Veteran writer and journalist Rick Atkinson's "Crusade" was published in 1993, just long enough after the end of the First Gulf War for the dust to settle and for the author to sort through what really happened. Although less complete as a military account than Scales' "Certain Victory" or Gordon and Trainer's "The Generals' War", it is easily the most engrossing for the general reader. Atkinson nimbly steps between the battlefield, the Coalition command post in Saudi Arabia, and the Washington Beltway to create a compelling narrative of the personal and poltical dimensions of the conflict.

Atkinson's gift is to put perspective on a huge effort. Following the invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi, the United States led a UN-sponsored coalition in first protecting Saudi Arabia and then liberating Kuwait. Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM represented the most significant military effort by the United States since the end of the Vietnam War. For many participants, the Gulf War was a long-overdue exorcism of the ghosts of Vietnam, and Atkinson faithfully traces that thread in the narrative.

The outsized personality of General Norman Schwartzkopf dominates the story in the Middle East. In charge of an isolated command with few assigned troops, Schwartzkopf was responsible for the rapid build-up of a multi-national force, the careful tending of various allies, and the ultimately successful campaign to liberate Kuwait. That enormous amounts of political and military friction were an inescapable part of this effort is no surprise; its extent is captured here.

DESERT STORM was a proving ground for various new forms of technology and doctrine whose use is now considered routine. Atkinson successfully narrates the terrific struggles over the integration of a joint, combined combat effort at what was then the cutting edge of innovation. Inevitably, mistakes were made; Atkinson documents this as well.

This book is highly recommended as an excellent account of the First Gulf War for the general reader and for the student looking for broad coverage.

If this is a 4+ star book (as the others who have reviewed the book seem to think) then the state of Gulf War scholarship must be very low indeed. Atkinson's tale is an unorganized patchwork of escapades, vignettes and personality clashes among generals that provides some interesting stories but no solid overall narrative. We get VERY little on Bush, the role of Congress, army medicine, the coalition forces, army structure--not even much on the weaponry. It appears to be a slapped together book for a hungry market, with precious little interpretation or analysis.

Mr. Atkinson has written another fine book about todays Army and its 1st real test by combat against Iraq. It is a rich source of information that did not make the screen by CNN. That and the story of the renaissance (rebirth) of the United States Military after the debachle of the post Viet Nam War. A book that is well worth the investment of your time if this is your field of interest.

Mr. Atkinson has written another fine book about todays Army and its 1st real test by combat against Iraq. It is a rich source of information that did not make the screen by CNN. That and the story of the renaissance (rebirth) of the United States Military after the debachle of the post Viet Nam War. A book that is well worth the investment of your time if this is your field of interest.

