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House to House | 
| Author: David Bellavia
Creator: John Bruning
Publisher: Free Press
Category: Book
List Price: $26.00
Buy New: $10.86
You Save: $15.14 (58%)
New (7) Used (7) Collectible (1) from $8.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  140 reviews
Sales Rank: 23251
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 1.3
Dewey Decimal Number: 956.70443092
ASIN: B0017ODVOU
Publication Date: September 4, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
"Blood flows over my left hand and I lose my grip on his hair. His head snaps back against the floor. In an instant, his fists are pummeling me. I rock from his counterblows. He lands one on my injured jaw and the pain nearly blinds me. He connects with my nose, and blood and snot pour down my throat. I spit blood between my teeth and scream with him. The two of us sound like caged dogs locked in a death match. We are."On the night of November 10, 2004, a U.S. Army infantry squad under Staff Sergeant David Bellavia entered the heart of the city of Fallujah and plunged into one of the most sustained and savage urban battles in the history of American men at arms. With Third Platoon, Alpha Company, part of the Army's Task Force 2/2, Bellavia and his men confronted an enemy who had had weeks to prepare, booby-trapping houses, arranging ambushes, rigging entire city blocks as explosives-laden kill zones, and even stocking up on atropine, a steroid that pumps up fighters in the equivalent of a long-lasting crack high. Entering one house, alone, Bellavia faced the fight of his life against six insurgents, using every weapon at his disposal, including a knife. It is the stuff of legend and the chief reason he is one of the great heroes of the Iraq War. Bringing to searing life the terrifying intimacy of hand-to-hand infantry combat, House to House is far more than just another war story. Populated by an indelibly drawn cast of characters, from a fearless corporal who happens to be a Bush-hating liberal to an inspirational sergeant-major who became the author's own lost father figure, it develops the intensely close relationships that form between soldiers under fire. Their friendships, tested in brutal combat, would never be quite the same. Not all of them would make it out of the city alive. What happened to them in their bloody embrace with America's most implacable enemy is a harrowing, unforgettable story of triumph, tragedy, and the resiliency of the human spirit. A timeless portrait of the U.S. infantryman's courage, House to House is a soldier's memoir that is destined to rank with the finest personal accounts of men at war.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 135 more reviews...
Simply the Best! October 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The many reviews alrady posted about this book already to a good job summing-up its content and subject matter. Therefore, I'll simply say this is absolutely the single best memoir yet written about the Iraq War, specifically from the perspective of an Infantry NCO. I eagerly devoured this book within a 24 hour period and was enthralled by Bellavia's story on every page. Highly recommended and should be required reading for soldiers, politicians, journalists (especially journalists), and, hell, the general public.
Mr. Bellavia, words cannot possibly thank you and your fellow veterans enough for what you have done for this country.
A true story of heroes in a horrid situation October 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Bellavia is a highly decorated vet of the Battle of Fallujah in 2004. This is his account of the time leading up to the battle and of the battle itself. People need to be constantly reminded of two things; first, how totally brutal real war is, and second, how important it is to honor the people who go to war on our behalf. This book does both in spades. The gritty description of the action as the US Military faced the early stages of the Iraqi insurgency is gripping. There were many times when I found myself on the edge of my seat, or I had to take a break from the reading and unwind. It also describes the bonds developed by combat vets quite well. This bond comes from facing mortal danger and unimaginable hardship together. It is something we should all strive to understand. Without any spoilers I will say that the dramatic climax is personal and gripping, combat writing at its best.
Everyone should Read this October 5, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I have never had the urge to write a review before, but this book has overwhelmingly compelled me to do so.
What made this book an astonishing standout to me was not only the constant gripping action, but the brutal honesty with which the author writes. Brutal honesty not only about the events, but the real and hardcore emotions he goes through in dealing with the events as they unfold. It is hard enough to imagine doing the things he has done for his country, but even harder still to imagine coming to terms with those things and sharing those horrors with others - completely uncensored. Now that really takes some guts in my opinion.
When I first ordered this book, I was really hoping it wasn't going to be just another journal of long patrols, and daily discomforts, with the occasional bit of action thrown in to spice things up. I was not disappointed. From the minute you open this book, David Bellavia smacks you in the face with the gut-wrenching, filthy, inhumane realities of the boots-on-the-ground perspective of the U.S. Army shooters in Iraq. The action starts almost instantly, and takes you for a ride throughout the book that is as intriguing to read as it is exhausting. What you are left with at the end is a new perspective that the headlines and news stories could never give, and a profound new respect for what our soldiers go through to protect and defend our most basic rights of freedom.
Some of the reviews have commented on the use of language (to which this book is chock full of obscenities), but I think anyone who has served the military as an enlisted person already knows, that kind of language is just par for the course. If anything, I think there were probably more swear words left OUT of the book, than were actually spoken in real life on the battlefield. That's reality. And that's why the language is in the book. Its not meant to offend, or exaggerate, its meant to epitomize what it is truly like when your right there next to your buddies and the bullets start flying. I personally am glad Sgt. Bell' didn't clean up the book - war is not clean, or nice, or polite, and it should not be presented that way.
Ultimately I think this book is a perfect illustration of an old quote that I have always held in high esteem...
"Freedom has a taste to those who have fought for it, that the protected will never know." (author unknown)
must read best book ever September 23, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
i brought this book to try and understand what my man faces, when "doing his job",it was spell binding, gripping, should be compulsory reading for everyone,these guys are heros and real men, if you only read one book a year , make it this one, good book by a good man, job well done
GROW UP OR DIE September 19, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This story is not about feminized boys in earrings and eyeliner, piercing or polish, bling bling or sagging clothes.
It's not about gangsta rivalries or wigga wannabes - Xbox, cars or whoes.
It's about young adults in a death struggle to manhood, carrying firearms, bombs and bandoliers.
It's a story of the transition from the privileged silk cords of American culture to the stainless steel cable of American courage:
A cable that will air lift, under withering fire, the next great generation of American loyalty, relentless bravery and reluctant, though resolute heroism.
It's a story of sacrifice, blood and treasure
The hand-to-hand blood of both brother and belligerent, spilled on body armor and in foreign sands.
The sacrifice of wives, and mothers, and children.
The treasure in America's soul.
Some of which only the progeny of warriors will grow to truly know.
No wonder liberals hate the military: it turns young boys into men.
Got ADD? Grab a gun. You'll either focus or you'll die.
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