Over the course of fifteen months, Sebastian Junger followed a single platoon based at a remote outpost in the Korengal Valley of eastern Afghanistan. His objective was both simple and ambitious: to convey what soldiers experience-what war actually feels like.

Sebastian Junger's WAR delivers an acutely observed and heartfelt depiction of an experience young men have lived for millennia-one that few of us at home truly comprehend, and which remains, even today, the ultimate test of character. Drawing on biology, psychology, and military history, Junger describes things that few civilians will ever witness or go through, showing us what it means to fight, to serve, and to face down mortal danger on a constant basis.

"Riveting . . . Junger experiences everything [the soldiers] do-nerve-racking patrols, terrifying roadside bombings and ambushes, stultifying weeks in camp when they long for a firefight to relieve the tedium . . . Junger mixes visceral combat scenes-raptly aware of his own fear and exhaustion-with quieter reportage and insightful discussions of the physiology, social psychology, and even genetics of soldiering. The result is an unforgettable portrait of men under fire."
-Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A gripping account of how modern warfare is experienced by those who do the fighting, and its focus is that of a laser, not a floodlight . . . WAR is full of stories that prove the adage about all politics being local."
-Eugene Robinson, Washington Post

Be sure to visit the WAR community website at www.sebastianjunger.com.

Sebastian Junger is the internationally acclaimed author of The Perfect Storm, which spent over three years on the New York Times bestsellers list and was the basis for a major motion picture starring George Clooney. He is also the author of the New York Times bestsellers Fire and A Death in Belmont. He is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, and has been awarded a National Magazine Awardand an SAIS Novartis Prize for journalism. He lives in New York City.

Junger's time in the Korengal is also the subject of the documentary feature film Restrepo, which Junger directed with award-winning photographer Tim Hetherington. Restrepo, which won the 2010 Grand Jury Prize for documentary at Sundance, will be released theatrically as a National Geographic Entertainment presentation of an Outpost Films Production in July, and will have its worldwide television premiere on the National Geographic Channel this fall.