Big Boy Rules: America's Mercenaries Fighting in Iraq

· Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Patrick Lawlor
1 review
Audiobook
8 hr 42 min
Unabridged
Eligible
Want a free 52 min sample? Listen anytime, even offline. 
Add

About this audiobook

A parallel army lives on the margins of the Iraq war—nearly 100,000 armed men, invisible yet in plain sight, doing jobs the overstretched and understaffed military can't or won't do. The U.S. media call them "security contractors." They call themselves "mercs," and they operate under their own rules.



Washington Post reporter Steve Fainaru traveled with several groups of security contractors to find out what motivates them to put their lives in danger every day. What emerges is a searing, revealing, and sometimes darkly funny look at the men who live and work in the battlefields of Iraq: some are desperate, some are confused, and some are just out for a lark. Some disappear into the void that is Iraq and are never seen again. It's not a pretty picture that Fainaru reveals, but it is brutally real and shockingly honest. Big Boy Rules is an unforgettable leap into the mayhem of Iraq and into the dark recesses of the minds of American policymakers and the warriors they hire.
A parallel army lives on the margins of the Iraq war—nearly 100,000 armed men, invisible yet in plain sight, doing jobs the overstretched and understaffed military can't or won't do. The U.S. media call them "security contractors." They call themselves "mercs," and they operate under their own ru...

Discover more

Ratings and reviews

1 review

About the author

Steve Fainaru, an award-winning correspondent for the Washington Post, is coauthor of The Duke of Havana: Baseball, Cuba, and the Search for the American Dream.

Patrick Lawlor has recorded over three hundred audiobooks in just about every genre. He has been an Audie Award finalist multiple times and has garnered several AudioFile Earphones Awards, a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award, and many Library Journal and Kirkus starred audio reviews.

Steve Fainaru, an award-winning correspondent for the Washington Post, is coauthor of The Duke of Havana: Baseball, Cuba, and the Search for the American Dream. Patrick Lawlor has recorded over three hundred audiobooks in just about every genre. He has been an Audie Award finalist multiple times ...

Rate this audiobook

Tell us what you think.

Listening information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can read books purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.

More by Steve Fainaru

Similar audiobooks

Narrated by Patrick Lawlor