The Immaculate Invasion

"Every war brings forth one perfect book. . . . Now we have The Immaculate Invasion, the masterpiece of the 1994 US assault on and occupation of Haiti." --Chicago Tribune Widely celebrated upon its original publication in 1999, National Book Award winning writer Bob Shacochis's The Immaculate Invasion is a gritty, poetic, and revelatory look at the American intervention in Haiti. In 1994, the United States embarked on Operation Uphold Democracy, a response to the overthrow of the democratically elected Haitian government by a brutal military coup. As a reporter for Harper's, Bob Shacochis traveled to Haiti and was embedded--long before the idea became popular in Iraq--with a team of Special Forces commandos for eighteen months. He came away with tremendous insight into Haiti, the character of American fighters, and what can happen when an intervention turns into a misadventure. In The Immaculate Invasion, Shacochis captures the exploits and frustrations, the inner lives and heroic deeds of young Americans as they struggle to bring democracy to a country ravaged by tyranny. The Immaculate Invasion is required reading for anyone who wants to understand what has happened in Haiti in the past, its current state, and its future path. "An extraordinary book about an extraordinary event . . . I felt transported to Haiti. I could hear it. I could smell it. At moments I felt moved almost to tears, only to find myself, a page or two later, laughing out loud." --Tracy Kidder, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Soul of a New Machine

About the Author :
Bob Shacochis is the author of Easy in the Islands, winner of the 1985 National Book Award for first fiction; The Next New World, which was awarded the Prix de Rome and the American Academy of Arts and Letters; and Swimming in the Volcano, a National Book Award finalist. He is currently a contributing editor for Outside and Harper's magazines.

Review :
"Every war brings forth one perfect book . . . Now we have "The Immaculate Invasion", the masterpiece of the 1994 U.S. assault on and occupation of Haiti." --"Chicago Tribune" "A bitter, funny, engrossing adventure between the mysteries and comedy of the American military machine and the infinite suffering of Haiti." --Herbert Gold, "San Francisco Chronicle" "An unforgettable mixture of hard journalism and sharp commentary that captures much of the absurdity and futility of the 1994 American-led U.N. invasion of Haiti." --Kenneth Maxwell, "Foreign Affairs" "An extraordinary book about an extraordinary event. . . I felt transported to Haiti. I could hear it. I could smell it. At moments I felt moved almost to tears, only to find myself, a page or two later, laughing out loud." --Tracy Kidder