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Crusade: The Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War | 
 enlarge | Author: Rick Atkinson
Publisher: Mariner Books
Category: Book
List Price: $17.95
Buy Used: $1.80
You Save: $16.15 (90%)
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Rating:  30 reviews
Sales Rank: 231414
Media: Paperback
Pages: 608
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 0395710839
Dewey Decimal Number: 956.70442373
UPC: 046442710831
EAN: 9780395710838
ASIN: 0395710839
Publication Date: October 19, 1994
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Domestic Standard shipments arrive 7-10 business days. Priority 3-6 Very Good condition
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Product Description
This definitive account of the Gulf War relates the previously untold story of the U.S. war with Iraq in the early 1990s. The author follows the 42-day war from the first night to the final day, providing vivid accounts of bombing runs, White House strategy sessions, firefights, and bitter internal conflicts.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 A Better Look.... March 5, 2008
D. S. Thurlow (Alaska)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Veteran writer and journalist Rick Atkinson's "Crusade" was published in 1993, just long enough after the end of the First Gulf War for the dust to settle and for the author to sort through what really happened. Although less complete as a military account than Scales' "Certain Victory" or Gordon and Trainer's "The Generals' War", it is easily the most engrossing for the general reader. Atkinson nimbly steps between the battlefield, the Coalition command post in Saudi Arabia, and the Washington Beltway to create a compelling narrative of the personal and poltical dimensions of the conflict.
Atkinson's gift is to put perspective on a huge effort. Following the invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi, the United States led a UN-sponsored coalition in first protecting Saudi Arabia and then liberating Kuwait. Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM represented the most significant military effort by the United States since the end of the Vietnam War. For many participants, the Gulf War was a long-overdue exorcism of the ghosts of Vietnam, and Atkinson faithfully traces that thread in the narrative.
The outsized personality of General Norman Schwartzkopf dominates the story in the Middle East. In charge of an isolated command with few assigned troops, Schwartzkopf was responsible for the rapid build-up of a multi-national force, the careful tending of various allies, and the ultimately successful campaign to liberate Kuwait. That enormous amounts of political and military friction were an inescapable part of this effort is no surprise; its extent is captured here.
DESERT STORM was a proving ground for various new forms of technology and doctrine whose use is now considered routine. Atkinson successfully narrates the terrific struggles over the integration of a joint, combined combat effort at what was then the cutting edge of innovation. Inevitably, mistakes were made; Atkinson documents this as well.
This book is highly recommended as an excellent account of the First Gulf War for the general reader and for the student looking for broad coverage.
 Reads well, but overall weak April 27, 2007
Scholar (USA)
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
If this is a 4+ star book (as the others who have reviewed the book seem to think) then the state of Gulf War scholarship must be very low indeed. Atkinson's tale is an unorganized patchwork of escapades, vignettes and personality clashes among generals that provides some interesting stories but no solid overall narrative. We get VERY little on Bush, the role of Congress, army medicine, the coalition forces, army structure--not even much on the weaponry. It appears to be a slapped together book for a hungry market, with precious little interpretation or analysis.
 If you want toknow what really happen in DS May 9, 2005
D. D Lawson (Pasadena, Calif. USA)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Mr. Atkinson has written another fine book about todays Army and its 1st real test by combat against Iraq. It is a rich source of information that did not make the screen by CNN. That and the story of the renaissance (rebirth) of the United States Military after the debachle of the post Viet Nam War. A book that is well worth the investment of your time if this is your field of interest.
