War Is... Soldiers, Survivors, and Storytellers Talk About War

by Aronson, Marc; Campbell, Patty

• ISBN13: 9780763636258
• ISBN10: 0763636258
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-09-09
• Publisher: Candlewick

Summary

In a provocative anthology, two editors with opposing viewpoints present an unflinching collection of works reflecting on the nature of war. Marc Aronson thinks war is inevitable. Patty Campbell thinks war is cruel, deceptive, and wrong. But both agree on one thing: that teens need to hear the truthful voices of those who have experienced war firsthand. The result is this dynamic selection of essays, memoirs, letters, and fiction from nearly than twenty contributors, both contemporary and historical ranging from Christian Bauman's wrenching "Letter to a Young Enlistee" to Chris Hedges's unfl inching look at combat to Fumiko Miura's Nagasaki memoir, "A Survivor's Tale." Whether the speaker is Mark Twain, World War II correspondent Ernie Pyle, or a soldier writing a miliblog, these divergent pieces look war straight in the face and provide an invaluable resource for teenagers today.

Author Biography

Contributors: Christian Bauman, Bill Bigelow, Chris Hedges, Chaplain Lyn Brown, Mark Twain, Bob Dylan, Fred Duane Cowan, Ernie Pyle, C. W. Bowman, Jr., Mickey Andrews, Helen Benedict, Lee Kelley, David Bellavia, Joel Turnipseed, Fumiko Miura, Rita Williams-Garcia, and Margo Lanagan.

Marc Aronson is the author of many award-winning nonfiction books for young people, including RACE: A HISTORY BEYOND BLACK AND WHITE. He lives in Maplewood, New Jersey.

Patty Campbell is a young adult librarian, critic, editor, author, and educator. She is the author of many books of and about teen literature, including ROBERT CORIMER: DARING TO DISTURB THE UNIVERSE. She lives in Fallbrook, California.

Table of Contents

What I Believe About War
War Is ...?	p. 3
People Like War	p. 7
Deciding About War
Dead Marine Becomes Lesson for Students	p. 13
Letter to a Young Enlistee	p. 15
The Recruitment Minefield	p. 20
The Moment of Combat: an excerpt from What Every Person Should Know About War	p. 27
Thou Shalt Not Kill	p. 39
The War Prayer	p. 46
Masters of War	p. 50
Experiencing War
Letters from "Over There," 1919: excerpts from the World War I letters of Fred Duane Cowan	p. 55
In the Front Lines	p. 63
The God-Damned Infantry
A Pure Miracle
The Horrible Waste of War
A Long Thin Line of Personal Anguish
Memories of Vietnam	p. 76
The Battle of the Horseshoe
Vietnam Tunnels
Letters from Vietnam	p. 92
Women at War: What It Is Like to Be a Female Soldier in Iraq	p. 101
Wordsmith at War	p. 118
In Order to See Beauty in Life, I Had to See Hell	p. 136
Tough	p. 141
A Survivor's Tale	p. 148
The Aftermath of War
Killing Flies	p. 155
Heads	p. 172
Further Reading	p. 196
Copyright Acknowledgments	p. 200
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