The Immaculate Invasion

Bob Shacochis

Viking, 1999 - History - 408 pages

Based on eighteen months in the field in Haiti - where he bunked, ate, and dodged bullets as a noncombatant with a team of Special Forces commandos - Shacochis's book brings us the stories of the "new military." Here are the most highly trained and sophisticated warriors in history, deployed in a surreal war zone, "where there are no friends and no enemies, no front or rear, no victories and, likewise, no defeats, and no true endings." With the eye of a novelist, Shacochis captures the exploits and frustrations, the inner lives, and the heroic deeds of young Americans as they struggle to bring democracy to a country ravaged by tyranny. This is what it is like to be a soldier in a military environment in which "acceptable losses" has evolved to mean "no losses whatsoever." Above all, The Immaculate Invasion is a song of freedom dedicated to not just the Haitian people and their country, but to any culture staggering through the aftershock of twentieth-century imperialism.

What people are saying

THE IMMACULATE INVASION

User Review  - Kirkus

A brilliant account of the 1994 US invasion and occupation of Haiti. In 1991, Jean-Bertrand Aristide became the first democratically elected president of Haiti. No sooner had he taken office when he ...

The immaculate invasion

User Review  - Not Available - Book Verdict

With the flair of a novelist (see his Swimming in the Volcano), Shacochis offers a firsthand account of the 1994 liberation of Haiti, when a U.S. military juggernaut at last returned Aristide to power ...

Contents

• The Day You See Me Fall Is Not the Day I: 1
• Repression Works: 12
• Cowboy Heaven: 25

About the author

Bob Shacochis is an American author and journalist. He was born in Pennsylvania on September 9, 1951, and grew up in McLean Virginia. He was educated at the University of Missouri, and the Iowa Writer's Workshop at the University of Iowa. He currently teaches creative writing at Florida State University. Shacochis's first collection of stories, Easy in the Islands won the National Book Award for first work of fiction. His second collection, The Next New World was awarded the Prix de Rome from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His novel, Swimming in the Volcano was a finalist for the 1993 National Book Award. Shacochis has been a contributing editor for Outside and Harper's, and has been a columnist and writer for several national publications, including GQ magazine.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Immaculate Invasion
• Author: Bob Shacochis
• Publisher: Viking, 1999
• Original from: University of Texas
• Digitized: Aug 7, 2008
• ISBN: 0670863041, 9780670863044
• Length: 408 pages
• Subjects: History / Caribbean & West Indies / General; Political Science / International Relations / General