Quagmire

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Quagmire

Personal Stories from Iraq and Afghanistan

Edited by Donald Anderson
Foreword by Philip Beidler

258 pages

Paperback

October 2021

978-1-64012-452-3

$22.95 Add to Cart
eBook (EPUB)
Ebook purchases delivered via Leaf e-Reader

October 2021

978-1-64012-489-9

$22.95 Add to Cart
eBook (PDF)
Ebook purchases delivered via Leaf e-Reader

October 2021

978-1-64012-490-5

$22.95 Add to Cart

About the Book

In Quagmire you’ll find a range of voices—men and women, military and civilian—and a range of perspectives from the homeland, the combat zone, and war’s aftermath. These personal responses to war in Iraq and Afghanistan have been selected from War, Literature & the Arts: An International Journal of the Humanities to mark the thirtieth anniversary of its inaugural publication. The responses cover approximately fifteen years of the United States’ conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and demonstrate the aftermath of war and the degreed ripples that extend beyond soldiers to families and friends, lovers, hometowns, even pets.

As citizens, Pablo Neruda advised, we have an obligation to “come and see the blood in the streets.” To ignore what we do in war and what war does to us is to move willfully toward ignorance. To ignore such reminders imperils ourselves, our communities, and our nation.




 

Author Bio

Donald Anderson is a professor of English and writer in residence at the U.S. Air Force Academy, where he edits War, Literature & the Arts: An International Journal of the Humanities. He is the author of Gathering Noise from My Life: A Camouflaged Memoir and the editor of When War Becomes Personal: Soldiers’ Accounts from the Civil War to Iraq, among other books.

Praise

"Anderson has done a great service by collecting these personal narratives and weaving them into an excellent overall story of the American experience in Afghanistan and Iraq. Quagmire is not just a top-notch book but an impactful historical experience as well."—Matthew Brand, H-War

"In the new book, Quagmire, you will find a range of voices who took part in the war—men and women, military and civilian—and their recollections of the war from the viewpoints of the homeland, the combat zone, and the aftermath of the battle."—Jason Schott, Brooklyn Digest

“The breadth and range of work collected in Quagmire is a remarkable chronicling not only of war but of art.”—Elliot Ackerman, author of Places and Names: On War, Revolution, and Returning

Quagmire is an invaluable anthology of the U.S. military’s experience of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The voices are diverse: we hear not only from servicepeople but their loved ones, as well as journalists and Iraqi and Afghan civilians and soldiers, all delivering their immediate and often unvarnished accounts of loyalty, duty, valor, regret, guilt, and fear. But it is the quagmire of ambiguity and complexity that enlightens and compels the reader. . . . Many of these are stories that the tellers feel they should not or cannot share because the world will not listen. But the tellers break the taboo of trauma anyway—they make us listen with their generosity and artistry—and in so doing they offer healing to us all.”—Dan O’Brien, author of War Reporter and The Body of an American

Table of Contents

Foreword by Philip Beidler
When War Becomes Personal: A Prologue: Donald Anderson
Things to Pack When You’re Bound for Baghdad: Jason Armagost
Safety: Rebecca Kanner
Allawi : Patrick Mondaca
Scars: Nolan Peterson
War College: Teri Carter
The Colonel’s Bicycle: Jordan Hayes
Phalanx: Gerardo Mena
A Promise to Keep: J. Malcolm Garcia
Service with a Smile : Bobby Briggs
The Man I Killed: Brian Duchaney
Free-Falling Soldier: Alyssa Martino
A Sliver of Blue: Paul Van Dyke
Lucky: Nicholas Mercurio
31 North 64 East: Matthew KomatsuForeword by Philip Beidler
When War Becomes Personal: A Prologue / Donald Anderson
Things to Pack When You’re Bound for Baghdad / Jason Armagost
Safety / Rebecca Kanner
Allawi / Patrick Mondaca
Scars / Nolan Peterson
War College / Teri Carter
The Colonel’s Bicycle / Jordan Hayes
Phalanx / Gerardo Mena
A Promise to Keep / J. Malcolm Garcia
Service with a Smile / Bobby Briggs
The Man I Killed / Brian Duchaney
Free-Falling Soldier / Alyssa Martino
A Sliver of Blue / Paul Van Dyke
Lucky / Nicholas Mercurio
31 North 64 East / Matthew Komatsu
The Long Goodbye / Thomas Simko
What Happened Yesterday in Baghdad / R. B. Moreno
Zeh Mutaasif Yum / Micah Fields
Chai Party / Jonathan Burgess
A Bridge to Nowhere / Jason Arment
Wilderness / Benjamin Busch
Warplay / Brian Lance
The Gift of Our Attention: An Epilogue / John Whittier-Ferguson
Contributors
 

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