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Title details for Battle Ready by Tom Clancy - Available

Battle Ready

#4 in series

by Tom Clancy
Tony Zinni
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
From one of the country's most prominent writers and one of the military's most outspoken generals comes the audiobook every American must listen to.

Marine general Tony Zinni was known as the "Warrior Diplomat" during his nearly forty years of service. As a soldier, his credentials were impeccable, whether leading troops in Vietnam, commanding hair-raising rescue operations in Somalia, or -- as Commander in Chief of CENTCOM -- directing strikes against Iraq and Al Qaeda. As peacemaker, he made his mark conducting dangerous troubleshooting missions all over Africa, Asia, and Europe. While serving as Secretary of State Colin Powell's special envoy to the Middle East, disagreements over the 2003 Iraqi war and its probable aftermath caused him to resign.

In Battle Ready, he is candid, thoughtful and blunt about both the good and the bad. Battle Ready follows the evolution of General Zinni and the Marine Corps, from the cauldron of Vietnam through the operational revolution of the '70s and '80s, to the new realities of the post-Cold War, post-9/11 military.

This is an in-depth view to a man, an institution, and a way of war and peace, making this an instant classic of military history.

  • Creators

  • Series

    Study in Command

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 1, 2004

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780743585934
      • File size: 164565 KB
      • Duration: 05:42:50

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 10, 2004
      "In the lead-up to the Iraq War and its later conduct, I saw at a minimum, true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility, at worse, lying, incompetence and corruption." So says former U.S. Central Command commander in chief Zinni, who retired in September 2000 and has been outspoken ever since regarding the uses and abuses of the U.S. military. This book is the latest of Clancy's nonfiction Commanders series, which has previously featured collaborations with Gen. Fred Franks Jr. of the army, Gen. Chuck Horner of the air force and Gen. Carl Stiner, formerly U.S. Special Operations commander. As in those books, Clancy gives adequate background on his subject and his subject's context, then quotes him liberally, consigning tens of pages at a time to Zinni's italicized first-person reflections. Beginning the book with the 1998 CentCom-coordinated attack on Saddam Hussein (the unfortunately named Operation Desert Fox), Clancy and Zinni next move through 150 or so pages of Zinni's service as a Philadelphia-born (in 1947) Marine infantry officer during Vietnam and his racially charged Headquarters and Service stint on Okinawa in the early '70s. The book then flashes forward to the end of the Cold War and steams along from there, with details on Zinni's European command service, including 1990 meetings with a recently de-Sovietized Russian army and support operations during the Persian Gulf War. Zinni joined CentCom just in time for the Somalia debacle, and he is candid about its failings. Over the next years, Zinni traveled widely in parts of the world that were obscure to the U.S. then (Pakistan, Central Asia), but are central now, and played cat-and-mouse with Saddam regarding weapons inspections all through the late '90s. But it is Zinni's 24-page closing statement, "The Calling," that will sell the book to nonbuff civilians, summing up his service and the ways in which he feels his generation's legacy is in jeopardy. (June 1)

      Forecast:
      Often too detailed for nonenthusiasts, this BOMC Main Selection and Military Book Club Main Selection will be used as background by pundits and other writers trying to understand the relation of Clinton-era dealings with Saddam to those of Bush 43.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Part of Clancy's nonfiction Commanders series, BATTLE READY is a marathon history lesson partially told in the first person recollections of Marine General Tony Zinni, now retired. While its nearly 18 hours of content may seem daunting, it's well worth the investment. The story is a concise overview of U.S. military activity from the Vietnam War to the war in Iraq and will appeal equally to the history buff, civilian, or military person. The performances by Alan Nebelthau and Henry Strozier assist the listener in distinguishing between General Zinni's thoughts and the candid reporting of events. S.K.P. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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