Military Law Books

Grossman takes you deep into the many fears, hesitations and simply the unknowns that are faced by many that serve within the military and law enforcement. His studies are simply to understand and the many examples make the read hit home that much better. I would consider this a must read for anyone already serving or intending on serving in either the military or law enforcement field.

Order was quick and very painless. It was at my door step as promised. great service

This is a must read for anyone in law enforcement. It will inspire you to continue on in your chosen proffession. It explains the psychological and physiological impact of stress that is encountered throughout law enforcement. It provides ways to train which can increase your performance under the most extreme stress. Amazing and enlightening. It also includes how media influences children and is leading to an increase in violence in society. The media is not the only reason youth violence is increasing but it is probably the most controllable.

This book was recommended to me after an incident that required me to pull my weapon on a couple of people. I had a physical reaction that surprised me, and more to the point scared me. I ordered a copy of On Combat ASAP and began to read it. Frankly, it has helped me quite a bit.

Combat isn't something that most of us engage in on a daily basis. For those of us who are not in the military (or like me, not anymore) or in law enforcement, the odds of us getting into an altercation like this is rare. However, it does happen. There are a great many things that happen that are natural physical reactions that can cause distress to someone. Understanding these reactions, in particular the how and why they happen, can eliminate that particular stressor at a time when you don't need to worry about anything else.

Not only that, but On Combat tells how to deal with the aftermath of a fight, something that is all to often overlooked. This is something that happened naturally ages ago, but now is often overlooked completely. Understanding this has helped me develope a plan should I ever be involved in another incident. Most people will blame themselves for whatever happened, and having a plan in place will help a lot.

The only downside I saw to the book was Grossman's dogmatic feelings about children and video games, but this is really something that can be overlooked. It's not that I necessarily disagree with his take on video games contributing to kids becomeing desensitized to killing, it's just that I think parenting is much more important to prevent things like this.

In short, this book should be required reading by anyone who may find themselves in a fight. You need to know these things beforehand, so order this now and read it before you need the information contained within. It'll help. Trust me.

Absolutely one of the finest works on current human history both past and present. Mostly read by Cops and Military persons but a great read for everyone interested in the human race period!

I came in not knowing much of anything about the music industry...and after reading this book from cover to cover (its a long book), I can say I learned a lot. The book is very easy to read, with real and made-up examples, and simple language. The author does a great job breaking down the rules of the industry. It does not tell you how to run your operation or how to market a hit record...it just lays out all the rules for you to either follow, break, or bend.

The best chapters were about song ownership, copyrights, publishing, royalties, and taxes. Actually, the taxes chapter was really enlightening. You can tell a lawyer wrote this book from that chapter.

I've been in a band for several years, and unfortunately, everyone else that has been in my band has never had the experience of running it as a business. We have been skating by all these years just doing gigs, but now we are planning on releasing a CD and this definitely makes things more complicated. This book has been a godsend. Very informative and USEFUL information. Other music law type books are informative, but haven't been very useful on the level we needed it. You can use what is in this book right away. Its easy to read and understand.

Like all carpenters needing important tools to build a house, this book is the tool for all musicians. It covers all the important music business information and will help cut down unnecessary misfortune for musicians. Definitely a MUST BUY!!!

This offers a great foundation to Music Law. It is clear & easy to read w/ room in the margins for notes. Richard Stim even mentions a few legal loopholes you can benefit from.

You can also recieve free book updates on the Nolo website, which is a cool perk.

There comes a time in a musician or band's career when they get serious about what they're doing and need to start focusing on legal aspects of their endeavors. This book is and indispensable reference for that situation.

The book is written in easy to understand layman's terms. It covers a fairly broad range of subjects, and provides pointers to other resources for more in depth cover of the covered subjects.

One more notable point about the book is the pre-fabricated contracts and legal forms that it comes with. They seem to be solid, could be useful in a number of situations, and are explained thoroughly.

This book made me sad. Because it is so well-written about subject matter that was beyond my belief, I have been shaken out of my idylls. Worse still it is so well documented that every item can easily be looked up and confirmed.

