Beginning with the arrival of Americans on their way to Baghdad in 2003, this book details the movements, counter-movements and misunderstandings that led up to the eventual takeing of the city of Fallujah in November 2004.

"-- they are occupiers and infidels" -- The first battle of Fallujah -- Kidnapping as a tool of war -- The decline in credibility : fallout of Abu Ghraib -- Just not enough to do the job -- The routine distant THUMP -- Living with the IEDs -- The low-tech cruise missile -- Bloody Baghdad -- The olympians -- Moqtada al-Sadr -- The south -- The Sunni triangle -- Facing reality -- A race to establish the norm -- Deadly Samarra -- The final days of a city-state -- The fall of Fallujah.