Moment of Truth in Iraq; How a New 'Greatest Generation' of American Soldiers Is Turning Defeat and Disaster into Victory and Hope by Yon, Michael - 2008

Minneapolis, MN: Richard Vigiliante Books, 2008. First Edition, First Printing. Hardcover. Very good/very good. Bork, Charles (Jacket design). x, 227 pages. Illustrations (some in color). Map. Documentation related to this being a signed book laid in. My book Moment of Truth in Iraq is packed with battlefield coverage, including some never-before-published material. The author stated "it will also include more from behind the scenes, as I traveled and up and down the back country to systematically report on the astounding campaign of 2007 to snatch Iraq back from the abyss. Key American and Iraqi commanders who are making it happen in a place most were writing off as a crash site. And many more of the small, telling moments, like the reopening of a Christian church in Doura. Just because our military has averted a disaster does not mean an automatic or easy path to a successful outcome. That's why I titled the book Moment of Truth in Iraq and why I believe that some events that will determine to a large extent the final outcome will occur early in 2008. Now more than ever, when every American is asking what course our country should take in Iraq, it is absolutely vital that we have a voice in the field. Michael Yon (born 1964) is an American writer and photographer. He served in the Special Forces in the early-1980s, and he became a writer in the mid-1990s. He focused on military writing after the invasion of Iraq. Yon has been embedded on numerous occasions with American and British troops in Iraq, most prominently a deployment with the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment (Deuce Four) of the 25th Infantry Division in Mosul, Iraq that ended in September 2005.Yon has had vocal feuds with the United States military hierarchy, and the nature of his reports are also controversial. However, Yon at one time enjoyed "rock star" status among individual soldiers, according to Brian Williams of NBC. Yon's alternative media reporting has been mentioned by numerous mainstream media agencies, and he has won accolades from the 2005, 2007, and 2008 Weblog Awards. In 2008, The New York Times reported that he has spent more time embedded with combat units than any other journalist in Iraq. He shifted the focus of his blogging from Iraq to Afghanistan in August 2008. His work is supported primarily by donations from readers.