The Age of the Warrior: Selected Essays

The first book I read by this author was The Great War for Civilization, and that sealed my respect for this outstanding journalist. He not only writes well, but with integrity--something not always in evidence, in contemporary journalism. He gives no one a free pass, and his sympathies are always with "the little people," those more often the victims of the Great than themselves perpetrators of wars, atrocities, and corruption. These essays span a period from 1999 to 2007, but many of them address themes that are contemporary and timeless: the lies of governments, the poison of bigotry, and the courage of those who, like Rachel Corrie and Mordecai Vanunu--to name just two--risk their lives and freedom to stand up for what is right. Robert Fisk is not just another writer with vanity or the hope of riches as his motivation; he cares about those whose fate he chronicles. Not all of these essays are political--he reminisces about places and people from his past--but most contain at least a germ of poignant meaning for us, who occupy this threatened and violent world. This is a book that is easy to read, put down, then pick up again, as it is organized in essays typically of no more than three pages. It is time well spent.

Robert Fisk is one of the leading journalists in the world today writing on international politics and events, in particular as they relate to the Middle East, where he has lived for over two decades and has been a star correspondent. "The Age of the Warrior" is the title for this collection of his essays and articles in The Independent, his current newspaper, since he left the The Times when Australian right-wing magnate Rupert Murdoch bought it. The articles for the most part dwell on the usual themes one would expect from Robert Fisk: the war-mongering, mendacity and hypocrisy on the part of the Western governments, be they American or British, German or French, with regard to the Middle East; the failures of the various Arab governments to be more than corrupt lids on the explosive mixture contained within their nations; the senseless violence and loss of life suffered in the area as well as all over the world due to political incompetence and imperialist malice alike in the past century; and more of that kind. However, unlike his two major books, "Pity the Nation" (Pity the Nation: The Abduction of Lebanon (Nation Books)) and "The Great War for Civilization" (The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East), Fisk in this book is more reflective than angry in many cases, and the topics are broader in range as a result. He reflects (more) on his father and grandfather's legacies in the military, on earlier catastrophes such as World War I and the loss of the Titanic, and so on. Interesting is the addition of some cultural articles, in particular a collection of movie reviews, as well as some comments on journalism and even football. In all of this, Fisk is his usual self, with his by now familiar 'cool anger', strong moral judgement, and fearlessness, as well as his tendency to put himself and his own reflections on events in the foreground more than the events themselves. Since Fisk is one of the best popularly accessible, non-academic writers on the political world of today, this book is very worth reading.

It's unfortunate that the people who really should read this book won't. The truth,as seen through the eyes of an eyewitness,is what too often is missing from the news we read or see or hear. As painful as it is, the stories of everyday people must be told. Mr. Fisk is a master at separating fact from fiction. This book is a chronicle of history in our time and exposes those who have turned their backs on our world. As a species, we can't continue to be led by our self-inflicted ignorance and continue to repeat the mistakes of the past. This book is an excellent means to achieving awareness of the world we live on.

i could have told you long before i opened the book that it would be worth reading. Having just read "the age of the warrior",I can tell you it's value far exceeds the price put on it by its publisher. If you've read his articles from the independent or have read "the great war for civilization" you will want to read this book. ****(see below) It is immensely insightful, and intelligent. If you've only read his articles from the independent,then "the great war for civilization" would be best to start with. It is by far the most powerful book I've read. It does not gloss the truth or clean it up, but accounts some of the terrible acts the human race can inflict on one another. It was a difficult read and at times i couldn't read more than 4 or 5 pages at a time. "Age of the Warrior" follows his articles in the last five or more years of his work in the Middle East covering governments,war,his insight on the "western media" and go's into several experiences of his childhood. (his love of trains, for one). Though the events in this book happened years ago,reading the articles may give you the insight to better understand how those events came about and may just help you see how you can help prevent history from repeating itself. I've heard someone say(Fisk maybe): "It's the journalist's job of keeping governments in check, by seeing that the acts perpetrated by them don't go unnoticed,and reporting their acts to the public, so that those guilty be held accountable." I believe we (the people) are not excluded from that responsibility. **** Note: for those who have tried to find the 3-part documentary he did called "from Beirut to Bosnia", do a 'video' google search it should be the first thing that pops up. Pt. 1. The martyrs smile -50min. Pt. 2. The road to Palestine -50min. Pt. 3. To the ends of the Earth -50min.

This book is a selection from Robert Fisk's Saturday columns in the Independent from 1998 to 2007. These writings cover films and novels, the World Wars, the first British war of occupation of Iraq, the wars in Iraq, Lebanon and Afghanistan, the Turkish genocide of Armenians, and many other themes. He sums up this period as the age of the warrior, describing how Bush changed the US Army's official `Soldier's Creed' to "I am a warrior" whose sole mission is `to destroy the enemies of the United States of America'. An American veteran wrote that the new creed "allows no end to any conflict except total destruction of the `enemy'. It ... does not allow one ever to stop fighting (lending itself to the idea of `the long war'). It says nothing about following orders, it says nothing about obeying laws or showing restraint. It says nothing about dishonourable actions ..." Change the word American in the creed to Muslim and it could be bin Laden's creed. The American veteran wrote that this new creed encouraged the committing of atrocities. For example, the CIA had videos of prisoners being waterboarded, recently admitting that it had destroyed them. Americans in authority believe, wrongly, that `Torture works', as one Special Forces major put it. Fisk notes how politicians impose policies against our national interest and against all morality, and how they use power to terrorise us. But our consent is not unthinking or automatic; the thought is that `authority is trustworthy', despite the evidence. He noted that some of his fellow journalists refuse to see cruelty and use the notion of `balance' to avoid the truth. He also notes the growing efforts to censor criticism, whether of Israel or of Islam. Bush tells us that `we' are fighting `evil', so his wars are nothing to do with the occupation of Palestinian land, Afghanistan and Iraq. He tells us that `we' must blame `them' for the violence that threatens us all. But if we keep the same Middle East policies, there will be more bombings, followed by harsher laws. As Fisk wrote of the Middle East, "the Americans must leave if peace was to be restored and the sooner they left the better."