civil-military relations

Blackwater was founded by former Navy SEAL Erik Prince in 1997, recruiting special forces veterans and others with the skills and courage to take on the riskiest security jobs in the world. Blackwater's men eventually completed nearly one hundred thousand missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite this success, Blackwater's men have been accused of being mercenaries, profiteers, jackbooted thugs and worse. Because of secrecy requirements of Blackwater's contracts with the Pentagon, the State Department and the CIA, Erick Prince has been unable to speak out when opponents spread false information. But now he's able to tell the company's true story.

True Crime in the Civil War delves into the conflict's criminal history, profiling 16 cases of misdeeds committed by men and women on both sides of the fight. Very little has been written about the war behind the lines - a war carried out by merciless guerrillas, bloodthirsty mobs, murderous vigilantes, and sinister secret agents.