Long Way Gone, A

Ishmael Beah tells his life story, beginning as a young boy who lives in a village in Sierra Leone. When rebels attack his village, he and his brothers are separated from their parents. Ishmael is recruited as a child soldier and enjoys the power that army life gives him. He becomes addicted to various drugs and is brainwashed into learning to kill for fun.
As violence descends upon Freetown Ishmael must flee to neighbouring Guinea. Finally, he moves to America, where he wrote this book.