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The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier's Education - War in Iraq
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List Price: $28.95
Our Price: $5.86
Your Save: $ 23.09 ( 80% )
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: Penguin Press HC, The
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 355.0092
Format: Bargain Price
Label: Penguin Press HC, The
Manufacturer: Penguin Press HC, The
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 400
Publication Date: 2009-02-19
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Studio: Penguin Press HC, The
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Editorial Reviews:
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A West Point grad, Rhodes Scholar, and Army Ranger recounts his unique education and struggles with the hard lessons that only war can teach.
One haunting afternoon on Losano Ridge in Afghanistan, U.S. Army Captain Craig Mullaney and his infantry platoon were caught in a deadly firefight with Al Qaeda fighters, when a message came over the radio: one of his soldiers had been killed by the enemy.
Mullaney’s education,the four years he spent at West Point, and the harrowing test of Ranger School, readied him for a career in the Army. His subsequent experience as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford couldn’t have been further from the Army and his working-class roots, and yet the unorthodox education he received there would be surprisingly relevant as a combat leader.
But despite all his preparation, the hardest questions remained. When the call came to lead his platoon into battle and earn his soldiers’ salutes, would he be ready? Was his education sufficient for the unforgiving minutes he’d face?
Years later, after that excruciating experience in Afghanistan, he would return to the United States to teach history to future Navy and Marine Corps officers at the Naval Academy. He had been in their position once, not long ago. How would he use his own life-changing experience to prepare them?
Written with unflinching honesty,The Unforgiving Minute is an unforgettable portrait of a young soldier grappling with the weight of his hard-earned knowledge, while at last coming to terms with what it really means to be a man.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Amazing Book, Outstanding Life, and Achievements.
Comment: One day when I was in Cape Cod, I was walking around, and found a brand new book store. I was browsing through the military section, and stumbled across this fantastic find. I read a few pages in, and I could not get off of it. I bought it immediately, and returned home to RI to finish it. I later found out that Mr. Mullaney was from RI himself, and the priest of my old school, was the man to marry him, and his wife.
Mr. Mullaney describes his extraordinary life in three phases. Student, Soldier, Veteran. He hooks you in with an extremely interesting schooling expierence at Westpoint, then leads you into Ranger School, and then into Oxford. In Soldier you learn about Mr. Mullaney's life changing experience in Afghanistan (and Iraq, I believe?). He then concludes the work of his life in Veteran.
This is a must read book for all who are interested in reading an amazing story of a soldier, and hero to our country.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing and self absorbed boring book
Comment: After reading all the glowing reviews for this book, I had high expectations. I am a reader who usually enjoys war narratives, and 'experiencing' things and places through books. However, I thought the book was heavy on boring detail, and the interesting parts could have been done in short story format. The pages and pages of details about such minor things as meals, weather, clothes, cooking, boring recounted conversations, haircuts, whatever, all should have been greatly condensed. Nothing really happens until at least 1/2 way through the book, except the author's education at West Point and time spent at Oxford...nice, but really not interesting enough to recount to the world in book form. In fact, very little happens in the second half of the book. The author does part of a tour, and then spends the rest of his time behind a desk. There must be thousands of other soldiers who had more interesting tours of duty, sacrificed more, and were braver than the author. This guy just happened to be one of the few who wrote a book, and somehow managed to get it published. After finishing the last boring page, I felt like I deserved some sort of civilian purple heart for making it to the end.
Customer Rating:
Summary: This guy spent a literal "minute" in the Army.
Comment: While I'm sure Craig is a gifted writer, why anyone would give any credence to a book written by someone who shirked his duty to the Nation by spending about a single "unforgiving minute" in the Army is beyond me. West Point and Oxford aren't life experiences; they're building blocks, which Craig was supposed to build toward an Army career. This isn't totally Craig's fault; West Point has been failing at creating quality professional Soldiers for at least 16 years. but as Craig's classmate (West Point 2000), reading the so-called memoirs of a guy who did one tour down range and then hid out at the Naval Academy (of all places!) until his commitment to the Army was up makes me sick to my stomach. Read the memoirs of someone who's actually contributed something to the Army; not someone who used his experience to go on a resume.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Unforgiving
Comment: I enjoyed Mullaney's "The Unforgiving Minute". He is an exceptional writer and brought the scenes in his autobiography alive. I thought the synopsis provided on the back cover of the book was misleading as it talks almost exclusively of Mullaney's combat experience in Afghanistan. That was NOT the focus of this book - an integral part, yes. But this book really journalizes Mullaney's experiences of coming from a blue-collar background and graduating from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, completing Army Ranger school, attending Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship, meeting his future wife at Oxford and some of the difficulties faced in a Catholic/Hindu courtship and finally marriage, his combat experiences in Afghanistan, his assignment to the "Old Guard"(3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, Washington, DC) and finally teaching history at the Naval Academy.
I enjoyed the detail provided in the book on the author's time spent at Oxford (very interesting), his travels around the world while at Oxford, his endeavors to be a scholar-soldier. The pages on Afghanistan were engrossing especially since my son is also an Army officer.
I really felt in many ways that this book was a way for Mullaney to write down his adventures - more of an expanded version of the daily journal he keeps - both so the memories wouldn't be lost but also so that by setting them to paper maybe he could get some insight into some very hurtful time periods in his life and either come to understand them better, lessen their negative impact on his life, or exorcise old demons. I didn't agree with the way he handled some of his personal issues but I am quite sure he would feel the same way if he was able to dissect my life, and I think he is brave to put his life out there for all of us to see. How many of us would be as candid?
He idolized his father and his father hurt him terribly by leaving the family. At least at the time this book was written, he had still not forgiven his father. Hand in hand, he had not forgiven himself (even though it was not his fault) for the loss of a soldier during battle in Afghanistan. He was not able to correspond with the fallen soldier's father, even though the father contacted him. In some ways this young man was very mature, also bright and engaging. But it comes across strongly in the book how rigid in some of his thinking he is, how he expects himself to be perfect and by the same token, others around him. Hopefully he is learning that no one is perfect. We all have our imperfections-it is part of being human.
I would like to read another later autobiography by this young man and see what life lessons he has learned, read more about his marriage and his doctor wife's career, about why he left the service (or why he thinks he did), about his family including more on his brother's Army adventures, about his time working with Obama, etc. As I wrote earlier, he is a very talented writer.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Loved This Book
Comment: I loved this book so much that after I returned it to the person who had lent it to me, I bought one for myself, from Amazon of course, for my husband to read.
Our sons had attended the Naval Academy so it was interesting to be able to make the comparison of Craig Mullaney's passage through Westpoint.
I thought that the book was well written and it held my interest throughout. At the end I wanted more information about his marriage but it wasn't there. I just loved his descriptions of Oxford and the English people. I was in awe, and am in awe, of anyone who survives Ranger training. It compares with the rigors of SEAL training.
I am so proud of our nation's military men and women. The sacrafice they and their families are not sufficiently appreciated. Read this book and you'll know what I mean. I highly recommend it.
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