Battle for the City of the Dead: In the Shadow of the Golden Dome, Najaf, August 2004 - Rilegato

Leatherneck Magazine

"Intense combat in the open is as clean as war can be. But against religious or political fanatics at close quarters, it is beyond horrific—as brilliantly chronicled in Camp’s latest effort, Battle for the City of the Dead.

“...bristling with added technical detail, and magnified by anecdotes and vignettes obtained from two dozen personal interviews, organizational charts, colorful maps, as well as numerous hitherto unpublished color photographs, Battle for the City of the Dead forces a remembered scene from the World War I classic All Quiet on the Western Front, when German infantry died under writhing shellfire in a French cemetery. As in that movie, the intense firefights in one of the largest Muslim graveyards in the world, and around Najaf’s Imam Ali Mosque, the sacred shrine of the Iraqi Shiites, slowly moved beyond the old city walls, then across open squares, and down narrow streets to yet more doorways and basements...”

“As in Camp’s other books, a salty prose produces a thrilling immediacy that permeates throughout the text. Battle for the City of the Dead may well become a paragon in the Iraqi war literature.

New York Journal of Books
"Dick Camp has created another oral history of a significant battle in the Iraq War as can only be told by a person with his credentials. A retired Marine colonel, Dick Camp served in the Marines as an officer for 26 years and tells this richly detailed account from the perspective of the soldier."

Real and Simulated Wars Blog
"This book is the definitive study of the Battle of Najaf (2004) and is a must for the serious student of modern warfare. Highly recommended."