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This is a compelling historical fiction novel about a young man whose life is profoundly altered by the darkness and danger of the Cold War. If this were the 21st century, Aaron Rivera wouldn't be a soldier. He isn't the military type, prefers reading history to making it. But this isn't the 21st century, it's 1958 and young men like Aaron from Brooklyn are conscripted all the time, trained to kill or be killed and shipped to places they never heard of – like Schweinfurt, Germany, minutes from the nuclear-mined Cold War border, where the barracks still bear their World War II Nazi décor. With memories of that war still fresh, how can another, surely far worse catastrophe be contemplated? How can Aaron, who is Jewish, train with soldiers of the new German army, attend a reunion of the old German army, and be smitten with an art-loving German young woman? These questions lie heavy in the mind of Aaron, as he navigates his way through love and conflict in this fascinating Cold War tale.
Life is a mix of training and alerts. Soviet forces are minutes away and Aaron's unit is in their path, a tripwire in the event of war. Beyond the East-West confrontation, he encounters smaller wars – ethnic, racial, and religious. His fellow GIs, integrated by law, themselves practice a self-imposed form of segregation. Aaron comes to see hatred as a sort of laziness, an easy way of dealing with change. His buddy Calley thinks otherwise. The past happened, he argues, it can't be denied, and Aaron would be wise to forget Liesl Hofmoeller, the girl he met in Paris.
