Standard Operating Procedure – A War Story
Philip Gourevitch and Errol Morris
(Picador)

If George Steiner once referred to the Nazi death camps as the Bluebeard’s castles of the 20th Century, then Abu Ghraib is the De Sadean dungeon of the 21st. Standard Operating Procedure, written by Paris Review editor and New Yorker writer Gourevitch, drawing on interviews conducted by The Fog Of War director Morris, is nothing less than a horror story, the tale of how the Bush administration instructed the US military to bypass the Geneva Convention by classing inmates as ‘security detainees’ rather than POWs; of how incompetence caused snags in the chain of command that led to rogue soldiers subjecting Iraqi prisoners to the most barbaric abuses; of how the language of torture can be couched in euphemisms (‘sleep adjustment’ or ‘stress positions’) that that sound as benign as yoga. Standard Operating Procedure is a contender for non-fiction book of the year. It will make you angry and outraged, but most of all, afraid.

The Cellist Of Sarajevo
Steven Galloway
(Atlantic)

The Cellist of Sarajevo is the third novel from 33-year-old Vancouver author Galloway, and his first to be published in these parts. Heavily blurbed (JM Coetzee, Yann Martel, Khaled Hosseini, ZZ Packer), it also packs an irresistible premise. In sniper-strafed Sarajevo, a lone cellist sets a chair in the middle of the street at four o’ clock for 22 consecutive days to play Albinoni’s Adagio in memory of those shot dead while queueing for bread outside his building. Unbeknownst to the musician, a university shooting star named Arrow stands on guard as a counter-sniper, intent on protecting her oblivious ward. Simply but powerfully written (“There was a moment before impact that was the last instant of things as they were. Then the visible world exploded.”), The Cellist of Sarajevo is taut and confident, forging high art out of the horror.

We Are Now Beginning Our Descent
James Meek
(Canongate)

Acclaimed novelist and journalist Meek’s follow up to the prize-winning The People’s Act Of Love, …Descent, is the story of a divorced war correspondent intent on writing a cash-in thriller, partially based on the author’s experiences covering the US invasion of Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11. His keen eye for detail effortlessly captures the rivalry and cameraderie of war reporters. He’s not so sharp when he strays beyond that into the more genteel territory of upper-middle class London dinner parties, with some of his dialogue tending towards the verbose and clunky. Nevertheless, Meek is a brilliant prose stylist who can combine serious literary panache with a high concept thriller writer’s grasp of pace.

Further reading:

Our conversation with veteran BBC foreign correspondent John Simpson, from November 2002.

An interview conducted with war reporter Lara Marlow via sattelite phone in April 2003, as US forces encroached upon Baghdad.

The strange and incredible story of Bill Carter’s season in Sarajevo.

Henry Rollins on his experiences performing for American troops for the USO.

From Henry’s show, an eye-opening conversation with fellow USO performer Joan Jett.

Here’s the NPR skinny on the new HBO show from The Wire boys David Simon and Ed Burns, Generation Kill, based on the book by Rolling Stone reporter Evan Wright.

And finally, an extraordinary talk with soldier-poet Brian Turner on Fresh Air.

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