by Doug Stanton
First published 2009
Doug Stanton chronicles the secret mission of a small US Special Forces team that entered Afghanistan weeks after September 11. These soldiers rode horses across mountainous terrain to pursue Taliban forces in a landscape where modern military vehicles couldn't operate effectively. The team fought through multiple battles to capture Mazar-i-Sharif, a city crucial to military strategy in the region. Local Afghans celebrated their arrival and the fall of the Taliban government. The mission took a dangerous turn when six hundred Taliban soldiers attempted to surrender, then launched a surprise attack on the Americans. Trapped inside Qala-i-Jangi fortress, known as the House of War, the vastly outnumbered Special Forces fighters battled for survival. Their lives and the success of the broader military campaign hung in the balance. Stanton weaves together combat scenes with stories from the home front, showing how families coped while their loved ones fought overseas. The book reveals how a small group accomplished what seemed impossible against overwhelming odds.
Genres: military-fiction, adventure, action, non-fiction, american-history
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: against-all-odds, based-on-true-events, underdog
Setting: Afghanistan, Mazar-i-Sharif, Qala-i-Jangi
Period: 21st-century
428 pages · Kindle Edition · Scribner
Content warnings: graphic-violence, war