What brought me to this book was my reading in German the book by Murat Kurnaz, "Five Years of My Life: An Innocent Man in Guantanamo" in July of 2007. Not a detail of the legal matters mentioned by Margulies is in conflict with Mr. Kurnaz's first-hand account of his experiences as a prisoner. Margulies' book should be required reading for every Congressman and Senator in Washington, DC. I will not be able to rest now until justice is meted out to those who have committed such horrendous crimes against humanity.

Mr. Margulies and Mr. Kurnaz point out that "harsh interrogation" is far more than "water-boarding." Mr. Kurnaz was physically picked up and his head was placed under water while he was punched and kicked in the stomach. He was suspended from the ceiling for days, until he passed out. US physicians attended him, not to give relief from his suffering, but to keep him alive for more torture. He witnessed prisoners killed by US torture.

Margulies' book is an opportunity for education. May we all be better educated.

The author was the lead counsel for Rasul and other detainees in the noted Supreme Court case of 2004, Rasul v. Bush. The question in that case underlines the whole bitter debate with the Bush Administration: whether detainees at Guantanamo have the right to challenge their indefinite detention in a fair way. The other big issue in this book involves torture and how the detainees are treated.

The author notes that the United States has always been at the forefront in upholding the Geneva Conventions. Even during the Korean War when the North Koreans treated American POWs barbarically, the U.S. upheld the Conventions. Even during the unconventional Vietnam War when the Viet Cong did not wear uniforms and hid among civilians or when American fliers were tortured in North Vietnam, the U.S. honored the Conventions. According to the Red Cross everyone in enemy hands has some status, either as a POW under the Third Convention or as a civilian under the Fourth Convention. In the past the U.S. has served as a model in upholding these laws of war and had until recently established the moral high ground in the face of lawless torture around the world.

Bush keeps insisting to the American people: "We do not torture." He is not lying according to the narrow definition established in the Justice Department's legal opinion known as the "torture memo" by Yoo and Bybee, and subsequent revisions to that opinion. The author notes the veil of secrecy over the inner workings of Guantanamo, the careful screenings given to visitors, but Time Magazine obtained leaked records concerning the interrogation logs of Mohammed al-Qahtani, which reveal the kind of methods used: solitary confinement, sensory overload, induced hypothermia, sleep deprivation, various devices used to cause severe disorientation, various forms of humiliation; in other words, a systematic breakdown of the human personality, a psychological assault that can be done without laying a hand on the prisoner, intended to lower the detainee not just to the sub-human level but even to the sub-animal level (the chilling comparison by the interrogator to banana rats). The question becomes what else would be found if other interrogation logs were made available.

Secretary Rumsfeld referred to the detainees as "the worst of the worst." But are they really? Beyond the locked gate of national security, the author refers to numerous voices from the military and intelligence services who state that only a minority of the detainees have yielded intelligence of any significant value, that there have been "no big fish", that the majority were "dirt farmers from Afghanistan", or in the case of the author's clients, impressionable youth who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The author notes that only 5% of all detainees were captured by Americans. The rest were rounded up by the Northern Alliance or by war-lords who were more interested in settling scores. The roundup was made even more of a farce by a Defense Department campaign to distribute leaflets offering a bounty for any terrorist.

In response to the Supreme Court's decision in Rasul for judicial review of Guantanamo detainees, the Administration undertook to set up CSRTs (Combatant Status Review Tribunals) in order to determine whether a detainee is an "enemy combatant". But the CSRTs have been so skewed in the interest of national security that evidence is withheld and charges are often hidden in a farcical way. The detainees are also prevented from presenting evidence or testimony unless it is "reasonably available". An example of the absurdity of this process is an exchange quoted here from the petitioner Ait Idir, a petitioner in the forthcoming Boumediene v. Bush Supreme Court case, in which the name of the accuser, an alleged al-Qaeda operative, is not named for security reasons.

The author describes the outlandish charges made against his client Mamdouh Habib from "confessions" he gave after his rendition to Egypt to be tortured. Fortunately for Habib, when they tried to render him to Egypt for a second time, the lid of secrecy was blown off by the press, and he was released without any charges and flown back to his home in Australia after three years of incarceration.

