I Wanna Read... A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

I love The Hour, George has such interesting guests. I'm catching up on my video podcasts and came across Ishmael Beah, an articulate and humble young man who was a former child soldier in Sierra Leone's civil war. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier is his story. I really wanna read this book.

Ishmael's life started out like any other child until he was devastated by his family's massacre when he was twelve years old. I cannot even comprehend an event like this and the effects. He wandered to a military base for safety but ended up being enlisted as one of their soldiers. Suddenly a simple childhood was marred by people running around with guns killing people. As a child soldier, he did what he was told because anyone who didn't was killed. He was fed drugs and people were constantly killed in front of him to desensitize him. To make him an effective killing machine.

Ishmael was rescued by Unicef workers. He wrote A Long Way Gone as a means of countering the glorification of violence he witnessed since coming to North America. I checked this book out at Amazon and it has received over 160 five star reviews. I almost bought it tonight but I'm trying to be strong. I do have a trip I am trying to save for and I am still paying off the teeth... so I added it to my wish list.

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Topic Links
* Unicef - the United Nations Children’s Fund
* A Long Way Gone from Amazon.com
* A Long Way Gone from Amazon.ca