Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan

Doug Stanton knows how to grip listeners. In Harm's Way was a major international bestseller for many weeks and celebrated for its stunning prose and gripping narrative. Now Stanton has turned his literary talents and reporter's tenaciousness to a new story: immediately following the attacks of September 11, 2001, a small band of Special Forces soldiers entered Afghanistan on horseback on a secret mission. Outnumbered forty-to-one, they captured the strategic Afghan city of Mazar-e Shrif, thereby effectively defeating the Taliban in the rest of the country. They are heroes, celebrated by their own people and Afghanis alike. And then the story turns. During a surrender of Taliban troops, the still outnumbered soldiers are ambushed, and so begins the fight of their lives in the most intense urban combat of the times.

In addition to interviewing the major U.S. figures involved in the battle (many of whom have never spoken to reporters) Stanton returned to the battlefield in Afghanistan to meet Afghan whose lives were changed by war. Filled with moments of pure terror, breathtaking suspense, and soul-affirming survival, Horse Soldiers is a salute to the men and woman who give so much- for so little recognition and reward. It also stands as a powerful work of literary journalism that confirms Stanton as a major talent.