This book deserves a much wider audience. No matter how bad you think things are in Guantanamo, this book makes clear that the reality is ten times worse. Margulies is extremely knowledgeable about the issues, and he's a fine writer. It is hard not to feel ashamed -- and outraged -- by the injustices that are occurring under our flag. Let me add that I do not know (and have never met) the author, Joseph Margulies.

One of the few books I've read about any controversial topic that resists the temptation to start name-calling, insult-slinging and obvious political agendas.

Dr. Margulies succeeds in explaining legal arguments in a way that is engaging and not condescending. He addresses every question you could have about torture and then some. He does something many authors fail to do: he argues his point in a greater context than the argument itself. That is to say, anyone can argue torture in the context of laws or the Geneva Convetions. Dr. Margulies goes further and discusses torture in the context of security for civilians and soldiers and foriegn policy, and then also provides the background for the writing of the Geneva Conventions and why we have refrained from torture in the past.

Absolutely enlightening.

Robert McNamara noted (about WWII), "LeMay said if we lost the war that we would have all been prosecuted as war criminals. And I think he's right. He... and I'd say I... were behaving as war criminals." No question that the only thing that keeps Bush, Rumsfeldt, etc. out of jail is that fact that they are protected by our country's hard to challenge power. If we were a broken power rather than a great power, it seems certain that someone would try to lock them up.

This book confirms that many laws, national and international, regarding torture, detention, and so on have been willfully violated. It is a compelling and disturbing story. And the final chapters are still to be written.

This is a must read/own book for those invovled in reality based training (RBT). One of the best training components/tools for law enforcement/military is RBT, however, as "sexy" and as exciting as RBT seems, it is critical that training personnel understand the responsiblity for providing efficient, effective, SAFE!!! training. Kenneth Murray's book covers the major facets of RBT and how to execute safe and productive traininig.

Though I have not had the pleasure of attending Murray's training sessions via Armiger Police Training Institute, I did complete Simunition's training certification. There is no question that the fundamentals regarding SAFETY and goal oriented training detailed in Murray's book are universal.

If you are a firearms/defensive tactics instructor, you definitely need to read and own this book.

Insightful book on combat and preparation for combat. Well written. Easy to read.
I've read Dave Grossman's On Combat and this is a great book for more on that topic.

This is a great book at RBT and also a lot of fun to read. Being a simulator engineer it gives me a good understanding of the customer (police, military) side. I am looking forward to the second volume.

On the downside the book lacks structure - not in the content but in the formatting. Shallow table of context (no numbering of titles, no visual hierarchy of titles, no Index).

If I had to have only 5 books on police and military training this would be one of the five. well written, concise, very well thought out. this is a book you will return to over and over again. augments well with real live training.

I can honestly say this is one of the most complete RBT books I have touched to date. Every aspect of saftey is covered. I'm actually reading it for the third time now and still collecting more information I missed the first 2 rounds. It is not the complete be all of a RBT program but it is a must as part of your RBT library.

Most current and objective risk assessments indicate that the risk environment faced by the U.S. during the Cold War has drastically changed. The risk of conventional war with peer nation states has been greatly reduced while the risk of asymmetrical war by non-state actors has greatly increased. Further because of the dynamics of the globalization, regional instability, failed states, pandemics, poverty, and immigration all have become serious risks to U.S. National Security. This new risk environment clearly needs a new carefully crafted National Security Strategy based among other things on timely and accurate strategic intelligence.

Which brings us to this altogether remarkable book by Robert David Steele. In spite of, or perhaps because of, the many recent efforts at reform the U.S. Intelligence System remains culturally moribund. Steele offers a rather detailed plan to rebuild this system into an open, flexible, and relevant source of knowledge about the threats and risks faced by the U.S. in the 21st Century. It is necessary not just to read this book, but to think carefully about what Steele is proposing. For example, this reviewer had to really contemplate such strange concepts as a "Global Knowledge Foundation" and "University of the Republic", before fully understanding how such institutions are vitally important to the sort of Intelligence System that Steele is advocating.

