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?Imperial Grunts is vintage Robert Kaplan, combining a deep appreciation of history and wonderfully vivid writing with an infectious wanderlust.?
Military on the Ground
Random House
September 2005
448 pages
ISBN: 1400061326
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
In this landmark book, Robert D. Kaplan, veteran
correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly and author of Balkan
Ghosts, shows how American imperialism and the Global War
on Terrorism are implemented on the ground, mission by
mission, in the most exotic landscapes around the world. Given unprecedented access, Kaplan takes us from the
jungles of the southern Philippines to the glacial dust
bowls of Mongolia, from the forts of Afghanistan to the
forests of South America–not to mention Iraq–to show us
Army Special Forces, Marines, and other uniformed Americans
carrying out the many facets of U.S. foreign policy:
negotiating with tribal factions, storming terrorist
redoubts, performing humanitarian missions and training
foreign soldiers. In Imperial Grunts, Kaplan provides an unforgettable
insider’s account not only of our current involvement in
world affairs, but also of where America, including the
culture of its officers and enlisted men, is headed. This
is the rare book that has the potential to change the way
readers view the men and women of the military, war, and
the global reach of American imperialism today. As Kaplan writes, the only way to understand America’s
military is “on foot, or in a Humvee, with the troops
themselves, for even as elites in New York and Washington
debated imperialism in grand, historical terms, individual
marines, soldiers, airmen, and sailors–all the cultural
repositories of America’s unique experience with freedom–
were interpreting policy on their own, on the ground, in
dozens upon dozens of countries every week, oblivious to
such faraway discussions. . . . It was their stories I
wanted to tell: from the ground up, at the point of
contact.” Never before has America’s overarching military strategy
been parsed so incisively and evocatively. Kaplan
introduces us to lone American servicemen whose presence in
obscure countries is largely unknown, and concludes with a
heart-stopping portrait of marines in the first battle in
Fallujah. Extraordinary in its scope, beautifully written,
Imperial Grunts, the first of two volumes, combines first-
rate reporting with the sensitivity and insights of an
acclaimed writer steeped in history, literature, and
philosophy, to deliver a masterly account of America’s
global role in the twenty-first century. • Imperial Grunts paints a vivid picture of how defense
policy is implemented at the grassroots level. • Kaplan travels throughout the world where U.S. forces are
located. This is not just a book about Iraq or Afghanistan. • Rather than debate imperialism, Kaplan relies on a keen
understanding of history, philosophy, and in-the-field
reporting to show how it actually works on the ground. • Imperial Grunts escapes Washington and shows us what it’s
like to live with the grunts day to day.
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