The Long Road Home - by Martha Raddatz (Paperback)

About the Book

From ABC White House correspondent Raddatz comes the story of a brutal 48-hour firefight that conveys in harrowing detail the effects of war not just on the soldiers, but also on the families waiting back at home.

Book Synopsis

ABC News' Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz shares remarkable tales of heroism, hope, and heartbreak in her account of "Black Sunday"--a battle during one of the deadliest periods of the Iraq War.

The First Cavalry Division came under surprise attack in Sadr City on Sunday April 4, 2004. Over 7,000 miles away, their families awaited the news for forty-eight hellish hours--expecting the worst. In this powerful, unflinching account, Martha Raddatz takes readers from the streets of Baghdad to the home front and tells the story of that horrific day through the eyes of the courageous American men and women who lived it.

"A masterpiece of literary nonfiction that rivals any war-related classic that has preceded it."--The Washington Post

Review Quotes

Praise for The Long Road Home

"The word 'sacrifice' is used a lot. In The Long Road Home, Martha Raddatz shows what the word really means...Read it."--Thomas E. Ricks, author of Fiasco

"Grit and high drama...searingly vivid evidence of the toll U.S. soldiers pay."--The New York Times

"A picture of American valor and unflagging commitment."--Rocky Mountain News

"A poignant piece of work that will grab and hold you."--St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"[This] nervy, brilliantly reported book tells the human stories that ricocheted out from one long, brutal firefight."--The Star Tribune

"A truly great book about men, women, and raw courage."--Diane Sawyer, ABC News

"Raddatz's powerful book introduces us to people we root for, and care about, and won't soon forget."--Nathaniel Fick, author of One Bullet Away

"An unforgettable and entirely new portrait of the American family at war."--Evan Wright, author of Generation Kill

"[A] fast-paced narrative of how some of these soldiers struggled to survive when their routine patrol of a Baghdad slum went terribly wrong, forever changing the lives of those involved and signaling a new phase in the violent resistance to U.S. occupation of Iraq."--Los Angeles Times

"Might well be the Black Hawk Down of the Iraq war."--The Washington Post

"A thoroughly gripping read...There is something very special about membership in the 'brotherhood of the close fight, ' and The Long Road Home establishes clearly that those who fought on 'black Sunday' earned a cherished place in that elite fraternity."--General David Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq

About the Author

Martha Raddatz is the Chief Global Affairs Correspondent for ABC News and the co-anchor of This Week with George Stephanopoulos. She has covered national security, foreign policy and politics for decades--reporting from the Pentagon, the State Department, the White House, and conflict zones around the world.