This is a very important book that I believe everyone should read before contemplating waging war on any country. What makes this book so compelling is the portrayal of this young boy born in 1980 enjoying all of the same activities that my own son born in 1980 was engaging in before the war reached his village. As I read this biography I was incredibly touched by the honesty that Ishmael Beah is able to express. This book breaks through any delusions that war is glamorous or that being in combat is a good way to distinguish oneself. Survival in such circumstances is ugly, terrifying and no one lives up to the fantasy of heroism. The personal aftermath of any war is marked with mental illness, addictions and broken lives. Ishmael Beah may be one of the most important spokesman for peace of the 20th century.