Now Steele has written a number of books that offer innovative, if radical, ideas about reforming intelligence, but this is the only one of his books that provides sufficient details to understand how he really would like to transform the U.S. Intelligence System into a system capable of dealing with both military and non-military threats and risks to U.S. security. The opportunities and risks of the phenomenon called "Globalization" are fluid and often elusive. It will take an intelligence system such as the one Steele is advocating to provide the knowledge needed to formulate an effective National security Strategy to deal with both the opportunities and risks.

This book is not an easy read. Readers need to be pro-active in critically thinking about what Steele presents. This effort will be rewarded with new and original insights on the state of U.S. security. More to the point Steele will provide the reader with a clear and unique understanding of the often arcane world of intelligence.

As a book, it's rather ugly. The pages are obviously printed out by an inkjet printer or something (you can actually see some jaggies in the font), and the index is created by MSWord indexing menu, which has multiple entries of the same item, and the way he indexes whole phrases makes it very hard to look up.

It's contents are extremely repetitive. You'll see the same ideas and examples expressed over and over and over and over again, in almost exact same wording. With proper editing, this book would have become 1/3 the volume that it is. The ideas are interesting, although some part, like his suggenstion that the US government should engage in industrial spying, seems questionable. Also, when he uses the word "Open Source", it's not the open source that the people in the software community is used to, so be careful. But it's a book worth skimming through.

For over a decade, Steele has been trying to draw attention to the fact that intelligence needs in the post-Cold-War era require different strategy, organization and tactics. This book is a useful summary of his views.

One point of emphasis is "open source" intelligence--the information that is available from sources outside of the secret intelligence community. Steele argues that the institutional secretiveness of the FBI and CIA is a hindrance rather than a help.

Another point of emphasis is language translation. A further point of emphasis is the fact that threats no longer exclusively take the form of powerful nation-states. I wish that the book focused more specifically on Islamic terrorism, since the other potential threats seem more remote at the moment.

Yet another point of emphasis is database integration. Writing this review in the aftermath of the DC sniper investigation, this seems to be an important point. Before the suspects drove to Maryland, they were involved in a murder in Alabama at which one of them left a fingerprint. Had the Alabama police been able to access a national database, they would have been able to identify the murderer and perhaps apprehend him. Instead, the fingerprint was matched only after a dozen more murders and after the suspects themselves told police to connect the dots to Alabama.

Lack of database integration kills.

The author of ON INTELLIGENCE is an experienced US intelligence expert. Robert Steele's main suggestion to the Intelligence Community is augmented openness. The existing culture of secrecy needs to be changed, because its methods are not effective enough to protect US national security in the 21st century. Openness would create a new environment of understanding intelligence and detect subversive activities. Using open source intelligence means exploiting pluralistic knowledge from universities, research facilities and private companies, which is available at comparable low cost. Classified intelligence often failed to support political decisions, because the policy-maker might not be cleared for such information. Unclassified intelligence can solve this particular problem of compartmentalized dissemination. Therefore, the author advises to link classified information with national competitiveness, making intelligence the apex of the knowledge infrastructure. Part three of his book lays out the core concept of "Creating a Smart Nation" through "Presidential Intelligence".

Robert Steele is the one man crusade for the importance of open source intel. This and his more recent New Intelligence tell and show why open source intel is the most useful means of understanding the world around us and at the same time maintaining our personal liberties. To him each citizen should be running their own open source collection in in the areas of their personal interest. Read both of these books. Buy both of these books. Then go to the OSS convention in Washington. You'll quickly see how muth the professionals think of him.

Great book, read it everyday. Us Coasties sometimes forget the basics. Read it well and read it often.

I took this book and showed it to my recruiter and he said that it's weight in gold, and that after I was done reading it I woul be ahead of everybody else.

It teaches about ROTC and the uniforms during your hopefull coast guard career. It also teaches all the necessary tools you need to be in the coast guard.

