In September 2004, veteran Canadian journalist Scott Taylor was taken hostage in northern Iraq. While awaiting execution by beheading, he reflected on the events that had brought him to a torture chamber in a remote Iraqi village.

Taylor's recounting includes his experiences as a Canadian Forces infantryman and as a frontline reporter investigating military affairs for the military magazine Esprit de Corps. His quest to see "the other side" has taken him to Africa and the former Yugoslavia, and to Saddam Hussein's Iraq in twenty-one trips before, during and after the U.S. led invasion.

In 1996, he co-authored the bestseller Tarnished Brass: Crime and Corruption in the Canadian Military. After his kidnapping ordeal, Taylor returned to Iraq, and since then has resumed his unembedded war reporting in Afghanistan. In recognition of his ability to go beyond the jingoism of mainstream media, the Globe and Mail has dubbed him the "voice of the grunts." With searing criticism, Taylor exposes the deceit of the politicians and media cheerleaders who are ultimately responsible for waging the senseless wars that cause so much needless suffering for innocent people.