For fifteen years the specter of Vietnam hung over the United States military. After finally devising a way to bow out of the Southeast Asian quagmire with honor, the administration of President Richard M. Nixon was eventually brought down by the scandal of Watergate. Even the failure of its Cold War nemesis, the former Soviet Union, in a similar debacle in Afghanistan, could not dilute the embarrassment of Vietnam in the American consciousness. The invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein's Iraqi forces on 2 August 1990, would give the United States both the opportunity to win a conventional military victory and produce great soldier-heroes such as those that had emerged from more popular wars of the past. That is the underlining thesis of Rick Atkinson's _Crusade: The Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War_. Atkinson argues that aside from the obvious objectives of liberating the Kuwaiti oil fields and protecting America's vital interests in the Middle East, the conflict would produce two important subtle consequences. First it would provide a victory to restore prestige to a military establishment haunted by the ghosts of Vietnam. Second, and more importantly, a victory in the Persian Gulf would provide America with old-fashioned military and political heroes the likes of which had not been seen since the tumultuous parades down New York's Fifth Avenue following Japan's surrender in World War II. The heroes America needed and the media helped to create were General H. Norman Schwarzkopf and President George H.W. Bush. Atkinson portrays Schwarzkopf, arguably the most flamboyant American general since Lt. Gen. George S. Patton Jr., as raging and abusive. Written with a "you are there" approach, the author describes many top-level briefings between Schwarzkopf and his subordinates. A common theme is Schwarzkopf's accusatory bantering that his orders were deliberately disobeyed. Many of these diatribes were aimed at with a great deal of disrespect for U.S. VII Corps commander General Frederick M. Franks. Acknowledging the frustration associated with the burden of command, however, Atkinson concedes that perhaps some of Schwarzkopf's outbursts may have been justifiable. Atkinson initially portrays Bush as an "extraordinary commander." The author credits Bush's campaign to gain support of the American people by demoralizing the militaristic regime of Saddam Hussein as brilliant. Atkinson illustrates how Bush's hero status quickly diminished, however, when the president ended the war prematurely allowing the Iraqi forces to escape and failed to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Utilizing his highly regarded journalistic talent, sprinkled with a sampling of sensationalism, Atkinson examines nearly every controversy of the war. These topics include: the high degree of fratricide among U.S. Service personnel, the reasons for faulty U.S. Intelligence reports that habitually overestimated enemy strength, and the many questions surrounding just how effective were "Smart Bombs." Atkinson also delves into inter-service rivalries, particularly between the Air Force and the Army. He suggests the two services inflated their own roles concerning the conduct of the war. According to Atkinson, this over glamorizing was done in an effort to highlight the importance of their respective services in order to gain the appropriate postwar funding and budgets. The author was privy to certain principal sources during the course of his research. Some documents were declassified just for the purpose of writing of this book through the Freedom of Information Act. The author also was allowed access to the unpublished manuscript of the Official U.S. History of the Persian Gulf War. This is not the definitive history of the first Persian Gulf War, but Atkinson's spin on important issues makes for a compelling read.

For fifteen years the specter of Vietnam hung over the United States military. After finally devising a way to bow out of the Southeast Asian quagmire with honor, the administration of President Richard M. Nixon was eventually brought down by the scandal of Watergate. Even the failure of its Cold War nemesis, the former Soviet Union, in a similar debacle in Afghanistan, could not dilute the embarrassment of Vietnam in the American consciousness. The invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein's Iraqi forces on 2 August 1990, would give the United States both the opportunity to win a conventional military victory and produce great soldier-heroes such as those that had emerged from more popular wars of the past. That is the underlining thesis of Rick Atkinson's _Crusade: The Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War_. Atkinson argues that aside from the obvious objectives of liberating the Kuwaiti oil fields and protecting America's vital interests in the Middle East, the conflict would produce two important subtle consequences. First it would provide a victory to restore prestige to a military establishment haunted by the ghosts of Vietnam. Second, and more importantly, a victory in the Persian Gulf would provide America with old-fashioned military and political heroes the likes of which had not been seen since the tumultuous parades down New York's Fifth Avenue following Japan's surrender in World War II. The heroes America needed and the media helped to create were General H. Norman Schwarzkopf and President George H.W. Bush. Atkinson portrays Schwarzkopf, arguably the most flamboyant American general since Lt. Gen. George S. Patton Jr., as raging and abusive. Written with a "you are there" approach, the author describes many top-level briefings between Schwarzkopf and his subordinates. A common theme is Schwarzkopf's accusatory bantering that his orders were deliberately disobeyed. Many of these diatribes were aimed at with a great deal of disrespect for U.S. VII Corps commander General Frederick M. Franks. Acknowledging the frustration associated with the burden of command, however, Atkinson concedes that perhaps some of Schwarzkopf's outbursts may have been justifiable. Atkinson initially portrays Bush as an "extraordinary commander." The author credits Bush's campaign to gain support of the American people by demoralizing the militaristic regime of Saddam Hussein as brilliant. Atkinson illustrates how Bush's hero status quickly diminished, however, when the president ended the war prematurely allowing the Iraqi forces to escape and failed to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Utilizing his highly regarded journalistic talent, sprinkled with a sampling of sensationalism, Atkinson examines nearly every controversy of the war. These topics include: the high degree of fratricide among U.S. Service personnel, the reasons for faulty U.S. Intelligence reports that habitually overestimated enemy strength, and the many questions surrounding just how effective were "Smart Bombs." Atkinson also delves into inter-service rivalries, particularly between the Air Force and the Army. He suggests the two services inflated their own roles concerning the conduct of the war. According to Atkinson, this over glamorizing was done in an effort to highlight the importance of their respective services in order to gain the appropriate postwar funding and budgets. The author was privy to certain principal sources during the course of his research. Some documents were declassified just for the purpose of writing of this book through the Freedom of Information Act. The author also was allowed access to the unpublished manuscript of the Official U.S. History of the Persian Gulf War. This is not the definitive history of the first Persian Gulf War, but Atkinson's spin on important issues makes for a compelling read.

