Customer Reviews

Blackwater: The Rise Of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

An extremely well-written, eye opening book. Would highly recommend it. It's particularly unsettling that a lot of ordinary people have mutual funds invested in organizations that they would probably never knowlingly support.

Far more than just a "spin of the week," this book represents the only substantial investigation of the growth of government-sponsored mercenary armies. Blackwater may have made the biggest splash across the headlines, but it is worth noting that the book came out in hardcover before Blackwater was kicked out of Iraq. It would have been nice to see some comparative analysis of other mercenary companies as well, but for the moment, Scahill's analysis of Blackwater will have to stand on its own.

Scahill covers the rise of the Prince family, as well as the growth of the connection between the family and the neo-cons of the Republican party. I don't personally see the menace behind Prince's Christianity - I think this is where Scahill is stretching - but his analyses of specific incidents in Iraq and Afghanistan is detailed and informative. Scahill's book only shows the need for further reporting on the world of soldiers for hire.

A very informative, well researched book. Very easy to read,understand and digest. It's great deatail and connection of the dots is well laid out by the author. Quite ambitious plans,that the "powers at be in the U.S.A" will go to to enhance the influence of the "Empire" and yet mis-inform, or not inform, the U.S. and world public.
Highly recommend this book for it's content and the entertainment value as well.

This book will give you nightmares. The author provides an extremely thorough look at the Blackwater empire and the issue of combat contractors in whole. Thoroughly researched (although I recommend the reader consistently refer to the endnotes throughout), this work will make you consider the future of the United States' military-industrial complex and how far it will go. Extremely well-written, entertaining, intriguing, and conducive to critical thought, this comes very highly recommended for both the policy expert and civilian-on-the-sidelines alike.

I hope he publishes an updated version soon, as there have been many important developments since the pressing of this edition.

Biased from the beginning. The actual info pertaining to Blackwater could have been condensed into about 20 pages, the rest is just left-wing drivel. Try "Licensed to Kill" by Robert Young Pelton if you want true insight into the world of private security contractors.

While the content was generally interesting, the book could have easily been a hundred pages shorter. The author keeps repeating points until it becomes irritating. A good magazine article could have conveyed 90% or more of the key points that Scahill raises.

I found the book to be pretty thorough. Lots of information, lots of background, well researched. Scahill's opposition to the war in general is obvious, but it does not come off as blatantly biased as some reviewers felt it did. I enjoyed it a lot.

I really had a problem with this book. I feel that the author was on a mission with this one and as such, objectivity went right out the window. I did find his research into the past of Erik Prince to be quite interesting - but at one point of the book he allows his view on the Iraq war to steer his writing. The Iraq war is bad and as such, everything associated with that war is bad too. That really seemed to be the message he was pounding. I'm okay with a person having that viewpoint on the war. I too have my reservations about that conflict. However, his conviction and distaste begins to flow into his words. As a result, I seriously began to doubt the words on the page. It was difficult to separate fact from opinion, and I suspect that this was a struggle that the author also shared. As a result, I was left not being able to believe the words on the page - because all objectivity was lost. I am tempted to describe the writing an conduct of the author as unprofessional. At the very least, it was extremely one-sided in its approach.

I found that Rober Young Pelton provided a much more balanced view of the phenomenon in his book Licensed to Kill. I read it after Blackwater. Even as unhappy as I was by the Blackwater, LTK revealed in greater detail the shortcomings of Scahill's book.

I read the first two chapters of this "book" to see that it was meant as a means to capitalise on the scandal than to actually expose or explain anything. Most of the book goes around the company going by the official proponent and opponent lines hoping to sound neutral while the only thing it shows is how murky these waters are.

Believe me when I say that this isn't journalism but political spin and hackery published as part of the "noise" related to the scandal. Only for the Fox News/CNN junkeys the rest of us will have to wait until a decade or so has passed to have someone look more deeply into the truth and be able to tell it like it was. As it seems now, only the spin is fit to get published. A waste of paper.