STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE

New York City, NY: The Penguin Press, 2008. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. New York City, NY: The Penguin Press, 2008. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 287 pages. The authors' account on the Iraq War. Now considered a contemporary classic. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Philip Gourevitch's and Errol Morris' "Standard Operating Procedure". SOP. Gourevitch and Morris focus on the American soldiers who were sent to Iraq as liberators only to find themselves turned into jailers in Saddam Hussein's dungeons, responsible for implementing a practice they were sent to fight against. "The story of the defining moment in the war, the infamous Abu Ghraib photographs of prisoner abuse, as seen through the eyes, and told through the voices, of the soldiers who took them and appeared in them. In the tradition of powerful storytelling that runs from Joseph Conrad's 'The Heart of Darkness' and Fyodor Dostoevsky's 'The Grand Inquisitor' to Norman Mailer's 'The Executioner's Song', Philip Gourevitch has written a relentlessly surprising and perceptive account of the front lines of the War on Terror" (Publisher's blurb). Gourevitch relies heavily on Errol Morris' recorded interviews with the soldiers (hence the shared credit), that are also the basis of Morris' documentary, which is excruciating to watch. No theater in the United States has screened it, but it has been shown in Europe. Susan Sontag's last essay, "Regarding The Torture of Others" (2004), argued that Abu Graib will remain the most iconic image of the war in Iraq long after the war itself is finally over. Gourevitch and Morris evidently agree, but see the scandal from the most painful perspective of all: The soldier-photographer-torturers themselves. "There is no keeping our hands clean of Abu Graib. Ignoring it doesn't work, nor does denouncing it, and there is no disavowing it, never mind denying it. The stain is inescapable and irreversible and it is ours, and if we have any hope of containing it and living it down it can only come from seeing it whole" (Philip Gourevitch). An absolute "must-have" title for Philip Gourevitch and Errol Morris collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed and dated (in the month and year of publication) in black pen on the title page by the author: "Philip Gourevitch 5/08". This title is a great book. As far as we know, this is the only such signed and publication-month dated copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. Two of the most brilliant American writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER COPY OF THIS TITLE IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1594201323.