I am ashamed to admit that this excellent book sat on my bookshelf for a number of years while I read untold numbers of lesser books. I had heard it was a good book, which was the reason I purchased it, and it turns out that everything positive that lead me to buy the book was in fact true. The first thing that stood out for me was that this author is very good at his craft. I almost forgot I was reading a non fiction book at times because his writing style provided the excitement and richly detailed descriptions that you would normally associate with a fiction book. The author details the Gulf War in such a way that almost exclusively focuses on the actual war and not the lead up to the combat nor the political efforts that played out. He does touch on some political aspects, but only when they are needed to augment the readers understanding of what was happening in the war theater.

The one interesting side story in the book was the authors dislike for Norman Schwarzkopf. The critiques were always within the realm of how he did his job, but there was just something about them that let the reader in on the fact that not too many people that worked with the General much cared for his management style. Other then this slight bias the author stuck to the facts and really gave the reader a good amount of detail on the war effort. It was interesting to read of the many battles. I have read a number of books about different aspects of the war, but this was the first one that really covered all the major battles and I came away surprised at some of the scale that was described. We have all heard that the war was a complete and overwhelming victory, but that positive view hides some of the very violent and large battles that took place.

Overall I really enjoyed the book. The author did a wonderful job and I can honestly say that this is one of the better combat books that I have ever read. The details were never ending and the writing was crisp and well thought out. If you are interested in the war then this has to be the one book your read if you are interested in the combat. The only partial critique I would make is that the author spent the vast amount of his time talking about the American military and really did not cover much of what was happening with the other countries involved. Given the size and responsibilities of those other forces, this focus on the U.S. is understandable.

13 years and two Administrations ago, the entire world watched as the first President Bush marshaled a global coalition to confront Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and gave him an ultimatum: leave Kuwait by Jan. 15, 1991, or we'll force you out. Three months had passed since Iraq had invaded its tiny but rich neighbor, claiming the Kuwaitis were slant-drilling into Iraqi oil fields just across the border.

In reality, as Rick Atkinson points out in Crusade: The Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War, Saddam was strong-arming his way out of repaying loans made to Iraq by Kuwait and other moderate Arab countries during his disastrous war with Iran. He may have also been angered by OPEC's lowering of the price of crude oil, which reduced badly-needed hard currency for his moribund economy. In a classic case of what novelist Tom Clancy calls "armed robbery writ large," Saddam followed Hitler's example of trumping up claims on a neighboring country, massing a huge army on its borders, then invading.

While Atkinson (The Thin Gray Line, An Army At Dawn) focuses on the events of the war itself, he carefully explains the almost Byzantine turns of American foreign policy toward Iraq. In the mid-1980s, Washington, worried that Iran would defeat Iraq, provided Baghdad with limited intelligence assistance and looked the other way when other countries (such as France, Brazil, and the USSR) sold Saddam sophisticated weapons. Only after the 1987 USS Stark incident, when an Iraqi Mirage "accidentally" fired an Exocet missile at a U.S. frigate in the Gulf and killed and injured several sailors, did U.S. policymakers start looking at Saddam as a potential adversary. But until 1990, official policy in Washington was to try to coax Baghdad into joining the fold of civilized nations in the so-called post-Cold War "new order."

