In 2005-2006, author Green was a political advisor to a US military-created Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) working in the isolated Afghan province of Uruzgan to facilitate political stability and lessen the influence of the Taliban. In this memoir, Green points to the absence of local government structures and the lack of native civil servants in the region as part of the reason the PRT strategy was not successful. Hoping to humanize the Afghan people for readers, he portrays the US experience in Afghanistan as seen through the lives of the residents of Uruzgan Province. In addition to describing the situation in Uruzgan, he also relates his service with the US Navy at the US Embassy in Kabul in 2009-2010. Of special interest are the many b&w photos taken by the author, offering unseen perspectives. Green is now a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The book is distributed in the US by Books International. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)