The Hunter, The Hammer, and Heaven: Journeys to Three Worlds Gone Mad

by Robert Young Pelton

A firsthand exploration of war and the people who survive it in three of the most war-ravaged countries on Sierra Leone, Chechnya, and Bougainville.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, History, Journalism, Military History, Africa, War

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Robert Young Pelton is an author, journalist, and documentary film director. He is known for his conflict reporting and interviews with military and political figures in war zones. He reported from the Battle of Qala-i-Jangi in Afghanistan, the Battle of Grozny (1999–2000) in Chechnya, the rebel siege to control Monrovia in Liberia, and the siege on Villa Somalia in Mogadishu. He spent time with the Taliban, the Northern Alliance (pre-9/11), the CIA during the hunt for Osama bin Laden and with both insurgents and Blackwater security contractors during the war in Iraq. He also hosted the Discovery Travel Channel series "Robert Young Pelton's The World's Most Dangerous Places" from 1998 to 2003.

Reviews

[Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author of The World's Most Dangerous Places: 5th Edition goes into more detail about his visit to three of them: Sierra Leone in West Africa, Chechnya under the hammer of the Russians, and Bouganvillea in the Solomon Islands. Also an interesting history of Private Military Corporations Executive Outcomes and Sandline.

[Bob Peril]

This book comprises first-hand accounts of trips to Sierra Leone, Chechnya and Bougainville. The middle section on Chechnya comprises the bulk of the book. What I liked about this book is that it's impressionistic and focuses more on the sensory experience of traveling to these countries. It's really an extreme kind of travel journalism with some detachment from the politics. Pelton seems to think of jihadis as lunatics with a death wish but doesn't moralize about them. It was also interesting how he depicted South African mercenaries favorably or at least effective and at ease in Africa when compared to expats from other countries who traveled to Sierra Leone to profit from diamonds during the civil war.

The description of Russian army tactics in Chechnya is interesting to read about years after this book was published. There was a lot of intertwining between the Russian army and organized crime. There was also a tactic to kidnap and/or kill reporters trying to get into Chechnya that involed a murky mix of Russian security services and the mafia. I also liked reading about the Kamajors, traditional hunting secret societies of Sierra Leone, who would wear magic charms on their uniforms that could deflect bullets and so on. Pelton asked them if they actually worked, and one Kamajor replied, well the U.S. military has all kinds of technology like stealth airplanes but how do you know that really works all of the time? Executive Outcomes is described as "culling" the RUF with particular attention to the tactics involved, although most of the fighting had few casualties (apart from civilians who'd be overrun and waylaid by the rebels) as the war was fought more by generating fear to deter them from approaching diamond-producing areas.

[Fee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was juicy in the middle, but the fries suck. Kinda like Mighty Fine Burgers. The author goes to visit the three most dangerous spots in the World. The drama and the chase are all in the second story, The Hammer. Chechyna. So many checkpoints and bullet dodging, I was on the edge of my seat. Reporters are the craziest people on earth when you read this story. This is definitely the top most effed up places, but it wont stop these writers. After using a fake hockey team to get across a couple of checkpoints, a female writer named Sara finds other people already reporting her story. All for nothing and she is stuck between four checkpoints. Russia, Georgia, and Chechyna are sickly kidnapping and using propaganda to put each other down. These countries always sleep with one-eye open- Have you been there, Mr. Mockbva? inside joke. member those, people:)- The reason I got past the first story was cause he mentioned the hand slaying of diamond chasers in Sierra Leone, the Hunter. He ruins it by comparing his story to a Ron Howard movie. You go do all that cool ass shit and you got to bring up some lame ass movie I have never seen. Anyways, Third story was cool, but nothing like those crazy ruskies! Now, I am gonna go take a shot of Tito's and Thank God Im a Texan.

[Thom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. The edition I picked up has an alarming amount of typos, which I found odd but ultimately decided to disregard in favor of enjoying a good book.

This book covers topics that I haven't seen outside of very specific reading. For example, when reading about Sierra Leone, agriculture and prime fishing spots are not likely to be the first things to come to mind.

Pelton likes to have fun with himself and enjoys inserting snarky comments, but does an excellent job of delivering an interesting story from a viewpoint the rest of us aren't likely to have exposure to.
Namely, that viewpoint is the one held by the guy willing to sneak into a warzone just to see what people have to say.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely a good starting point for understanding the conflict in Chechnya and the after effect of war in Sierra Leone and environmental battles such as Bougainville. Robert Pelton is truly brave to launch himself into these areas of conflict to bring back an honest experience of what has happened and what goes on. It might be 10 years ago now, but conflicts such as these are still happening and will forever happen I think. well worth the time spent on this as i really did get a greater understanding of the Chechen struggle against Russia. what touched me most was the kindness the people still had to take in strangers and give them food and shelter even when they had so little themselves.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting portrayal of three dangerous places in the world: Sierra Leone, Chechnya, and the tropical island of Bouganvillea. The author travelled to these places in times of serious strife and unrest and reports well as to what he saw and did. He also tries to draw some lines between the three of these places and the use of foreign mercenaries. Unfortunately, I don't think the connections are clearly enough made, which is too bad, because it's certainly a topic worth exploring.

[Alkhan004 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a unique book about three distance lands, with various problems that is plaguing the country. The Hunter is about white mercenaries in Africa, Hammer is about the build up and the war between Chechnya's rebels and Russia, and Heaven is about Australian island and its problems with foreign company's occupation of the country.

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've never been to Chechnya or Bougainville but I have been to Sierra Leone and have actually met several of the characters Pelton writes about in this portion of the book. Very accurate and extremely well written.

[Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

i read this quite awhile ago, and so therefor was up on a lot of this crap going on like conflict gold, diamonds, etc. it is written kinda like a travelogue, and is fascinating and terrifying at the same time.

[Claire · Rating 2 out of 5]

the first section was good. the second and third sections were poorly written and edited.

[T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good book from the author of various books on dangerous places across the world. Catalogued here are Sierra Leon, Chechnya, and a tiny island in the South Pacific.

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

not as good as i thought it should have been. What the heck was he talking about?

[Medellee Antonioli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting but I was not a huge fan of the writing style. I learned a lot though!