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A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

by Ishmael Beah

Sarah Crichton: Farrar. 2008. 229p. ISBN 9780374105235. $24; pap. ISBN 9780374531263. $13; ebk. ISBN 9780374706524.

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It is common in war memoirs to read stories of soldiers leaving for war as 18-year-old boys and returning aged. In the case of savage wars occurring in Africa, children who are forced into service and often drugged are used as pawns in urban combat. Beah portrays a particularly ugly side of battle.

Reviewed by Benjamin Brudner , Jan 01, 2016

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