katherine Boo, National Book Award - winning author of "Behind the Beautiful Forevers" 'Thank You for Your Service is one of the best and truest books I have ever read. David Finkel cuts through all the spin, the excuses, the blowhard politics and mind-deadening metrics to discover the cost of war for the soldiers who fight it and the families they come home to. This extraordinary book will piss you off and break your heart. It will shame you and lift you up. It will bend your mind to the reality of an American war that is now well into its second decade.' --Ben Fountain, author of "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk", winner of the National Book Critics' Circle Award and finalist for the National Book Award 'In this incredibly moving sequel, Finkel reconnects with some of the men of the 2-16 - now home on American soil - and brings their struggles powerfully to life ... Told in crisp, unsentimental prose and supplemented with excerpts from soldiers' diaries, medical reports, e-mails, and text messages, their stories give new meaning to the costs of service - and to giving thanks.' --Publishers Weekly (starred review) 'In a series of interconnected stories, Finkel follows a handful of soldiers and their spouses through the painful, sometimes-fatal process of reintegration into American society. The author gives a clear-eyed, frightening portrayal of precisely what it is like to suffer with post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury and what it is like to have the specter of suicide whispering into your ear every day.' --Kirkus Reviews (starred review) '[A] heartbreaking book ... The stories of the soldiers and their families portrayed in Thank You for Your Service possess a visceral and deeply affecting power ... that will haunt readers long after they have finished this book.' --Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

Seleccionado por The New York Times y Publishers Weekly como uno de los cinco mejores títulos de no ficción de 2009. Este es un gran libro sobre la guerra y sobre los soldados. Sobre un grupo de sold

David Finkel, Premio Pulitzer y autor de Los buenos soldados, galardonado como uno de los mejores libros del año 2009, sigue ahondando en la historia de unos hombres a quienes conoció en 2007, en plena guerra de Irak. Unos hombres que han regresado a su pais destrozados por las experiencias vividas y son incapaces de reemprender una existencia normal. Forman parte de ese gran drama de los veteranos de Irak y Afganistan: cada 80 minutos se suicida en los Estados Unidos uno de estos veteranos, de modo que el numero de los suicidas supera ya el de los caidos en combate en ambas guerras. Finkel se aproxima a ellos en un relato directo y descarnado, exento de valoraciones, que tiene la virtud de sacudirnos y conmovernos. Si Los buenos soldados fue elogiado por la veracidad con que nos descubria la experiencia cotidiana del combate y condenado por su aparente indiferencia hacia la violencia, Gracias por los servicios va a resultar todavia mas polemico, porque denuncia algo que se nos oculta sistematicamente: que usamos a los soldados para la guerra, permitimos que se destruyan en ella, y los abandonamos despues.