War Journal: My Five Years in Iraq - Firsthand Account of Military Life in Iraq War - Perfect for History Buffs & Military Enthusiasts

I gave this book as a gift to my father, so this is in some ways a second-hand review, mixing my observations and comparisons of what he usually reads and enjoys along with what he's told me of his experience with this book.My dad's a retired Army Colonel and reads a ton of biographical, fiction and non-fiction military books, mostly centered on the Vietnam and Korean wars, and he's picky about his authors. I was a little hesitant about picking something for him from something so contemporary, but I just admire Richard Engel's reporting so much, I thought I'd give it a chance.My dad generally humors me and wouldn't tell me if he disliked something I bought him (as an example, I bought him Colin Powell's biography a few years back and he hated it, but never told me), so I never expected him to say anything, but about a week after Christmas, my mother called to tell me that he had picked up the book and the day before and was hardly putting it down. I finally had a chance to speak with him a bit later on and he said it was just an excellent, intelligent, unbiased and engrossing book. He hadn't expected to be interested in the conflict in Iraq as a war story at all, but Engel's writing was so vivid and his reporting was so exacting that he found he enjoyed the book as much as he enjoyed the other books that he usually read on topics that he was personally familiar with.So since I got a big huge thumbs up from my very picky military father about the quality and enjoyability of this book, and since I personally also love Richard Engel's reporting and writing and I've had a chance to start the book myself now, I have to give this book a great review from my dad and a great starting off review from me.