“James Verini has written an urgent, scalding, hallucinatory work of war reportage, in the tradition of Michael Herr and Philip Gourevitch. His account of the Battle of Mosul, based on nearly a year of close-up, grunt’s-eye-view, on-the-ground reporting captures the horror, the nobility, and the sheer grinding absurdity of twenty-first-century warfare, in which one catastrophic conflict only begets the next, and soldiers coordinate advances on smartphones, using WhatsApp. Imbued with a deep appreciation for the Iraqi people and their history and laced with the acid humor of the battlefield, They Will Have to Die Now is a signicant achievement.”
—PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE
author of Say Nothing