War Made Invisible

Books on America’s failures in the Middle East tend to focus on either strategic/tactical blunders or the toll on American lives and American morale. One such example (though still an excellent book) is Fiasco by Thomas E. Ricks. I would position this book as a good counterpart to Fiasco, as it doesn’t provide as in-depth context for the events it discusses as I personally would have liked. I would definitely recommend this book to people who liked Fiasco.
For me, this book was at its strongest when discussing specific examples of civilian mistreatment. A passage that stuck with me was the author’s interaction with Guljumma and Wakil Tawos Khan, a pair of Afghan refugees and victims of bombing by the US. Reading about the stark reality of their struggle and the lack of help from any channel gave faces to the myriad of statistics cited in this book. I wish there were more firsthand accounts from refugees included in this book. Though this book, at its core, is about the systematic media coverup of civilian suffering in the Middle East at the hands of the American military, parts of this book still feel very America-centric without the voices of its victims included in the discussion.
Nevertheless, this book raised a lot of important points. My favorite chapter discussed the roles of racism and imperialism in America’s continued military involvement in countries around the world. It raised the important question, “What would an America without endless wars even look like? How much would have to change?” The answer is, of course, a lot, and I hope someone, be it the author of this book or someone else, takes that question and examines it further.

War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine By Norman Solomon
This book certainly has a bias. But it leans in a direction I am glad to read as there is too much jingoistic media out there about war by America is good and war by other is evil. As Mr. Solomon points out multiple times even the New York Times more often than not does not inform it readers of the loss of life of the other side. An example is the “Shock & Awe” in Bagdad but not the terrible loss of life and well-being of the people.
It does not hurt to re-emphasize the hand in glove relationship between the major US military industrial companies and the US Government funding everything the military could possibly want.
This book is not balanced but I do not find this a fault, there is too much out there in the main stream fearful of presenting a balanced point of view that might be considered Un-American.
I do recommend this book.