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Squaddie
Squaddie
Oct 9, 2024 10:30 PM

Author:Steven McLaughlin

Squaddie

From the harsh realities of basic training to post-war chaos in Iraq and knife-edge tension in Northern Ireland, Squaddie takes us to a place not advertised in army recruitment brochures. It exposes the grim reality of everyday soldiering for the 'grunts on the ground'.

After the tragic death of his brother, and in the dark days following 9/11, McLaughlin felt compelled to fulfil his lifelong ambition to serve in the army. He followed his late brother into the elite Royal Green Jackets and passed the arduous Combat Infantryman's Course at the age of 31. Thereafter, McLaughlin found himself submerged in a world of casual violence.

Squaddie is a snapshot of infantry soldiering in the twenty-first century. It takes us into the heart of an ancient institution that is struggling to retain its tough traditions in a rapidly changing world. All of the fears and anxieties that the modern soldier carries as his burden are laid bare, as well as the occasional joys and triumphs that can make him feel like he is doing the best job in the world.

This is an account of army life by someone who has been there and done it.

Reviews

It's amazing, a really fine achievement and has a wonderful balance between argument and narration, where the individual stories draw the reader into the moral and emotional complexities, while the sense of structure and proportion gives it a very strong sense of being in safe hands

—— Nick Stargardt, author of 'Witnesses of War'

A thoughtful retelling of an important and timely story

—— Alan Allport , Literary Review

(Even today, thousands of people displaced by the Second World War remain unaccounted for)The Long Road Home speaks for them by proxy and with proper sympathy

—— Ian Thompson , Sunday Telegraph

[A] well researched and comprehensive account

—— Caroline Moorehead , Spectator

Excellent book... his research is meticulous

—— Independent

Lively and well-researched

—— Dominic Sandbrook , The Sunday Times

Here Shephard skilfully weaves the story into that of the other armies....and how (it) is richly told

—— Dr David Stafford , BBC History Magazine

Shephard does not seek to draw pat lessons or modern conclusions from any of this. He is content to tell us what happened next, in detail, and often vividly...a riveting and often entirely fresh story, shrewdly assembled, very well told.

—— Peter Preston , Guardian

Ben Shephard's account of his demanding and important subject is a triumph, His has unearthed new and moving testimony by former DPs and has burrowed into official and personal papers without ever letting his deep scholarship get in the way of the riveting story he has to tell...With a sureness of touch he interweaves the personal stories of those who were involved in the allied relief effort at all levels ...For anyone who is curious about the coalition of interests and beliefs which slide across this particularly American see-saw, reading Shepherd's brilliant book is a must

—— Nicholas Stargardt , History Today

Ben Shephard's impressively readable account is replete with detailed personal testimony

—— Tim Kirk , TLS

Ben Shephard's impressively readable account is replete with detailed personal testimony. It is a reminder not only of the real achievements of relief workers in the 1940s, but also of the continuing problem of refugees across the globe, many of whom - as in Iraq - have suffered the consequences of far less satisfactory programmes of relief and reconstruction.

—— TLS

Deeply impressive... Well researched, well-written and often moving

—— New Statesman

There's a pounding quietness to Moorhouse's description of life in Berlin

—— Vera Rule , Guardian

A well-researched, fluently-written and utterly absorbing account of what life (and, so very often) death was like for ordinary Germans in the capital of Hitler's Reich during the Second World War. The Berliners' capacity for suffering, for sacrifice, for self-delusion, but also astonishingly for love - and even on occasion humour - is superbly evoked by Moorhouse's cornucopia of new information

—— Andrew Roberts, author of The Storm of War

Berlin at War is a well-researched and beautifully composed account, vividly recreating those years of Nazi arrogance, oppression, and corruption, that ended in such terrible destruction and civilian suffering

—— Antony Beevor

Wonderful ... an amazing panoramic view ... I've rarely read anything like it

—— Claire Tomalin

A masterful account of lost and stolen lives

—— Sunday Times

Awesome ... one of the most unforgettable books I have ever read. I defy anyone to read it without weeping at its human suffering, cruelty and courage ... in this book these righteous heroes have their rightful memorial

—— Simon Sebag Montefiore , Mail on Sunday

Sheds new light on history that we thought we knew... meticulously detailed and very readable

—— David Willetts , New Statesman

The miracle is that there isn’t a dull page. As it moves towards its deadly climax, the story hangs together as tightly as a thriller. Into the Silence is as monumental as the mountain that soars above it; small wonder that it won the 2012 Samuel Johnson prize for non-fiction … Once you start wandering the snowy passes with Mallory and the lads, you won’t want to come down again. There can be no better way, surely, to spend a week in winter

—— Arminta Wallace , Irish Times

He sees the climbers as haunted dreamers, harrowed by their desperate experiences in the First World War, living amid romantic dreams of Imperial grandeur and the elemental, sublime grandeur of the mountain

—— Steve Barfield , Lady

This is the awesomely researched story of Mallory, Irvine and the early Everest expeditions. It puts their efforts and motivations into the context of Empire and the first world war in a way I don’t think previous books have ever managed

—— Chris Rushby , Norfolk Magazine

A vivid depiction of a monumental story…Wade Davis’ passion for the book shines through and I can only hope that his next book doesn’t take as long to write as I will certainly be reading it

—— Glynis Allen , Living North
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