Targeted Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror

A Marine Corps Commandant’s Professional Reading List Selection

The first in a new “authoritative, shocking” (Brad Meltzer, #1 New York Times bestselling author) nonfiction series examining the devastating terrorist attacks that changed the course of history from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr and Pulitzer Prize finalist James M. Scott, beginning with the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut.

1983: the United States Marine Corps experiences its greatest single-day loss of life since the Battle of Iwo Jima when a truck packed with explosives crashes into their headquarters and barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. This horrifying terrorist attack, which killed 241 servicemen, continues to influence US foreign policy and haunts the Marine Corps to this day.

Now, the full story is revealed as never before by Jack Carr and historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist James M. Scott with this “definitive, behind-the-scenes account of a mission and a fight that changed America” (Doug Stanton, #1 New York Times bestselling author). Based on comprehensive interviews with survivors, extensive military records, as well as personal letters, diaries, and photographs, this is “a masterwork of research and storytelling” (Peter Schweizer, #1 New York Times bestselling author).

Jack Carr is a former Navy SEAL who led special operations teams as a team leader, platoon commander, troop commander, and task unit commander. Over his twenty years in Naval Special Warfare, he transitioned from an enlisted SEAL sniper to a junior officer leading assault and sniper teams in Iraq and Afghanistan, to a platoon commander practicing counterinsurgency in the southern Philippines, to commanding a special operations task unit in the most Iranian influenced section of southern Iraq throughout the tumultuous drawdown of US Forces. Jack retired from active duty in 2016 and lives with his wife and three children in Park City, Utah. He is the author of The Terminal List, True Believer, Savage Son, The Devil’s Hand, In the Blood, Only the Dead, Red Sky Mourning, Targeted: Beirut, Cry Havoc, and The Fourth Option. His debut novel, The Terminal List, was adapted into the #1 Prime Video series starring Chris Pratt. He is also the host of the top-rated Danger Close podcast. Visit him at OfficialJackCarr.com and follow Jack on Instagram, X, Facebook, and YouTube @JackCarrUSA.

A Pulitzer Prize finalist and former Nieman Fellow at Harvard, James M. Scott is the author of Target Tokyo, Black Snow, Rampage, The War Below, and The Attack on the Liberty. In addition, Scott is a sought-after public speaker, who leads battlefield tours and lectures at institutions around the world. He lives with his wife and two children in Charleston, South Carolina, where he is the Scholar in Residence at The Citadel. Visit him at JamesMScott.com.