'The best book by far about the Iraq war' Guardian Iraq, 2005. A platoon of young soldiers from a U.S. regiment known as 'the Black Heart Brigade' is deployed to a lawless and hyperviolent area south of Baghdad. As the unstopping violence destroys their morale, the soldiers descend into brutality, substance abuse and madness - with horrific results. Black Hearts is a timeless story of how warfare can reduce men to animals. Told with insight and compassion, but with the magnetic pace of a thriller, it is one of the defining books about the Iraq War. 'There have been many books about the Iraq war, but this is an unusally gripping one ...A shocking story, vividly told' Max Hastings, Sunday Times