American Cipher: Bowe Bergdahl and the U.S. Tragedy in Afghanistan
- ISBN-10
- 0735221065
- ISBN-13
- 9780735221062
- Category
- Biography & Autobiography
- Pages
- 400
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2020-03-10
- Publisher
- Penguin
- Authors
- Matt Farwell, Michael Ames
Description
The explosive narrative of the life, captivity, and trial of Bowe Bergdahl, the soldier who was abducted by the Taliban and whose story has served as a symbol for America's foundering war in Afghanistan ”An unsettling and riveting book filled with the mysteries of human nature.” —Kirkus Private First Class Bowe Bergdahl left his platoon's base in eastern Afghanistan in the early hours of June 30, 2009. Since that day, easy answers to the many questions surrounding his case—why did he leave his post? What kinds of efforts were made to recover him from the Taliban? And why, facing a court martial, did he plead guilty to the serious charges against him?—have proved elusive. Taut in its pacing but sweeping in its scope, American Cipher is the riveting and deeply sourced account of the nearly decade-old Bergdahl quagmire—which, as journalists Matt Farwell and Michael Ames persuasively argue, is as illuminating an episode as we have as we seek the larger truths of how the United States lost its way in Afghanistan. The book tells the parallel stories of a young man's halting coming of age and a nation stalled in an unwinnable war, revealing the fallout that ensued when the two collided: a fumbling recovery effort that suppressed intelligence on Bergdahl's true location and bungled multiple opportunities to bring him back sooner; a homecoming that served to deepen the nation's already-vast political fissure; a trial that cast judgment on not only the defendant, but most everyone involved. The book's beating heart is Bergdahl himself—an idealistic, misguided soldier onto whom a nation projected the political and emotional complications of service. Based on years of exclusive reporting drawing on dozens of sources throughout the military, government, and Bergdahl's family, friends, and fellow soldiers, American Cipher is at once a meticulous investigation of government dysfunction and political posturing, a blistering commentary on America's presence in Afghanistan, and a heartbreaking story of a naïve young man who thought he could fix the world and wound up the tool of forces far beyond his understanding.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2019-03-12
- 400 pages
- Ebook
- Penguin
-
- 2019-03-12
- 352 pages
- Paperback
- Hachette UK
-
- 2019
- 400 pages
- Paperback
- Penguin Press
Similar books
-
The American Black Chamber
By Herbert O. YardleyAgain we found her at the Spencer Arms where on February twenty-first she had taken an expensive apartment. But she had suddenly left on March second, only nine days later, though her rent had been paid until June twentieth!
-
The Recruiter: Spying and the Lost Art of American Intelligence
By Douglas LondonThe Recruiter: Spying and the Lost Art of American Intelligence captures the best stories from London's life as a spy, his insights into the challenges and failures of intelligence work, and the complicated relationships he developed with ...
-
Beirut Rules: The Murder of a CIA Station Chief and Hezbollah's War Against America
By Fred Burton, Samuel KatzFrom the New York Times bestselling coauthors of Under Fire--the riveting story of the kidnapping and murder of CIA Station Chief William Buckley.
-
United States Diplomatic Codes and Ciphers: 1775-1938
By Ralph E. WEBEROriginally published: Chicago: Precedent Pub., 1979.
-
Asian American Spies: How Asian Americans Helped Win the Allied Victory
By Brian Masaru HayashiAll these colorful individuals form the story of Asian Americans in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of today's CIA.
-
THE CIPHER
By Kathe Koja" - Too Much Horror Fiction "This powerful first novel is as thought-provoking as it is horrifying.
-
Codes, Ciphers and Secret Writing
By Martin GardnerCipher and decipher codes: transposition and polyalphabetical ciphers, famous codes, typewriter and telephone codes, codes that use playing cards, knots, and swizzle sticks . . . even invisible writing and sending messages through space. 45 ...
-
The Story of Magic: Memoirs of an American Cryptologic Pioneer
By Frank B. RowlettThe Story of Magic: Memoirs of an American Cryptologic Pioneer
-
Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: The History and Future of American Intelligence
By Amy B. ZegartIntelligence challenges in the digital age : Cloaks, daggers, and tweets -- The education crisis : How fictional spies are shaping public opinion and intelligence policy -- American intelligence history at a glance-from fake bakeries to ...
-
The Manga Guide to Cryptography
By Masaaki Mitani, Shinichi Sato, Idero HinokiThe Manga Guide to Cryptography is the perfect introduction to cryptography for programmers, security professionals, aspiring cryptographers, and anyone who finds cryptography just a little bit hard.