'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