Not a Definitive History, but Compelling January 14, 2005
Gregory Canellis (Tuckerton, NJ USA)
7 out of 11 found this review helpful
For fifteen years the specter of Vietnam hung over the United States military. After finally devising a way to bow out of the Southeast Asian quagmire with honor, the administration of President Richard M. Nixon was eventually brought down by the scandal of Watergate. Even the failure of its Cold War nemesis, the former Soviet Union, in a similar debacle in Afghanistan, could not dilute the embarrassment of Vietnam in the American consciousness. The invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein's Iraqi forces on 2 August 1990, would give the United States both the opportunity to win a conventional military victory and produce great soldier-heroes such as those that had emerged from more popular wars of the past. That is the underlining thesis of Rick Atkinson's _Crusade: The Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War_. Atkinson argues that aside from the obvious objectives of liberating the Kuwaiti oil fields and protecting America's vital interests in the Middle East, the conflict would produce two important subtle consequences. First it would provide a victory to restore prestige to a military establishment haunted by the ghosts of Vietnam. Second, and more importantly, a victory in the Persian Gulf would provide America with old-fashioned military and political heroes the likes of which had not been seen since the tumultuous parades down New York's Fifth Avenue following Japan's surrender in World War II. The heroes America needed and the media helped to create were General H. Norman Schwarzkopf and President George H.W. Bush. Atkinson portrays Schwarzkopf, arguably the most flamboyant American general since Lt. Gen. George S. Patton Jr., as raging and abusive. Written with a "you are there" approach, the author describes many top-level briefings between Schwarzkopf and his subordinates. A common theme is Schwarzkopf's accusatory bantering that his orders were deliberately disobeyed. Many of these diatribes were aimed at with a great deal of disrespect for U.S. VII Corps commander General Frederick M. Franks. Acknowledging the frustration associated with the burden of command, however, Atkinson concedes that perhaps some of Schwarzkopf's outbursts may have been justifiable. Atkinson initially portrays Bush as an "extraordinary commander." The author credits Bush's campaign to gain support of the American people by demoralizing the militaristic regime of Saddam Hussein as brilliant. Atkinson illustrates how Bush's hero status quickly diminished, however, when the president ended the war prematurely allowing the Iraqi forces to escape and failed to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Utilizing his highly regarded journalistic talent, sprinkled with a sampling of sensationalism, Atkinson examines nearly every controversy of the war. These topics include: the high degree of fratricide among U.S. Service personnel, the reasons for faulty U.S. Intelligence reports that habitually overestimated enemy strength, and the many questions surrounding just how effective were "Smart Bombs." Atkinson also delves into inter-service rivalries, particularly between the Air Force and the Army. He suggests the two services inflated their own roles concerning the conduct of the war. According to Atkinson, this over glamorizing was done in an effort to highlight the importance of their respective services in order to gain the appropriate postwar funding and budgets. The author was privy to certain principal sources during the course of his research. Some documents were declassified just for the purpose of writing of this book through the Freedom of Information Act. The author also was allowed access to the unpublished manuscript of the Official U.S. History of the Persian Gulf War. This is not the definitive history of the first Persian Gulf War, but Atkinson's spin on important issues makes for a compelling read.
Exciting And Well Written December 15, 2004
John G. Hilliard (Toronto Canada)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I am ashamed to admit that this excellent book sat on my bookshelf for a number of years while I read untold numbers of lesser books. I had heard it was a good book, which was the reason I purchased it, and it turns out that everything positive that lead me to buy the book was in fact true. The first thing that stood out for me was that this author is very good at his craft. I almost forgot I was reading a non fiction book at times because his writing style provided the excitement and richly detailed descriptions that you would normally associate with a fiction book. The author details the Gulf War in such a way that almost exclusively focuses on the actual war and not the lead up to the combat nor the political efforts that played out. He does touch on some political aspects, but only when they are needed to augment the readers understanding of what was happening in the war theater.
The one interesting side story in the book was the authors dislike for Norman Schwarzkopf. The critiques were always within the realm of how he did his job, but there was just something about them that let the reader in on the fact that not too many people that worked with the General much cared for his management style. Other then this slight bias the author stuck to the facts and really gave the reader a good amount of detail on the war effort. It was interesting to read of the many battles. I have read a number of books about different aspects of the war, but this was the first one that really covered all the major battles and I came away surprised at some of the scale that was described. We have all heard that the war was a complete and overwhelming victory, but that positive view hides some of the very violent and large battles that took place.
Overall I really enjoyed the book. The author did a wonderful job and I can honestly say that this is one of the better combat books that I have ever read. The details were never ending and the writing was crisp and well thought out. If you are interested in the war then this has to be the one book your read if you are interested in the combat. The only partial critique I would make is that the author spent the vast amount of his time talking about the American military and really did not cover much of what was happening with the other countries involved. Given the size and responsibilities of those other forces, this focus on the U.S. is understandable.
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