Until a winter evening in 1998 Nathaniel was just another history student on a comfortable career trajectory of high school to college to white collar job. Then he went to a lecture by a Wall Street Journal reporter who had just published a book on the US Marines. It brought forth a latent desire to break free of the 'seat belt and safety goggle, safety-first' culture: to be a warrior. He passed the gruelling selection course and joined the Marine Corps on graduation. Posted to a Marine Regiment in the wake of 9/11, he took part in the invasion of Afghanistan, then led a platoon of their elite Recon Battalion during the invasion of Iraq. This is not a book about the Iraq invasion as such: it is an articulate and deeply thoughtful young man's account of what it means to fight in the frontline, to risk not just death or injury, but psychological harm. He reveals some of the awful dilemmas war can bring, horrible problems to which there is no 'right' answer, but a decision had to be made quickly -- by him alone. In combat you are just one bullet away from death -- or promotion. But this doesn't focus the mind: it makes it freeze up -- unless your training is so thorough that you overcome exhaustion and terror. 'Nate' took 65 men to war and came home with all 65. He proved himself an excellent officer and won promotion, but resigned in 2003 to write this book and attend Harvard Business School.

About the Author

After receiving a BA in classics from Dartmouth in 1999, Nathaniel Fick passed the US Marines officer training course and joined the Corps just before 9/11. He saw action in Afghanistan and Iraq in the elite First Recon Battalion (the Marines' equivalent of the Navy SEALs or British SBS). Among the first US soldiers to enter Baghdad in the Iraq war, he left the service after being promoted to captain. He is now in a joint degree programme at Harvard Business School and Kennedy School of Government.

Prizes

A deeply moving and thought-provoking memoir: the opposite of JARHEAD or GENERATION KILL! Praise for ONE BULLET AWAY: 'One can hardly imagine a finer boots-on-the-ground chronicle of this open-ended conflict, no matter how long it may last' Kirkus 'Harrowing ... deserves close reading and serious discussion' Washington Post 'Fick's descriptive and exacting writing ... guarantees One Bullet Away a place in the war memoir hall of fame' USA Today 'We're all losers compared to ... blond, square-jawed, Nathaniel Fick, former elite USMC officer, Afghan and Iraq war vet, Classics scholar, talented writer (damn him) and all round gent. Fick is one of that strange minority of men who isn't interested in what it's like to go to war. He's one of those oddities: someone who actually goes to war. Voluntarily' Independent on Sunday 'A terrific account of basic training and active service ... an excellent book which is timely and thought-provoking' Glasgow Herald

Reviews

How one Dartmouth grad joined the U.S. Marines, learned to endure torture and 72 hours without sleep, and made the special Reconnaissance Battalion in time to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq. With an 11-city tour. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

The global war on terrorism has spawned some excellent combat narratives-mostly by journalists. Warriors, like Marine Corps officer Fick, bring a different and essential perspective to the story. A classics major at Dartmouth, Fick joined the Marines in 1998 because he "wanted to go on a great adventure... to do something so hard that no one could ever talk shit to me." Thus begins his odyssey through the grueling regimen of Marine training and wartime deployments-an odyssey that he recounts in vivid detail in this candid and fast-paced memoir. Fick was first deployed to Afghanistan, where he saw little combat, but his Operation Freedom unit, the elite 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, helped spearhead the invasion of Iraq and "battled through every town on Highway 7" from Nasiriyah to al Kut. (Rolling Stone writer Evan Wright's provocative Generation Kill is based on his travels with Fick's unit.) Like the best combat memoirs, Fick's focuses on the men doing the fighting and avoids hyperbole and sensationalism. He does not shrink from the truth-however personal or unpleasant. "I was aware enough," he admits after a firefight, "to be concerned that I was starting to enjoy it." Agent, E.J. McCarthy. (Oct.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.