Books read by troops in Iraq - you might be surprised
Bibliophiles love books - even when they are in the middle of a warzone. That’s what we discovered after investigating the reading habits of US troops and western civilians living on bases in Iraq.
We put together a list of 50 books that have been purchased from AbeBooks.com and sent to bases in Iraq. We thought they’d be escapist paperbacks (Grishams, Kings etc)Â but the list is very surprising. What inspired someone to purchase The Physics of Blown Sand? The sand I suppose. And then there’s The Art of War, and Just and Unjust Wars, and whole series of other books about American politics, history and current affairs. Clearly people are trying to put the whole conflict into context.
The fact that one serviceman purchased The New Father: A Dad’s Guide to the First Year speaks volumes about a soldier’s life when stationed far from home.
Unlike soldiers stationed in North America or Europe, these troops cannot leave the bases during their leisure time, so I imagine reading plays an important role for many. I love the idea of people learning the saxophone or how to write poetry.
Our section on reading in Iraq also contains two not-to-be-missed interviews. David Abrams, a writer and a soldier, explains how Don Quixote saved his life from a mortar attack and how books kept him going while in Iraq. Another soldier Brian McNerney tells us how he helped to set up a library of 15,000 books on Camp Anaconda, a huge logistics base, thanks to donations of books from World War II veterans.
April 8th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
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