The Forever War By Dexter Filkins

After some research on the three books given to us to chose for our class book club I settled on The Forever War by Dexter Filkins. The reason why I chose this book is because although it is the longest of three choices it is the most relevant to the United States today. Recently the United States as a country recognized the 10th Anniversary of September 11th; a wound in American history that will never completely heal. That day for many Americans will go down in their lives as a day they will never forget and for some Americans it is a day they would rather chose to forget. The author Dexter Filkins goes into Iraq and Afghanistan to bring the truth out by spending time with soldier, natives, and Taliban. After finishing the first chapter I was horrified to learn the customs of the people there who hold control over the culture. They ban everything from music to alcohol and handing out server punishment to anyone breaking their laws. The majority of the children are forced to take care of themselves or their families because their parents have died in battles or as casualties from Tribe Lords fighting for possession

of land. Some even forced to fight for different alliance groups so they can support their families leaving them forever scared and changed never really knowing or understanding the meaning of a childhood.

I look foreword to reading further into this book and discovering the truth of what it is like surviving in the war as well as the families and people living in Afghanistan today who play no hand in terrorism but are forced into war with guns at their backs.