Beyond Duty: Life on the Frontline in Iraq
By: Shannon P. Meehan and Roger Thompson
It is a story of a family, and it's the story of loss. It's the story of a moment of hope that turns dark, when the sky opened up and changed the landscape forever.
“powerful and heartbreaking” "an articulate and devastating memoir"
--Tim O’Brien --Military Writers Society of America
Description
Under the blazing Iraqi sun in the summer of 2007, Shannon Meehan, a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, ordered a strike that would take the lives of innocent Iraqi civilians. He thought he was doing the right thing. He thought he was protecting his men. He thought that he would only kill the enemy, but in the ruins of the strike, he discovers his mistake and uncovers a tragedy.
For most of
his deployment in Iraq, Lt. Meehan felt that he had been made for a life in the
military. A tank commander, he worked in the violent Diyala Province,
successfully fighting the insurgency by various Sunni and Shia factions. He was
celebrated by his senior officers and decorated with medals. But when the U.S.
surge to retake Iraq in 2006 and 2007 finally pushed into Baqubah, a town
virtually entirely controlled by al Qaida, Meehan would make the decision that
would change his life.
This is the true story of one soldier's attempt to reconcile what he has done
with what he felt he had to do. Stark and devastating, it recounts first-hand
the reality of a new type of warfare that remains largely unspoken and
forgotten on the frontlines of Iraq.
Polity is a leading international publisher in the social sciences and humanities and we publish some of the world’s best authors in these fields. Our aim is to combine the publication of original, cutting-edge work of the highest quality with a systematic program of textbooks and course-books for students and scholars in further and higher education.
The Polity list is particularly strong in the area of sociology, politics, and social and political theory. We also have strong lists in a range of other subjects including philosophy, history, literary studies, media and cultural studies, gender studies, and anthropology.
Established in 1984, Polity has grown rapidly into one of the world’s most prestigious lists. We are an independent company with offices in Cambridge and Oxford in the UK and Boston in the US and our books are available throughout the world. Sales representation and the distribution of polity books is provided by John Wiley and Sons Ltd.
