Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different
The 188th Crybaby Brigade: A Skinny Jewish Kid from Chicago Fights Hezbollah--A Memoir Hardcover - 2010
by Chasnoff, Joel
- Used
- Fine
- Hardcover
- Signed
- first
"The 188th Crybaby Brigade" is a hilarious, poignant, and eye-opening accountof Chasnoff's two years in the Israeli Defense Force.
Description
On sale NZ$21.33 (was NZ$28.43)
FREE Shipping to USA
Standard delivery: 7 to 14 days
More Shipping Options
Ships from SELG Inc. (New York, United States)
On Sale!
More books like this are on sale from SELG Inc. at 25% off!
Details
- Title The 188th Crybaby Brigade: A Skinny Jewish Kid from Chicago Fights Hezbollah--A Memoir
- Author Chasnoff, Joel
- Binding Hardcover
- Edition First Edition
- Condition Used - Fine
- Pages 288
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Free Press, NY
- Date 2010-02-09
- Illustrated Yes
- Features Dust Cover, Glossary, Illustrated, Price on Product - Canadian, Table of Contents
- Bookseller's Inventory # 0412202111
- ISBN 9781416549321 / 1416549323
- Weight 1 lbs (0.45 kg)
- Dimensions 9 x 6.1 x 1.2 in (22.86 x 15.49 x 3.05 cm)
-
Themes
- Cultural Region: Middle Eastern
- Ethnic Orientation: Jewish
- Library of Congress subjects Israel, Arab-Israeli conflict - 1993-
- Library of Congress Catalog Number 2009033835
- Dewey Decimal Code B
About SELG Inc. New York, United States
Biblio member since 2005
Local pickup and hand delivery available by appointment.�
Returns accepted if books are in the same condition as when received, packed securely, and postmarked with 7 days of receipt. Refunds exclude shipping except in cases of bookseller error.
Summary
Look at me. Do you see me? Do you see me in my olive-green uniform, beret, and shiny black boots? Do you see the assault rifle slung across my chest? Finally! I am the badass Israeli soldier at the side of the road, in sunglasses, forearms like bricks. And honestly -- have you ever seen anything quite like me?
Joel Chasnoff is twenty-four years old, an American, and the graduate of an Ivy League university. But when his career as a stand-up comic fails to get off the ground, Chasnoff decides it's time for a serious change of pace. Leaving behind his amenity-laden Brooklyn apartment for a plane ticket to Israel, Joel trades in the comforts of being a stereotypical American Jewish male for an Uzi, dog tags (with his name misspelled), and serious mental and physical abuse at the hands of the Israeli Army.
The 188th Crybaby Brigade is a hilarious and poignant account of Chasnoff's year in the Israel Defense Forces -- a year that he volunteered for, and that he'll never get back. As a member of the 188th Armored Brigade, a unit trained on the Merkava tanks that make up the backbone of Israeli ground forces, Chasnoff finds himself caught in a twilight zone-like world of mandatory snack breaks, battalion sing-alongs, and eighteen-year-old Israeli mama's boys who feign injuries to get out of guard duty and claim diarrhea to avoid kitchen work. More time is spent arguing over how to roll a sleeve cuff than studying the mechanics of the Merkava tanks. The platoon sergeants are barely older than the soldiers and are younger than Chasnoff himself. By the time he's sent to Lebanon for a tour of duty against Hezbollah, Chasnoff knows everything about why snot dries out in the desert, yet has never been trained in firing the MAG. And all this while his relationship with his tough-as-nails Israeli girlfriend (herself a former drill sergeant) crumbles before his very eyes.
The lone American in a platoon of eighteen-year-old Israelis, Chasnoff takes readers into the barracks; over, under, and through political fences; and face-to-face with the absurd reality of life in the Israeli Army. It is a brash and gritty depiction of combat, rife with ego clashes, breakdowns in morale, training mishaps that almost cost lives, and the barely containable sexual urges of a group of teenagers. What's more, it's an on-the-ground account of life in one of the most em-battled armies on earth -- an occupying force in a hostile land, surrounded by enemy governments and terrorists, reviled by much of the world. With equal parts irreverence and vulnerability, irony and intimacy, Chasnoff narrates a new kind of coming-of-age story -- one that teaches us, moves us, and makes us laugh.
Categories
Excerpt
Media reviews
Citations
- Kirkus Reviews, 12/15/2009, Page 0