Fifth Act

A Times Political Book of the Year 2022
A powerful and revelatory eyewitness account of the American collapse in Afghanistan, its desperate endgame, and the war’s echoing legacy.

Reviews

PRAISE FOR THE FIFTH ACT
‘Both an intellectual and a man of action… [Ackerman] tells the story of the ‘clusterf**k’ unfolding as he holidays in Venice with his children. This conjunction of banality and evil is very striking’ The Sunday Telegraph
‘[Ackerman] writes with power and raw honesty about how combat leaves no-one untouched and the survivors guilty… Ackerman takes this story far beyond the wars he fought and focuses on the changes the US has been through in 20 years…The Fifth Act is not just about collapse abroad, but a warning about collapse at home’
The Times, Tom Tugendhat, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee
‘During the chaotic US ‘fighting retreat’ from Kabul in August 2022, the writer, a former Marine, desperately tried to extract Afghan interpreters and others who had served with the US military and diplomatic corps…The stories of the evacuation attempts …are extraordinarily affecting’
TLS
‘The quality of the writing stands out. . . . part of a distinguished and growing literature by American veterans trying to understand the experience of those who served. . . . The Fifth Act’s contribution to understanding the war lies foremost in passages of reflection and well-chosen quotes . . . They give pause and offer a window into deeper thought’ Washington Post
‘[Ackerman] has a unique ability to center his and his comrades’ lived experience within the larger historical continuum’ Washington Review of Books
‘The Fifth Act is among the best books about war that I've ever read’
Michael Morell, former Director, CIA
‘The American betrayal of Afghanistan took twenty years. Elliot Ackerman, a participant and witness, tells the story with unsparing honesty in this intensely personal chronicle’
George Packer