On April 4, 2004, soldiers from the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division were ambushed while patrolling Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood. Eight Americans were killed and another 70 wounded in the fighting. The battle became known as Black Sunday, and marked a turning point in the sectarian uprisings that would sow chaos and destruction among the Iraqi people and occupation forces for years to come. As news of the casualties broke, relatives near Fort Hood, Tex., where the 1st Cavalry Division is based, waited anxiously for updates on sons, brothers and husbands who might never come home.
Martha Raddatz, chief global affairs correspondent for ABC News, was embedded with the 1st Cavalry Division during its deployment to Sadr City. In The Long Road Home: A Story of War and Family (2007), Raddatz recounts the harrowing hours of Black Sunday and its impact on family members back in the United States. On Tuesday, November 7, the National Geographic Channel will air the premiere episode of an eight-part miniseries based on Raddatz's book. On October 3, Berkley published a tie-in edition of The Long Road Home with a new cover ($16, 9780451490797), released in time for the miniseries and Veteran's Day. --Tobias Mutter
