A review by heatherberm
Black Hearts: One Platoon's Descent Into Madness in Iraq's Triangle of Death by Jim Frederick

5.0

I was a little leery about picking this up because I wasn't sure I wanted to ready something that was so intently about the murder/rape of an Iraqi family by American soldiers. I'm really glad I read this though because the book isn't just about that at all. In fact, it only takes up a very small part of the book. The book follows the battalion of the errant soldiers through their entire deployment, and while no one in the book even attempts to justify their actions, the book gives a lot of context to the event, how war affects soldiers in general, but how this group in particular was drained by a lack of resources, safe areas, and men; a very unclear understanding of why they were in Iraq and what they were supposed to be accomplishing there; and poor, constantly changing leadership and an astounding amount of loss in a short time. The writer, Jim Frederick, talked to a TON of people, most of whom appear to have been very open and honest about what can't be an easy time to remember. Good stuff if you can handle it.