Review: Archie Henderson

In the Company of Soldiers: A Chronicle of Combat, by Rick Atkinson (Henry Holt & Co New York)

Rick Atkinson is no stranger to the military. The son of an infantry officer, he grew up an army brat and after entering journalism, he took time off from his day job to write the first of his World War 2 trilogy, An Army at Dawn, to be followed by The Day of Battle and The Guns at Last Light.

These tracked, with meticulous and engaging historiography, American involvement in that conflict.

So when the US military opened its ranks to “embedded” journalists for the idiocy of the second Gulf War in 2003, Atkinson’s employers, the Washington Post, decided he would be an ideal candidate. Continue reading →