American Cipher

The explosive narrative of the life, captivity, and trial of Bowe Bergdahl, the soldier who was abducted by the Taliban and whose story has served as a symbol for America's foundering war in Afghanistan

"A riveting journalistic account of Bowe Bergdahl's disastrous--and weirdly poignant--choice to walk off his military base in Afghanistan. . . . A spectacularly good book about an incredibly painful and important topic."--Sebastian Junger, author of Tribe and War

Private First Class Bowe Bergdahl left his platoon's base in eastern Afghanistan in the early hours of June 30, 2009. Since that day, easy answers to the many questions surrounding his case have proved elusive. American Cipher is the riveting and deeply sourced account of the nearly decade-old Bergdahl quagmire and its place in the larger conflict in Afghanistan. The book tells the parallel stories of a young man's halting coming of age and a nation stalled in an unwinnable war, revealing the fallout that ensued when the two collided. The book's beating heart is Bergdahl himself--an idealistic, misguided soldier onto whom a nation projected the political and emotional complications of service.

Based on years of exclusive reporting drawing on dozens of sources throughout the military, government, and Bergdahl's family, friends, and fellow soldiers, American Cipher is at once a meticulous investigation of government dysfunction and political posturing, a blistering commentary on America's presence in Afghanistan, and a hearbreaking story of a naïve young man who thought he could fix the world and wound up the tool of forces far beyond his understanding.