I am in the Coast Guard myself and when I was in boot camp they even handed out copies of this book to us to learn what we needed to know about the USCG. It covers everything from a brief history to customs and courtesies and to Maritime Law Enforcement. It talks about the different knots we use and how to properly tie the knot. There's history on the USCG's uniforms and the different ships we use to the different jobs that we offer. It's a great book for all and I even find myself at times referring to it whenever I need to know something! So I recommend it for anyone who is entering the Coast Guard, looking to up their seamanship skills or just want a refresher!

I was issued one of these in boot camp back in 79. As a American Legion Commander now, I needed to know how to properly handle a weapon while marching and doing drills. Darn I wish I had of keep it. But I ordered the latest edition and see it is still the great manual it always was and still has the commands and the examples of how to do proper manual of arms.

I Just got through reading the book for the second time,and it
was just as good to me the second time as the first.
I will never understand the disparagey in the verdicts.To me the one that was most guilty got off scott free, while the least
guilyy got the worst punishment.That militarry justicefor you though.

The reviews of Gary Solis's SON THANG are entirely accurate: the book is a masterpiece of historical research and sharp, incisive, nuanced writing. A gripping and depressing read, the book examines not only the singular horror of the Son Thang massacre (and in that it is a refreshing alternative to the incident as presented in Oliver North's white-washed memoirs, and Randy Herrod's self-serving BLUE'S BASTARDS), but also the decline in morale and professional standards during the waning days of the Vietnam War. That this decay almost overwhelmed the draftee-filled U.S. Army is an accepted fact. That an institution as proud as the Marine Corps (an institution which had upheld its highest traditions at places like Con Thien, Hue, Khe Sanh, and Dai Do from 1965-68) was also dry-rotting during the 1969-70 period is not as well known. Though a proud Marine veteran himself, the author is willing to look such ugly truths square in the eye, and SONG THANG is all the better for it. The Foreword by BrigGen E.H. Simmons, USMC (Ret), is also fascinating.

A very interesting book.The author was not afraid to put the blame where it belonged. I wonder how many more such incidents happened in the time we were in Nam.As a Nam vet I know to well what it was like to be in a situation where you are damned if you do and damned if you don't. Hind sight is always 20 - 20,but sometimes our boys were put in a situation like that and were killed if they didn't take the nescesary steps. I am not condoning any senseless killing, but when it is kill or be killed you do what you have to do.

Professor Gary Solis' "Son Thang: An American War Crime" is an excellent account of the courts-martial of four Marines for the murder of 16 Vietnamese civilians during the Vietnam War. Drawing from the transcripts from the courts-martial, the appellate record, the historical record, and interviews with many of the participants, Solis - a Vietnam veteran who served as both a military prosecutor and military judge in the Marines and who now teaches military law at West Point - gives a complete picture of the story as only a true insider can.

Although this book is history, it reads like a novel. Solis brings the tension of the battlefield and the drama of the courtroom alive in this book. And he also brings alive the legal maneuvering before each court-martial as the prosecutors, defense counsel, and - in some cases - civilian defense counsel, all "prepared the battlefield" before each court-martial.

As a former practitioner of military justice, Solis understands the nuances and intricacies of military justice, staff work on a division staff, and the actual role of commanders in the process. He methodically explains how military justice works in a deployed environment (the rules are the same, but there are many "real-world" problems such as witness production and transportation that can threaten an otherwise sound case).

Finally, Solis also gives glimpses of the bigger picture of the Vietnam War in 1970: the USMC manpower problems with Project 100,000, law of war training issues, the moral problems dealt with by Marines facing women and children fighters, etc. And, after telling the full post-trial stories of the convicted Marines (that went on for over 10 years), Solis wraps up with some conclusions about what went wrong, what went right, and suggestions for improving the military justice system (which are especially relevant now that we are again trying important courts-martial in deployed environments).

"Son Thang" is an outstanding book and a very easy read. Anyone interested in the Vietnam War, military justice, or in trial work in general should read it.

