Lost in America: A Dead-End Journey

Colby Buzzell has always been a loner. An autodidact who never went to college, he was dubbed "the voice of a generation" by Robert Kurson for his daring and critically acclaimed book, My War: Killing Time in Iraq. Half a decade later, overwhelmed by the birth of his son and the death of his mother, Buzzell finds himself rudderless. Desperate to escape the constraints of his postwar existence, he packs his things, gets in the car, and, for five months, drives across America--no map, no destination. In his 1964 Mercury Comet, Buzzell travels through the bowels of a country steeped in economic turmoil and political malaise. With a bottle of whisky in one hand and a pack of cigarettes in the other, he takes us on a tour of big-box stores, grimy gas stations, abandoned warehouses, strip clubs, and flophouses. He captures the distinct voices and vivid stories of a forgotten America--Cheyenne, Omaha, Salt Lake City, Des Moines, Detroit, and San Francisco's Tenderloin. Buzzell unearths America's bones in all their beauty and starkness. And like the veterans of Hemingway's Lost Generation, he struggles to reconcile his wanderlust with his responsibilities as a man and a father. Lost in America is a stunning account of the ravages of war on one individual. It also reveals deep truths about a more universal journey: the struggle to find our place in the world--without a map.

Buzzell, Colby

Humor & Entertainment

Harper

Recounts the personal experiences of a U.S. Army soldier who served in Iraq as a member of the controversial Stryker Brigade Combat Team, a tour of duty during which he engaged in dangerous firefights and raids and kept an online Web log describing his war experiences. 75,000 first printing.

My War: Killing Time in Iraq

Biographies & Memoirs

Leaders & Notable People

Putnam Adult

Colby Buzzell traded a dead-end future for the army-and ended up a machine gunner in Iraq. To make sense of the bloody insanity surrounding him, he started a blog about the war and how it differed from the government's official version. As his blog's popularity grew, Buzzell became the embedded reporter the Army couldn't control-despite its often comical efforts to do so. The result is an extraordinary narrative, rich with unforgettable scenes: the Iraqi woman crying uncontrollably during a raid on her home; the soldier too afraid to fight; the troops chain-smoking in a guard tower and counting tracer rounds. Drawing comparisons to everything from Charles Bukowski to Catch-22, My War depicts a generation caught in a complicated and dangerous world-and marks the debut of a raw, remarkable new voice.

Reference

Dutton Caliber

Thank You For Being Expendable and Other Experiences is an anthology of stories from Iraq war veteran and critically acclaimed author of My War Killing Time In Iraq, Colby Buzzell. From curious observer, to disillusioned combat veteran, to hardened new journalist, Buzzell sheds light on the veteran’s post-war journey back home. Thank You For Being Expendable, a decade worth of stories, thirty-six in all, show one man’s ongoing quest for answers. Thank You For Being Expendable captures the author at various high and low points in his life: battling alcohol addiction and searching for sanity in a broken VA system, being labeled with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, traveling the country to understand the state of our Union, ordering countless tamales in Mississippi Delta, living in San Francisco’s rock bottom Tenderloin District, witnessing Chinese capitalism at its best up close and personal, and experiencing the horror of the September 11th attacks from ground zero. Buzzell has told the stories many chose to ignore. His writing is honest, blunt, unfiltered and totally unromantic as he tells these stories through a lens of a veteran who’s damned to see the world in which we live in a slightly different angle than most others. What does it mean to be expendable? "Buzzell is the rare nonfiction writer who seems equally at ease recounting stories about himself -- his war experience, his struggles with alcohol addiction and post-traumatic stress -- as he is writing about others... a gonzo journalist who makes an art of hanging out." --The San Francisco Chronicle "Thank You for Being Expendable," moves past the war to the struggles of a veteran trying to adjust to civilian life, struggles that are all too common among the troops he sees returning home." --The Military Times "A must-read for anyone interested in what the intersection between military life and counterculture looks like…Few writers capture rejection from society quite so succinctly. However the converse is also true, as Buzzell waves the flag of defiance proudly in the face of nearly every American civil institution... stitching together the rottenness of respectable America and the misery of underclass America, the uselessness of a war that didn’t accomplish anything, and a personal experience of service and combat that beguiled him at first only to ruin him later... ." --The Strategy Bridge "Thank You for Being Expendable is an impacting collection of stories that document the author’s transition from military to civilian life... Buzzell is blunt and spares no one–place, person or himself. He writes like he’s talking to a friend, trusting readers with his hopes and struggles... Throughout the stories, he raises pertinent questions about the struggles veterans face... gripping." --San Francisco Book Review

Thank You For Being Expendable: And Other Experiences

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Buzzell, Colby. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Buzzell, Colby

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Buzzell, Colby. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Lost in America: A Dead-End Journey

My War: Killing Time in Iraq

My War: Killing Time in Iraq

Thank You For Being Expendable: And Other Experiences