In the Company of Heroes: The Inspiring Stories of Medal of Honor Awardees from America’s Longest Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq

Journalist Kitfield (Twilight Warriors) profiles post-9/11 medal of honor recipients in this brisk and stirring account. Established by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862, the “nation’s highest military award for bravery in combat” requires a months-long investigation and approval by the secretary of defense and the president. Kitfield notes similarities among recent awardees, many of whom volunteered after the September 11 terrorist attacks and have family members who served in the military. Highlights include the story of U.S. Navy SEAL team leader Britt Slabinski and Air Force Combat Controller John Chapman, who took part in a mission to rescue a soldier who had been left behind in Taliban and al-Qaeda territory near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. After landing in a “fishbowl, with entrenched enemy machine gunners firing down on them from three sides,” Slabinski and Chapman (who received the award posthumously) took out multiple bunkers, allowing the majority of the team to escape down the mountain. Marine Corps corporal Kyle Carpenter, the youngest medal of honor recipient at age 21, underwent more than 40 surgeries after throwing himself on a Taliban hand grenade to protect a friend. Kitfield sheds light on each recipient’s background and delivers action-packed recaps of their heroic exploits. Readers will be touched by these stories of courage and sacrifice. (Aug.)