"Son Thang" is both an important work of legal scholarship and a compelling, well-written story. Col. Solis documents, step by step, exactly how the Marine Corps treated its own suspected of war crimes in Vietnam-they were quickly tried, and if convicted, imprisoned. There were no coverups and no excuses. Marines accused of killing non-combatants were swiftly brought to book and the chips allowed to fall where they may. Here, it appears that several of the Marine Corps prosecutors were out-lawyered by civilian attorneys. That doesn't matter; a trial is, after all, a contest. What matters is that the Marine Corps had-and has always had and will always have-the will to try those accused of atrocities.

This book provides a wonderful guide on how one can live thier lives by a code of honor. This book should be required reading in high schools across the US. If only everyone thought and conducted themselves in the "warrior way", this country, this world would be so much better. It is this book and books such as ON COMBAT and ON KILLING by LT Col David Grossman, that provide a realistic point of view on how our society exsists. We need more "sheepdogs" and less sheep and wolves.

I bought this from Loren Christensen's website and he signed it. It a fantastic book written by warriors from the military, the police, martial arts and other places. Most are incredible articles that tell you what it's like to be a warrior in their respective fields. I like Loren's articles but then I've bought most of his books. I highly recommend this book and On Combat too.

In the aftermath of 9/11 and as part of the ongoing struggle in Iraq, we need to look once again at our ideas of soldiering, at our ideas about war fighting, and at the actions of many heroic people at the world trade center or the field in Pennsylvania. There are people, indeed most of us, who are basically sheep. We go to school, to work, shopping or whereever giving little thought to the potential of bad guys lurking out there. But out there they are. And we have the police, the firefighters, the Army and more to serve as a barrier between us.

This book is a collection of essays that help to define what a warrior is, and the stories that they tell are of situations where they have 'seen the elephant.' There are stories of military combat, of police work, of doing the best you can under bad situations.

I was reminded of the story of the open house at paratrooper school. One young man was talking to an older gentleman. 'I've made 25 jumps. I hear you were a paratrooper, how many jumps did you make?' 'Four', answers the old timer, 'Sicily, Salerno, Normandy, Netherlands.' That's the essense of this book.

Warriors is a fabulous book that should be read by every cop, soldier and relative of one. Christensen wrote ON COMBAT with Col. Dave Grossman and that book should also be in every warrior's library.

Somehow Christensen got some of the top warriors in the country to write an article for this book. There is something in it for military people, law enforcement, and martial artists.

Some of the articles will stick in your mind for a long time. I'm thankful that there are men and women out there who are willing to do the right thing for others at a time when there are so many self-serving whimps who complain about police officers, President Bush and our military, but don't have the guts to put it on the line.

Thank God we have warriors.

Warriors is an excellent book that delivers a diverse group of viewpoints on what it means to be a warrior.

The most interesting aspect of this book to me was the different perspectives provided by the contributors based on their life experiences. On one hand, you have police officers, soldiers and martial artists; and on the other hand, you have those who were victims at some point in their life and who currently work with victims. Although they all seem to agree that we live in a world with dangerous people and each person is ultimately responsible for their own safety, they do not all agree on how to deal with those dangerous people. The one common element seems to be that this group of warriors all have their head out of the sand and are clearly focused on the world around them.

Some of the articles are absolutely fantastic, and some are marginally OK. That should be expected when you pull together such a diverse group.

When something bad happens (i.e. gunfire or catastrophe) there are those who run toward it and those who run away. The people featured in this book are the ones who run toward danger. If you are trying to understand why, this is a great place to start.

This is the type of book that you will never really finish; as you will be constantly referring back to it for training. I read through it cover-to-cover like a novel; now I'm dissecting certain chapters that pertain more to my line of work. A superb manual, packed with information, photos & illustrations. Mr Lau is a true professional. Use this manual in combination with other manuals such as Major Plaster's "The Ultimate Sniper" to gain the most.

This is a great book. There is enough information and technical data to keep me reading and learning for a long time.

This book has everything you need to know to hone your skills or become one of the best. Definate good purchase and I would recommend this item to all.

