Overview

Most men fantasize about military life and action. Few ever serve. Even fewer succeed in joining elite combat units. In a world of roughly four billion men, only a few thousand each year dare to take the ultimate leap of faith by joining the most renowned and mysterious military fighting force in the world, the French Foreign Legion. In the attempt to forge himself into a ""Renaissance man,"" Nicholas Tobias--a young scholar with a promising future at the Anglo-Saxon Academy, a recent convert to Roman Catholicism, and decidedly tall, dark, and melancholy-- instead leaves behind his studies in Renaissance history at Princeton to enlist in the French Foreign Legion. This is the story of his journey with the Foreign Legion, sometimes referred to as the ""The Monastery of the Damned."" From his initial days in the French Foreign Legion to his premature honourable discharge twenty months later, Nicholas encounters a series of people, places, and events that profoundly challenge and reshape his worldviews shaped by his upbringing in suburban United States and later at prestigious universities across the US and Europe. This is the story of a young man forever changed not only by the lessons and hardships of life as a legionnaire, but also by his service alongside fellow legionnaires. Originating from over 140 countries, these soldiers collectively form one of the most nationally and culturally diverse organizations in the world. Deployed to Afghanistan in summer 2009 as part of a French task force, Nicholas steps foot into his first ""war zone"" with fellow legionnaires. During his six months of operations across various regions of Afghanistan, including in and around Kabul, the realities of modern conflict clash with Nicholas' romanticized notions of soldiering, warfare, and adventure. This is the story of a young man as he struggles to reconcile such realities with his unyielding appetite for adventure, endurance, and service. This is the story of a young man who dared-- to join the French Foreign Legion.

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Reviews

""Sex, Drugs, Violence, Latin Mass. In a world of 'mere males, ' many long for the life of soldiering as a route to transform into a true man. But few with the high educational credentials of the author of Monastery of the Damned ever escape the ivory tower to act on that longing. This book is reminiscent of Ernst Jünger in the way it connects the stark, brutal, and often beautiful personal experience of war with illuminating historical, philosophical, and literary insights. The result is a unique perspective on the destiny of Christendom, the 'West, ' the men who dwell therein, and the possible sources for their renewal. It is, notably, a perspective hardly anywhere to be found in contemporary cultural debates, even among the more avant-garde fringes of the New Right. Along the way, the reader is vicariously inducted into the working system of the world's great living military traditions. The style is of a richness rarely seen today, but without pretense or sentimentality. I found it hard to put down."" --Alex Petkas, PhD, Creator and host, Cost of Glory podcast ""Nicholas Tobias' book recounts his entry into the French Foreign Legion and what ensued: a story that must be viewed as extraordinary by the vast majority of contemporary Western mankind given the abrupt abandonment of martial values that had persisted since preclassical times, notwithstanding the advent of originally pacifist Christianity. Nicholas did not accept this abandonment and instead looked for an opportunity to test his character in the Legion, which was once the refuge of rogues and is now the refuge of men who aspire to be warriors. I, too, volunteered to fight, but originally I did so to serve a cause I deeply believe in, and it was only during the ensuing warfare that I discovered that combat is the most seductive of human endeavors, which heightens one's existence to the highest level precisely because it might end it, as Achilles clearly explains in The Iliad. This is no ordinary book, and Nicholas is no ordinary writer."" --Edward Luttwak, author of Coup d'État: A Practical Handbook, historian, and strategist ""A thoughtful young man deems unworthy the mentality and mores of contemporary America. After Oxford and Princeton, does he turn to drink, drugs, and promiscuous copulation to assuage his estrangement from contemporary life? No--he enlists in the French Foreign Legion. This account of his physical and spiritual journey to a new life, filled with deep reflections, will hold meaning for every person who senses there's something a little wrong with our lives today. Join his voyage of self-discovery to insight and wisdom about people, about cultures, and about our age."" --Jeffrey Race, author of the military classic War Comes to Long An ""A Millennial Bildungsroman of striking energy, originality, erudition, and wit. Whether describing his forced marches through the French countryside or his conversations with friends, Nicholas is always reflecting on what this all means for his life, for his generation, and for what the French would call la culture et civilisation that belongs to all of us."" --Neil Howe, co-author of the bestselling phenomenon The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy; author of The Fourth Turning Is Here ""This is an exceptional memoir of an extraordinary young life. Nicholas' journey in pursuit of service is compelling, inspiring and enlightening."" --Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, former White House national security advisor and author of the New York Times bestseller Battlegrounds

Author Information

Nicholas Tobias is a former legionnaire in the French Foreign Legion and a former infantry officer in the United States Army. Nicholas began his military career as an enlisted soldier in the French Foreign Legion (2008- 2010), with which he deployed to Afghanistan. Following an honourable discharge from the Legion in 2010, he commissioned as an officer in the US Army through Princeton University ROTC while concurrently completing his doctoral studies in European history. From 2013 to 2022, he served as an active-duty infantry officer in the US Army, with assignments at various Airborne units and with the US Army Ranger School. During this time, he again deployed to Afghanistan. In addition to numerous military qualifications, he was a master-rated Jumpmaster, graduated from the US Army Ranger School, and completed the Colombian Army Lancero course. Proficient in eight languages (English, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, German, Modern Hebrew, and Levantine Arabic), Nicholas has a strong dedication to reading and to studying Latin, and maintains a less intense interest in Ancient Greek.

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