In fact, as Atkinson points out, Washington's desire to establish better trade and diplomatic relations may have given Saddam the "green light" to invade Kuwait. The White House, for instance, censured the Voice of America for airing reports about Iraq's repressive government, and Ambassador April Glaspie's comment in July 1990 that the U.S. had no intentions to intervene in "Arab-Arab" disputes further reinforced the Iraqi dictator's view that America was a post-Vietnam "paper tiger" and would not lift a finger to help the Sheik of Kuwait.

Crusade is intensely fascinating and detailed. It is incredibly well-written, enabling the reader to get both the Big Picture and see the war through the combatants' point of view. It's no exaggeration to say that it reads like a Clancy novel; we get not only personality sketches of H. Norman Schwarzkopf, the "CINC" of Central Command and overall commander of Desert Storm and his chief lieutenants (Charles Horner, "Buster" Glosson, Cal Waller, Fred Franks), but we also get vivid descriptions of the intense aerial and ground battles that became known as Operation Desert Storm.

Atkinson also deals with the unexpected aftermath of the Persian Gulf War -- the short period of national high-fiving after the liberation of Kuwait that gave way to disillusion. In a matter of months, President George Herbert Walker Bush went from being a popular wartime leader to being booted out of the Oval Office in the 1992 election. Saddam Hussein, meanwhile, crushed not one but two post-war revolts (encouraged but not supported by President Bush) and withstood nearly 12 years of sanctions and sporadic air and missile attacks as he defiantly thumbed his nose at three American Presidents. (Now that he's in U.S. custody, maybe he isn't feeling so cocky, but that's another story.)

In my opinion, Atkinson surpasses Stephen Ambrose as military historian extraordinaire, and I'm an Ambrose fan! From the moment I read the first paragraph of the first page of this book, I thought, "Wow, Atkinson can write!" The work was gripping throughout, and read like a novel. No wonder Atkinson won a Pulitzer for his previous work: he has an amazing gift for conveying historical fact in captivating prose. Equally amazing is the amount of research that went into this tome: a glance at the endnotes is sufficient to know that this book must have consumed Atkinson's life for several years. Along with Ambrose's "Band of Brothers" and Antony Beevor's "Fall of Berlin 1945," I would say this is the best work of military history that I have read . . . in fact, I would rank it first with Beevor's "Berlin" book. And you don't need to be a soldier to understand the book; it's clearly devised, with explanations for the layperson, and the maps are incredible. My only wish while reading the book was for a supplement that showed, for example, what an F-111 looked like, so that I wouldn't confuse it with an F-117; but this is my only criticism, and a minor one at that. You can always look up such weaponry on the Internet. Now I can't wait to read Atkinson's "An Army at Dawn," which I have waiting on my bookshelf!

In my opinion, Atkinson surpasses Stephen Ambrose as military historian extraordinaire, and I'm an Ambrose fan! From the moment I read the first paragraph of the first page of this book, I thought, "Wow, Atkinson can write!" The work was gripping throughout, and read like a novel. No wonder Atkinson won a Pulitzer for his previous work: he has an amazing gift for conveying historical fact in captivating prose. Equally amazing is the amount of research that went into this tome: a glance at the endnotes is sufficient to know that this book must have consumed Atkinson's life for several years. Along with Ambrose's "Band of Brothers" and Antony Beevor's "Fall of Berlin 1945," I would say this is the best work of military history that I have read . . . in fact, I would rank it first with Beevor's "Berlin" book. And you don't need to be a soldier to understand the book; it's clearly devised, with explanations for the layperson, and the maps are incredible. My only wish while reading the book was for a supplement that showed, for example, what an F-111 looked like, so that I wouldn't confuse it with an F-117; but this is my only criticism, and a minor one at that. You can always look up such weaponry on the Internet. Now I can't wait to read Atkinson's "An Army at Dawn," which I have waiting on my bookshelf!