This book has tons of information. I found typos on practically every page, so the editor needs to be fired, but overall there's so much here and it's written so well that I would highly recommend it. Mike Lau has a friendly writing style, and does not overload the text with technical jargon and $5 words, though there is plenty of technical info in there. Reading it is more like talking to a shooting buddy than reading an engineering manual. There are also tons of pictures, and although I would have gladly paid extra for some to be in color, they are all clear, helpful, and interesting. This is not the end-all, be-all of shooting manuals; rather, it is really one person's knowledge as well as his experienced opinions. For non-fiction, it is quite a page-turner. Mike Lau was a soldier and is still a competitive shooter and is an accomplished custom precision rifle builder. Great book!

This book really covers all topics you need to know about sniping. A great book for somone who is trying to become a sniper or for a seasoned veteran who wants to brush up on their fundamentals. The book covers things like rifle and ammo selection, range estimation, wind, weather factors, mil-dots, and everything else. Especially nice was a chapter on how to fill out your log book. The log books are so important, but no one else really shows you how to fill one out.

This book covers just about everything you need to know, and reads easy - it is not dry and overly technical. The end of the book covers several tactical scenerios and explains how a sniper in these situations would accomplish their shot. Definitely recommended.

Great book, i've read most of the bio/autobio's about the old guys, Bob Capa, HCB ect and this is a whole new game. These guys were in my opinion, better than their older counterparts, the risks seem higher and with less payoff.

Much more than simply a book about photojournalists, The Bang Bang Club tells a haunting tale about several young men growing up in a rapidly changing and often hostile world. The friendships that form and are later ripped apart by bullets and suicide comprise the bulk of this well-told history. That South Africa's most important history is taking place as a background only mkaes it that much more of an interesting and enjoyable read. Yes, there is some violence, but that violence defines the world these photographers live and work in.

Not for the weak, The Bang Bang Club takes readers directly to the violence and brutality depicted in the four prize-winning photographs scattered throughout the pages. The writing is down and dirty, like the photographers themselves. But it works because of the subject. Get in click the photo and try not to throw up while you're doing it. Like most Yanks living a cozy life, I didn't know many details about the famous struggles in SA in the early 1990s. And I wouldn't have chosen to read a straight history. But the combination of first-person accounts of tragedy together with terrifically vivid and horrible photos and a gripping tale of danger lurking around every corner makes for an ideal way to learn something about that fascinating and difficult time in world history.

This is a disturbing book. After the first three chapters I put it down and only picked it up again two months later. Perhaps I was just emotionally at low ebb the first time, but the brutal honesty of the descriptions in those first chapters got to me. Even though I am a South African and lived through that eventful period, I was unprepared for the honesty of the authors. At the second attempt I finished the book and am glad that I did as it is really well worth the read.

The book describes the experiences of four well-known South African press photographers, at the peak of the political transition period of the country. Of the four, only two survived. Most South Africans as well as international readers interested in photojournalism, will remember the killing of Ken Oosterbroek by a stray bullet while covering an unrest situation in the townships. And the whole world was shocked by the brilliant photograph of a starving Sudanese child with a vulture patiently waiting in the background. Kevin Carter committed suicide not long after winning a Pulitzer Prize for that image. Although the book deals mainly with their work experiences, it also provides insight in the personal lives of photojournalists. It focuses mainly on events in South Africa, especially during those eventful years in the early nineties. However, there are also references to other African countries. A few months before I read this book, I also read Out of America: A Black Man Confronts Africa by Keith Richburg. This was another excellent and very honest book by a black American journalist who was assigned to the African Desk of the Washington Post. The combination of these two books gives an excellent perspective on the Dark Continent and scares the hell out of you.

I can strongly recommend both these books. It is a must-read for anyone interested in photojournalism and for people interested in the political transition period of SA. People who enjoy biographies will also appreciate the book.

This is an exciting account of South Africa, as observed through the lenses of four "conflict photojournalists", roughly between the time of Mandela's release to South Africa's first non-racial elections. There is a gripping, raw and ultimately, compassionate, quality about the writing, and the photos powerfully convey the horrors that this country went through. Equally enlightening are the insights into conflict photography, and the moral issues that arise by being a witness (and recorder) of human suffering. This book would interest anyone who's ever wondered how conflict photographers get into those crazy situations, the risks they took (sometimes fatal), and the adrenaline-laced thoughts that rush through their minds.