Bibliograph

First platoon, a story of modern war in the age of identity dominance, Annie Jacobsen

Type

Label

First platoon, a story of modern war in the age of identity dominance, Annie Jacobsen

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Illustrations

platesillustrations

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

First platoon

Nature of contents

bibliography

Responsibility statement

Annie Jacobsen

Sub title

a story of modern war in the age of identity dominance

Summary

This is a story that starts off close and goes very big. The initial part of the story might sound familiar at first: it is about a platoon of mostly 19-year-old boys sent to Afghanistan, and an experience that ends abruptly in catastrophe. Their part of the story folds into the next: inexorably linked to those soldiers and never comprehensively reported before is the US Department of Defense's quest to build the world's most powerful biometrics database, with the ability to identify, monitor, catalog, and police people all over the world. First Platoon is an American saga that illuminates a transformation of society made possible by this new technology. Part war story, part legal drama, it is about identity in the age of identification. About humanity - physical bravery, trauma, PTSD, a yearning to do right and good - in the age of biometrics, which reduce people to iris scans, fingerprint scans, voice patterning, detection by odor, gait, and more. And about the power of point of view in a burgeoning surveillance state

Classification