“13 Hours” by Mitchell Zuckoff – The Lone Spartans

Whenever a shocking tragedy like the terrorist attack on the diplomatic American outpost in Benghazi takes place there is always a wealth of information to mine through for months and months after.

However, anyone can see that upon closer review it becomes unclear which information to trust and which to discard, with many conflicting accounts having the same amount of factual support.

This creates a sort of dangerous vacuum where those responsible for bringing the truth to the public can choose how they want to tailor the story to suit their own needs.

This is where investigative journalists such as Mitchell Zuckoff come into play, going above and beyond where most people would venture in search of the truth, just like he did in his book 13 Hours.

Basically, the whole book is a factual account of what took place on that horrific day (or more precisely, during the course of that night) as six American security operators were dragged through hell and back, being the last line of defense against the terrorist forces.
Facing overwhelming odds, they finally managed to pull through until the necessary reinforcements arrived, forever rightfully heralded as heroes after.

These men are still alive today, and as it happens, this book is based on their personal accounts of what transpired. Zuckoff went straight to the heart of the matter and got to the best possible sources of information (in terms of both accuracy and reliability), which makes this work of literature the most trustworthy account of the Benghazi attack to date.

Even though I did say that the book is largely factual in its nature, that doesn't mean it is bogged down with countless small and insignificant details, nor is it just a monotone retelling of the events one by one.

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Attack on U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya

Source: CNN.com

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Rather, the stories of heroes are put together in a cohesive story that is written in a simple, plain and smooth language, and had this been an account of fictional events, the book could have passed as a very realistic and down-to-Earth military thriller.

In other words, if you not only want to learn what happened on that day but also come as close as possible to living it in your mind, then this is what the book provides.

One of my main points of concern, before I picked the book up, was the amount of room dedicated to the politics behind the matter. Largely to my surprise, very little of it was about anything other than what those six men went through on that day. There are no ideologies shoved down the reader's throat, nor is the main dish constantly interrupted with side servings of political context.

We are given just enough information to understand the current state of affairs in that part of the world, because this is simply not the goal of this book. In my opinion that is a huge benefit as getting too political would have overshadowed the truly important things that transpired.

Long story short, 13 Hours is perhaps the best account to date of what took place during the Benghazi attack, and it manages to convey the story as if it was a novel, without ever embellishing events of the mere sake of it nor disrespecting those who were involved in it all.

It is a hopeful reminder that heroes still exist in today's world, and as was shown time and time again, humans are capable of the most extraordinary actions. Definitely recommended to those seeking to learn about that morbid day and feel entertained at the same time.

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Mitchell Zuckoff Personal site Mitchell Zuckoff is a journalism professor at Boston university who has also branched out into literature, penning reputed works such as Lost in Shangri-La and 13 Hours in Benghazi. As a reporter he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting, in addition to which he was given the Distinguished Writing Award from the American Society of Newspaper Editors, amongst other honors.