Every Man in This Village Is a Liar: An Education in War

Kinda 3.5-ish stars.

Very reminiscent of Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, in that it's a poetic, meditative exploration of the horrors of war. Megan Stack was a foreign war correspondent for the LA Times during the mid-2000s. Each chapter in the book covers another warzone or conflict state: Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Yemen, Egypt, Saudi Arabia. She writes lyrically - sometimes too lyrically, sometimes perfectly (and beautifully) capturing a human detail. She also does a laudable job of humanizing American foreign policy in the Middle East, and keeping track of the macro geopolitics at play. It feels clear-eyed, angry, informed.

Despite all this, I will admit that I spent most of the book feeling kind of awful and willing it to end. It was just very, very depressing. I was about to 3-star it, but then her masterful chapter on the young Iraqi distance runner basically left me teary-eyed and amazed. A beautiful portrait; harrowing and sad. There were a lot of moments like that.

This book was an absolutely stunning memoir. Stacks has an unbelievable way with prose, and offering some of the most vivid “showing” I've read in any work. Her observations in Libya and Yemen were especially interesting, making me question the role of government in people's lives. She offered new insight as to issues of war and the Middle East, which is unusual, since at this point I feel a bit as thought I've read it all. I would highly suggest this book to anyone interested in the Middle East or America's 21st century wars.

However, as a caveat, I would also say that it would help if you had some sort of background or prior reading in this subject. It's not necessary, but it'll help. I found myself a little bit lost in the chapter on Lebanon because my understanding of Hezbollah is less developed than what I've learned about Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, etc.