Reviews
"Fascinating and fresh . . . Chandrasekaran is a superb reporter and graceful writer whose individual vignettes, focused on military and civilian misfires, are on-target and often mortifying." -Max Boot, The Wall Street Journal "Brilliant . . . Only a journalist with Chandrasekaran's experience and skill could tell this extraordinarily complicated story with such clarity." -June Thomas, Newsday "Sharp and subtle . . . Enormously informative . . . Little America does not disappoint." -Bill O'Leary, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "Chandrasekaran's apt portrayal of the Afghan perspective and on-the-ground tensions makes the book a must for policy shapers and voters alike." -Hamed Aleaziz, Mother Jones "A must-read account . . . Little America is the best work yet in addressing our military-diplomatic campaign in Afghanistan and the dysfunction that stymies it." -Peter J. Munson, Small Wars Journal "Searing . . . Solid and timely reporting, crackling prose, and more than a little controversy will make this one of the summer's hot reads." -Starred review, Publishers Weekly "Clearheaded . . . Well-researched and compelling . . . Chandrasekaran captures the absurdity of a bumbling bureaucracy attempting to reengineer in its own image a society that is half a world away . . . A timely, convincing portrait of an occupation in crisis." -Kirkus "Drawing on interviews with key participants and three years of first-hand reportage, Chandrasekaran delivers a bracing diagnosis of the problem." -Booklist , "Rajiv Chandrasekaran has done it again. Like Imperial Life in the Emerald City, Little America is a beautifully written and deeply reported account of how a divided United States government and its dysfunctional bureaucracy have foiled American efforts abroad . . . A brilliant and courageous work of reportage." -Linda Robinson, The New York Times Book Review "Fascinating and fresh . . . Chandrasekaran is a superb reporter and graceful writer whose individual vignettes, focused on military and civilian misfires, are on-target and often mortifying." -Max Boot, The Wall Street Journal "Brilliant . . . Only a journalist with Chandrasekaran's experience and skill could tell this extraordinarily complicated story with such clarity." -June Thomas, Newsday "Sharp and subtle . . . Enormously informative . . . Little America does not disappoint." -Bill O'Leary, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "A thoughtful guide to President Obama's 'good war' [and] a devastating indictment of a dysfunctional war machine . . . Chandrasekaran's expose is a stark warning to rethink how America uses its power." -Robert D. Crews, San Francisco Chronicle "What makes Little America so compelling is the breadth and carefulness of Chandrasekaran's reporting . . . A scalding and in-depth critique of U.S. policy and performance in Afghanistan." -Tony Perry, Newark Star-Ledger "Chandrasekaran's apt portrayal of the Afghan perspective and on-the-ground tensions makes the book a must for policy shapers and voters alike." -Hamed Aleaziz, Mother Jones "Chandrasekaran draws vivid sketches of how Karzai and his family and their allies operate as a gang of looters, frustrating every attempt to create an honest government that could confront their Taliban enemy . . . The reader gets a keen sense of the chaos that reigns among the Americans and their allies." -Neil Sheehan, Washington Post "A must-read account . . . Little America is the best work yet in addressing our military-diplomatic campaign in Afghanistan and the dysfunction that stymies it." -Peter J. Munson, Small Wars Journal "Searing . . . Solid and timely reporting, crackling prose, and more than a little controversy will make this one of the summer's hot reads." -Starred review, Publishers Weekly "Clearheaded . . . Well-researched and compelling . . . Chandrasekaran captures the absurdity of a bumbling bureaucracy attempting to reengineer in its own image a society that is half a world away . . . A timely, convincing portrait of an occupation in crisis." -Kirkus "Drawing on interviews with key participants and three years of first-hand reportage, Chandrasekaran delivers a bracing diagnosis of the problem." -Booklist, "Searing . . . Solid and timely reporting, crackling prose, and more than a little controversy will make this one of the summer's hot reads." -Starred review, Publishers Weekly
