In the #1 New York Times bestseller, A Long Way Gone, Ishmael
Beah tells a riveting story: how at the age of twelve, he fled attacking
rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By
thirteen, he'd been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart
a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts.
My new friends have begun to suspect I haven't told them the full story
of my life.
*"Why did you leave Sierra Leone?"
"Because there is a war."
"You mean, you saw people running around with guns and shooting each
other?"
"Yes, all the time."
"Cool."
I smile a little.
"You should tell us about it sometime."
"Yes, sometime."
*
This is how wars are fought now: by children, hopped-up on drugs and
wielding AK-47s. Children have become soldiers of choice. In the more
than fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are
some 300,000 child soldiers. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them.
What is war like through the eyes of a child soldier? How does one
become a killer? How does one stop? Child soldiers have been profiled by
journalists, and novelists have struggled to imagine their lives. But
until now, there has not been a first-person account from someone who
came through this hell and survived.
This is a rare and mesmerizing account, told with real literary force
and heartbreaking honesty.
