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House to House | 
 enlarge | Author: David Bellavia
Creator: John Bruning
Publisher: Free Press
Category: Book
List Price: $26.00
Buy New: $10.90
You Save: $15.10 (58%)
New (8) Used (7) Collectible (1) from $10.90
Avg. Customer Rating:  138 reviews
Sales Rank: 98849
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
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new! Beautifu!! May have a small remainder mark (ink mark) along the edge. gift quality, crisp, clean, multiple copies available, prompt shipping, excellent service.
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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 133 more reviews...
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.
Outstanding September 17, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was Marine Infantry from 1981 to 85. I think about my time in more than once each day of my life. This book is an amazing read. I have read about 75% of the books about this current conflict. This one is one of the best. Our troops are as brave as any generation before. This book is a living horror movie. I hope the sacrifice will be worth it. Bellavia made me laugh when he goes into his tirades about the Marine Corps but the rivalry will always exist I suppose. The Marine Corps has the hardest basic training and the toughest discipline standards during your full enlistment, but in a combat zone, it seems that issue becomes a moot point. When you throw any serviceman into this kind of hell, what does it matter where you trained or what branch you serve in? I have friends who are in the Sea Bee reserves who saw combat in Iraq. This book keeps describing the role of a leader and how that keeps playing in his mind. To fail as an NCO in this situation is unacceptable. You can see that weighing on his mind constantly. I knew many Marines who were losers and many who were the best of the best. Bellavia is as tough as they come. Being that it is the Army, I wonder why he was not awarded the MOH. This would have been a silver star or Navy cross for a Marine at least for the actions that took place in that one on five fight. The Army usually gives out one higher on awards than Marines. I guess that this type of fighting is becoming too common to give out such high awards. There would be dozens already awarded during this conflict. Any grunt knows that after seeing combat, medals mean nothing to them. However, What he did in this book went well above and beyond the call of duty. As a veteran of Beirut and Central America, I just worry about how life will turn out for him. Bellavia will certainly join the ranks of those who suffer from the daily intrusive thoughts related to their time spent watching people you think as brothers die. The God issues playing in your head late at night as your wife sleeps next to you, the fear of not being there for your children for some reason or another and through the years, the sadness of getting news that another close military buddy passed away recently. God bless Bellavia and all of the others who served in this war. I just hope that in 20 years, when the word Iraq is mentioned, that ears perk up in the office more than they do when words like Panama, Somalia, Bosnia, Nicaragua and Beirut are mentioned. Anyone who saw combat in any war deserves to be given a good ear. Especially when some civilian brought the conversation up first. There is no worse feeling of having a "civilian" pester you about your service then drift off, interrupt you with an unrelated question like, "Did you see that game last night?" or actually say, "No way, come on man. Really?." when you finally tell them some of the horrors that you have witnessed. At least Bellavia has a book that he can just hand them. I teach high school now. Every time some student or colleague needs to be given a tongue lashing about something, that angry grunt that still lives inside of you has to stay silent so that you can keep paying your bills and feeding your kids. It sometimes feels more difficult than four years in the infantry. To keep your anger bottled up like that leads to a lot of anxiety. Welcome to the civilian world Bellavia. Good luck to you and your family. I was proud to read your book and give you that "good ear". You and your fellow grunts deserve it.
Excellent work September 16, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Perfect, lively written, realistic account of the battle for Fallujah. I can just recommend this book. The author is a very gifted writer.
You will get a very clear understanding about the conditions 'on the ground', in which the infantry lives and dies. For people living in comfortable cities away from war, this book may be a bit shocking.
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