"Five months after Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq hit bookshelves, Chasing Ghosts: A Soldiers Fight for America From Baghdad to Washington joined it. It turns out Cobra and Ghosts are combat companions.

"Cobra is scholarly and objective. Ghosts is personal and political. Michael R. Gordon and retired Marine Lt. Gen. Bernard E. Trainor's Cobra explains how top leaders theorized a war. Army National Guard 1st Lt. Paul Rieckhoff's Ghosts explains how one platoon tested the theory.

"Holding back is not Rieckhoff's style....

"The hallmark of Ghosts is conviction told with clarity..."

-J. Ford Huffman,
USA Today/Army Times
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"Powerful, heartfelt, and real. Anyone who cares about Iraq and the U.S. military -- that is to say anybody who cares about this country and where it's headed -- should read this book."

- Janet Reitman,

Rolling Stone,

Contributing Editor

"Alternately hilarious and tragic, Chasing Ghosts gives us the best reporting to come out of the Iraq War-possibly the best reporting to emerge from any war. No book since Catch-22 has depicted this gruesome subject so compellingly. Rieckhoff should make room on his mantel for the Pulitzer Prize."

- Chuck Palahniuk,
New York Times bestselling
author of Fight Club

"A clear-eyed, hard-headed, soft-hearted, and functioning-kidneyed account of our nightmare in Iraq. Anyone who would question Paul Rieckhoff's unquestioned authority on the war and its cost is dangerously dangerous."

- Al Franken,
Best-selling author, comedian,
host The Al Franken Show,
frequent USO tour host

"Paul Rieckhoff writes with rare authenticity and passion not just of the war abroad but of even tougher battles faced by him and other veterans now returning home. Every American who professes to ‘Support our Troops' should read Chasing Ghosts."

- Evan Wright,
author of Generation Kill

"This book hit me in the gut. Written by one who lived with the ground truth of the Iraq war with his United States Army platoon, it is the real story of how the lies, idiocies, frustrations, obscenities and tragedies of the war impact those who fight it...It is full of courage, GI talk, humor and pure patriotism. It is a must read for all of us struggling to understand the number one issue of our time."

- Senator Max Cleland,
Vietnam vet

"America has to thank its new war veterans for going in to harm's way when ordered. But now America has to answer the questions of vets like Rieckhoff: why were they lied to, why were they not given all the protections available, who will pay the price for the almost 20,000 casualties? Rieckhoff's anger is the rage of a patriot."

- Richard A. Clarke,
New York Times bestselling author,
Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terrorism

"Chasing Ghosts is a clarion call for any young idealist who has ever doubted their own power to confront the status quo and affect change....An honest, electric memoir of one young man's trip from the harrowing vortex of urban combat in Iraq to the blood-sport of American politics."

- Gideon Yago,
MTV News

"Rieckhoff...provides a unique and well-informed critical perspective-delivered with wit and passion...This is a book that all Americans who care about their country should read."

- Arianna Huffington,
political commentator and founder of
HuffingtonPost.com

"Paul Rieckhoff is a human being of true substance and character. These descriptions are tossed around too easily nowadays, but Paul is one of the few who are really striving for what is right, in our lifetime. His dedication to truth and life itself is clearly proven in his work-and now his word-for all to feel."

- Chuck D,
Public Enemy

 "Here's the story of a vet who's come home from combat in Iraq, still fiercely pro-American and pro-military, but justifiably furious at the Bush administration for sending Americans off to war without a viable plan for success. Rieckhoff takes you to the stomach-churning streets, day-by-day, rifles and teenaged soldiers in hand, nothing left to the imagination save the full fear. We had better heed Rieckhoff's brutally honest, strong, and unimpeachable scream."

- Leslie H. Gelb,
former foreign affairs columnist for The New York Times
and president emeritus of The Council on Foreign Relations

"Fast paced and brutal, Chasing Ghosts opened my eyes to a world I knew nothing about. Absolutely riveting account by a thinking soldier-I could almost feel the sand grating against my skin. A compelling read."

- Ben Mezrich,New York Times bestselling author of
Bringing Down the House and Busting Vegas

"Chasing Ghosts is like a first-hand report from your coolest friend, providing that your coolest friend had shipped off to an unpopular war. Rieckhoff totally nails the absurdities of American soldiers confronting mortality in aid of a failing mission. Anyone trying to figure out how the Iraq war went into the ditch needs to study Rieckhoff's Chasing Ghosts."

- Bobby Muller,
Chairman of the Board for
the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation

"Paul Rieckhoff is a citizen in the classical sense. Like Cincinnatus, he went to war when his nation called, but his service didn't end when he came home. Paul poured his hard-won wisdom into changing the public dialogue about Iraq, and it's working. He's a patriot, a warrior, an organizer, and a leader. Paul's an inspiration, and you cannot put his book down without realizing that guys like him are changing Iraq, and America too."

- Nathaniel Fick,
author of
One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer

"Paul Rieckhoff is truly a unique voice of truth, whose stories of his service in Iraq enlighten, inform, entertain, and capture the understanding missing on the war. Paul shows us that you can be a brave soldier and a brave citizen without compromising either, without compromising the truth, nor yourself and your integrity. The sensory images he presents in his book Chasing Ghosts of a soldier's life in Baghdad are vivid, vibrant, and unique. All the good and the ugly discussed with the honest and integrity that we wish our administration could mirror. A must read that I could not put down."

- Serj Tankian,
lead singer of System of a Down