A Woman at War - Paperback

by Molly Moore (Author)

A journalist who accompanied a senior commanding general as he led his troops into battle during Desert Storm gives an insider's view of the heroism and tragedy that she witnessed on the front line.

Molly Moore, senior correspondent for The Washington Post, didn't think she'd be the only US journalist with a close-up view of the Gulf War, but when Lt. Gen. Walter Boomer, commander of the US Marine forces, invited her to shadow him while his troops planned and executed the invasion of Kuwait, that's exactly the situation she found herself in.

The result of this brave journalistic effort is a vivid and dramatic account of the Gulf War--one that does justice to the diligent, gutsy marines that successfully drove Saddam Hussein's military from the country, without romanticizing the horrors of battle. Tense, chaotic, and thrumming with emotional resonance, Moore's examination of the invasion offers indispensable insight into the 100-hour invasion that formed the overture to America's War on Terror.

Back Jacket

During the Gulf War, most journalists were confined to media pools. But not Molly Moore, the senior military correspondent of The Washington Post. Moore was the only reporter to accompany a senior commanding general as he led his troops into battle in Kuwait. This is her eyewitness account of the war as she lived it by the side of the top Marine general, Walter E. Boomer. There has never been a book quite like Molly Moore's, for hers is the unique story of what a woman experienced inside the Gulf War military machine - in a male-dominated military amidst an Islamic culture in which women are on a level with the family pet. Molly Moore offers a detailed account of the buildup toward war in both Washington and the Gulf, and reveals the heroism as well as the calamity of the battlefield - the miscalculations, the failed communications, the distress and disarray among the troops and their officers. With an appealing combination of chilling authority and a warm understanding of the human dimensions of battle, she provides a frank and unprecedented view of the war planning councils as the action escalates. Here, too, are the tensions and exhilaration of daily life in a war zone - what it was like to wait for days for a gas mask when everyone else was well protected; how it felt to live in the desert, where, among other hazards, freezing winds made it impossible to take out a pair of contact lenses, and lack of privacy left women on duty with few choices about bathroom facilities. A Woman at War showcases as well the fresh and exciting new voice of Molly Moore herself, the first woman Pentagon correspondent in the history of The Washington Post. For its unusually candid and graphic depictionof men - and for the first time, women - in battle, A Woman at War will be highly valued and long remembered.

Author Biography

Marianne Moore is the author of A Woman at War, a Scribner book.