Operation Homecoming

by Carroll, Andrew

• ISBN13: 9780226094991
• ISBN10: 0226094995
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-05-15
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

Operation Homecomingis the result of a major initiative launched by the National Endowment for the Arts to bring distinguished writers to military bases to inspire U.S. soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, and their families to record their wartime experiences. Encouraged by such authors as Tom Clancy, Tobias Wolff, and Marilyn Nelson, American military personnel and their loved ones wrote candidly about what they saw, heard, and felt while in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as on the home front. These unflinching eyewitness accounts, private journals, short stories, and letters offer an intensely revealing look into extraordinary lives and are an unforgettable contribution to wartime literature. "One of the chanted mantras of our time is, 'But I support the troops.' Terrific. Now readOperation Homecomingto find out who they are, what they think, feel, want, have learned, won and lost in Iraq and Afghanistan."Daniel Henninger,Wall Street Journal "This anthology is the honest voice of war. . . . In the end, they are all one voice, a voice we must hear, and must not forget."Jeff Shaara "These voices are stirring, chilling, and unforgettable."Bobbie Ann Mason "[Captures] what journalists cannot, no matter how close they getfirsthand accounts from the warriors and the families they leave behind."ChicagoTribune

Author Biography

Andrew Carroll is the editor of several New York Times bestselling books, including Letters of a Nation, Behind the Lines, and War Letters, which was also a PBS documentary. He is the founder of the Legacy Project, a national all-volunteer effort to honor veterans and active-duty troops by seeking out and preserving their letters and e-mails. He edited this book on a pro bono basis.

 

 

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Introduction	p. xix
And Now It Begins: Heading into Combat	p. 2
Hearts and Minds: Interactions with Afghans and Iraqis	p. 66
Stuck in This Sandbox: Gripes, Humor, Boredom, and the Daily Grind	p. 132
Worlds Apart: Life on the Home Front	p. 190
This Is Not a Game: The Physical and Emotional Toll of War	p. 250
Home: Returning to the United States	p. 322
Acknowledgments	p. 397
Glossary	p. 401
Credits and Permissions	p. 403
Index of Contributors	p. 405
Index of Titles	p. 407
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