Description
Two men, one ambush, and the long road home from war. Shooting Ghosts is the gripping dual memoir of Marine Sergeant Thomas J. Brennan — badly wounded in a Taliban ambush in Afghanistan — and Finbarr O’Reilly, the World Press Photo Award-winning conflict photographer who was there with his camera. Published by Viking in 2017, it tells how their lives collided in Helmand province — and how both had to find their way back from the trauma of war.
Brennan and O’Reilly write with wrenching honesty about injury, guilt, and recovery: the Marine learning to live with his wounds and his anger, the photographer confronting what his lens had witnessed and what it had cost him. It is a story about the costs of war that statistics can never capture — told in two voices that strengthen each other.
Powerful, humane, and important. For readers of modern war memoir at its very best — alongside the finest of the genre.
Shooting Ghosts: A U.S. Marine, a Combat Photographer, and Their Journey Back from War
Introduction to Shooting Ghosts
Shooting Ghosts: A U.S. Marine, a Combat Photographer, and Their Journey Back from War is the gripping dual memoir of Marine Sergeant Thomas J. Brennan and World Press Photo Award-winning conflict photographer Finbarr O’Reilly. Published by Viking in 2017, it tells the story of two men whose lives collided in Afghanistan and who both had to find their way back from the trauma of war.
Two Men, One Ambush, Two Journeys Home
When Sergeant Brennan was badly injured during a Taliban ambush, O’Reilly was there with his camera, documenting the chaos. Brennan returned home with wounds both visible and invisible; O’Reilly carried the weight of everything he had witnessed. In alternating voices, they describe combat, injury, PTSD, and the long, difficult road toward healing: for Brennan, the things he did or didn’t do; for O’Reilly, the conscience of the photographer who records suffering.
Why This Book Matters
Honest, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful, Shooting Ghosts is an essential account of the hidden costs of war and the possibility of recovery. A must-read for anyone seeking to understand what veterans and war journalists carry home with them.
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