Atkinson's account of the Gulf War has managed to outdo every participant who has written about it. He does this by exposing every significant detail of the conflict. The aspects that most fascinated me include the negotiations with Saudi Arabia and Israel, the coverage of the military campaign (in the air, land, and sea), and the allied military personalities. Atkinson covers all of these angles - and more - as well as any other journalist/author. His style and professionalism is on a level with Bob Woodward (both are both Pulitzer Prize winners).

On all counts Atkinson is fair and thorough. Probably the best example of this is his portrayal of Schwarzkopf. More critical of his methods than the man himself, Atkinson summarizes, "Even for men who had seen horrific bloodletting in Vietnam, no Asian jungle was more stressful than the endless weeks they spent in Norman Schwarzkopf's Riyadh basement."

Still, this is not a book about Schwarzkopf. Everyone and everything gets their due coverage - cruise missiles of all kinds, scuds, Colin Powell and Dick Cheney, British special forces, the Israeli Defense Minister, Iraq's Republican Guard, and others. Again, the scope is impressive.

Except for any secrets that may be declassified in the future, "Crusade" is still the most comprehensive account of Desert Storm and Desert Shield. If you think you know everything there is to know about the Gulf War, you are guaranteed to learn something new from "Crusade."

The author achieves to present a good story. He gives you a good insight on the strategical perspective of Gulf War in an uncommon way for the kind: straigthforward story telling. Essentials like logistics, deployment, build-up and theatre operations are well described. Naval, Air and Special Forces operations have their share in the book giving a complete picture of the Allied strategy in the Gulf War campaign. Personal experiences are included but are not the norm. The author has a good timing on jumping into the description of some specifical tactical action or a personal narrative. Atkinson shows himself as a good straightforward story teller. His narrative is easy to follow and he is capable of keeping the reader interested troughout the entire book.

This book concentrates on campaign facts. It is not an analysis of Middle East politics.

What remains untold is the Iraki's story. Like all wars we'll have to wait sometime before the looser's-point-of-view literature can be studied.

I ordered this book shortly after the 9/11 attack, anticipating another land battle in the Middle East. I wanted to know what to expect if our forces were moved in in any great numbers. Crusade provided exactly that information by providing me with a clear documentation of the Gulf War. Despite the differences between the two wars, I still found the book helpful. Rick Atkinson's style is a lot like Sebastian Junger's (The Perfect Storm). It's almost like reading a very long newspaper article, except that Atkinson keeps it interesting.

My only complaint is that he relies too heavily on what appears to be a list of crutch words. These should fairly pop out at you, but they do not really take away from the quality of his writing. Unless of course, you are looking for creative merit.

Creativity is not a part of the book. It is a complete record of the facts, as well as Atkinson's opinion's as they relate.

I give this book full marks.

This book offers the reader a superb introduction into the details of the Gulf War. This book primarily discusses the US military buildup preceding the war, as well as the formulation of the war plans and their eventual execution. While the book does a great job of providing a general overview of the war, it does not offer much insight into the overall politics of the Middle East, nor does it deeply discuss Saddam's reasons and intentions for invading Kuwait.

If you want a general overview of the war, and enjoy military history, pick up a copy of this book. It presents the grand themes of the war in a very readable, concise format.

This book reads like a Tom Clancy novel, but of course it is real. It is extremely well researched. Though I recall reading about many of these events in the news or watching them unfold on CNN, the author brings new insight to these events and pulls together the motivations of all the players. It gives the perspective of the guy in the tank eyeing the Republican Guard as well as the perspective of Bush's team in Washington trying to hold together the coalition forces. I highly recommend the book for any one who wants to understand what took place in the deserts of Kuwait and Iraq.