A Woman at War - Hardcover

Moore, Molly

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 068419418X ISBN 13: 9780684194189

Publisher: Scribner, 1993

Synopsis

A journalist who accompanied a senior commanding general as he led his troops into battle during Desert Storm gives an insider's view of the heroism and tragedy that she witnessed on the front line

About this title

From the Back Cover

During the Gulf War, most journalists were confined to media pools. But not Molly Moore, the senior military correspondent of The Washington Post. Moore was the only reporter to accompany a senior commanding general as he led his troops into battle in Kuwait. This is her eyewitness account of the war as she lived it by the side of the top Marine general, Walter E. Boomer. There has never been a book quite like Molly Moore's, for hers is the unique story of what a woman experienced inside the Gulf War military machine - in a male-dominated military amidst an Islamic culture in which women are on a level with the family pet. Molly Moore offers a detailed account of the buildup toward war in both Washington and the Gulf, and reveals the heroism as well as the calamity of the battlefield - the miscalculations, the failed communications, the distress and disarray among the troops and their officers. With an appealing combination of chilling authority and a warm understanding of the human dimensions of battle, she provides a frank and unprecedented view of the war planning councils as the action escalates. Here, too, are the tensions and exhilaration of daily life in a war zone - what it was like to wait for days for a gas mask when everyone else was well protected; how it felt to live in the desert, where, among other hazards, freezing winds made it impossible to take out a pair of contact lenses, and lack of privacy left women on duty with few choices about bathroom facilities. A Woman at War showcases as well the fresh and exciting new voice of Molly Moore herself, the first woman Pentagon correspondent in the history of The Washington Post. For its unusually candid and graphic depictionof men - and for the first time, women - in battle, A Woman at War will be highly valued and long remembered.

From Kirkus Reviews

An absorbing and unretouched view of the far-from-picture- perfect Gulf War, presented with grit, humor, and exceptional clarity by Washington Post reporter Moore. In contrast to the precisely choreographed rout depicted in early, heavily censored reports, Moore--from her almost front-row seat in the mobile command post of the Marine Corps' chief on-site officer, Lt. Walter E. Boomer--offers a grim and often gripping account of ``a war like every other, fraught with mistakes, miscalculations, and human frailty.'' Despite such innovations as computerized tactical models and satellite communications, this very modern war remained, at ground level, ``messy and dirty and imprecise,'' with massive casualties avoided only through ``pure dumb luck.'' In the best battlefield tradition, the author, a veteran Pentagon correspondent, devotes much of her narrative to well-rounded portraits of the soldiers themselves. Chief among them is a group of remarkably candid, intelligent, and compassionate officers led by Lt. Boomer, a Vietnam vet who ``knew war and abhorred its consequences.'' On the grunt level, there are glimpses of young tankers riding alternating waves of boredom, fear, and anticipation as they hover on the edge of a border minefield, as well as of the gung-ho female troops who had to fight to be sent to the war zone. Deftly mixing fast-paced battlefield scenes with an unsparing analysis of the political and tactical considerations of command decisions, Moore--who came closer to enemy fire than many soldiers- -earns her stripes as a first-rate war correspondent. (Photos--not seen) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Scribner
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 068419418X
• ISBN 13: 9780684194189
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384