Books about Veterans
During this time of the year, we also give thanks to the men and women who serve in the armed forces. Check out this list of books either written by veterans and/or about their experiences. Books are grouped for adults, teenagers, and children and can be borrowed from any BPL branch.
Adults
Redeployment
By Phil Klay
Phil Klay’s Redeployment takes readers to the frontlines of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, asking us to understand what happened there, and what happened to the soldiers who returned. Interwoven with themes of brutality and faith, guilt and fear, helplessness and survival, the characters in these stories struggle to make meaning out of chaos.
Here, Bullet
By Brian Turner
Adding his voice to the current debate about the US occupation of Iraq, in poems written in the tradition of such poets as Wilfred Owen, Yusef Komunyakaa (Dien Cai Dau), Bruce Weigl (Song of Napalm) and Alice James’ own Doug Anderson (The Moon Reflected Fire), Iraqi war veteran Brian Turner writes power-fully affecting poetry of witness, exceptional for its beauty, honesty, and skill. Based on Turner’s yearlong tour in Iraq as an infantry team leader, the poems offer gracefully rendered, unflinching description but, remarkably, leave the reader to draw conclusions or moral lessons. Here, Bullet is a must-read for anyone who cares about the war, regardless of political affiliation.
We Were There: Voices of African American Veterans, from World War II to the War in Iraq
By Yvette Latty
In a book that has sparked discussions in homes, schools, and churches across America, Latty, along with acclaimed photographer Ron Tarver, captures not only what was unique about the experiences of more than two dozen veterans but also why it is important for these stories to be recorded. Whether it’s the story of a black medic on Omaha Beach or a nurse who ferried wounded soldiers by helicopter to medical centers throughout Asia during the Vietnam War, We Were There is a must-have for every black home, military enthusiast, and American patriot.
What It Is Like To Go To War
By Karl Marlantes
In 1968, at the age of twenty-three, Karl Marlantes was dropped into the highland jungle of Vietnam, an inexperienced lieutenant in command of a platoon of forty Marines who would live or die by his decisions. Marlantes survived, but like many of his brothers in arms, he has spent the last forty years dealing with his war experience. In What It Is Like to Go to War, Marlantes takes a deeply personal and candid look at what it is like to experience the ordeal of combat, critically examining how we might better prepare our soldiers for war. Marlantes weaves riveting accounts of his combat experiences with thoughtful analysis, self-examination, and his readings—from Homer to The Mahabharata to Jung. He makes it clear just how poorly prepared our nineteen-year-old warriors are for the psychological and spiritual aspects of the journey.
The Lonely Soldier: The Private War of Women Serving in Iraq
By Helen Benedict
More American women have fought and died in Iraq than in any war since World War Two, yet as soldiers, they are still painfully alone. In Iraq, only one in ten troops is a woman, and she often serves in a unit with few other women or none at all. This isolation, along with the military’s deep-seated hostility toward women, causes problems that many female soldiers find as hard to cope with as war itself: degradation, sexual persecution by their comrades, and loneliness, instead of the camaraderie that every soldier depends on for comfort and survival. As one female soldier said, “I ended up waging my own war against an enemy dressed in the same uniform as mine.”
Code Talker: The First and Only Memoir By One of the Original Navajo Code Talkers of WWII
By Chester Nez
During World War II, the Japanese had managed to crack every code the United States used. But when the Marines turned to its Navajo recruits to develop and implement a secret military language, they created the only unbroken code in modern warfare—and helped assure victory for the United States over Japan in the South Pacific.
Teens
Ceremony
By Leslie Marmon Silko
Tayo, a young Native American, has been a prisoner of the Japanese during World War II, and the horrors of captivity have almost eroded his will to survive. His return to the Laguna Pueblo reservation only increases his feeling of estrangement and alienation. While other returning soldiers find easy refuge in alcohol and senseless violence, Tayo searches for another kind of comfort and resolution. Tayo’s quest leads him back to the Indian past and its traditions, to beliefs about witchcraft and evil, and to the ancient stories of his people. The search itself becomes a ritual, a curative ceremony that defeats the most virulent of afflictions–despair.
Bloods: Black Veterans of the Vietnam War: An Oral History
By Wallace Terry
An oral history, unlike any other, Bloods, features twenty black men who tell the story of how members of their race were sent off to Vietnam in disproportionate numbers, and of the special test of patriotism they faced. Told in voices no reader will soon forget, Bloods is a must-read for anyone who wants to put the Vietnam experience in historical, cultural, and political perspective.
The Impossible Knife of Memory
By Laurie Halse Anderson
For the past five years, Hayley Kincaid and her father, Andy, have been on the road, never staying long in one place as he struggles to escape the demons that have tortured him since his return from Iraq. Back in the town where he grew up, Hayley can attend school and maybe have a normal life, put aside her own painful memories. Even have a relationship with Finn, the hot guy who obviously likes her but is hiding secrets of his own.
Benito Runs
By Justine Fontes
Benito’s father, Xavier, returns from Iraq after more than a year suffering from PTSD–post-traumatic stress disorder–and yells constantly. He causes such a scene at a school function that Benny is embarrassed to go back to Southside High. Benny can’t handle seeing his dad so crazy, so he decides to run away. Will Benny find a new life, or will he learn how to deal with his dad–through good times and bad?
The Girls Come Marching Home: Stories of Women Warriors Returning From the War in Iraq
By Kirsten Homstedt
In her award-winning Band of Sisters: American Women at War in Iraq, Kirsten Holmstedt described how female soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines are fighting on the front lines in Iraq despite the military’s ban on women in combat. Now Holmstedt tells the stories of America’s fighting women as they come home from Iraq. –from publisher description.
Children
What is Veterans Day?
By Elaine Landau
An introduction to Veterans Day with an easy activity
The Poppy Lady: Moina Belle Michael and Her Tribute to Veterans
By Barbara Walsh
When American soldiers entered World War I, Moina Belle Michael, a schoolteacher from Georgia, knew she had to act. Some of the soldiers were her students and friends. Almost single-handedly, Moina worked to establish the red poppy as the symbol to honor and remember soldiers. And she devoted the rest of her life to making sure the symbol would last forever. Thanks to her hard work, that symbol remains strong today. Author Barbara Elizabeth Walsh and artist Layne Johnson worked with experts, primary documents, and Moina’s great-nieces to better understand Moina’s determination to honor the war veterans.
Maya Lin: Artist-architect of Light and Lines: Designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
By Jeanne Walker Harvey
The bold story of Maya Lin, the artist-architect who designed the Vietnam War Memorial
Veterans Day
By Robert Walker
Veterans Day is a time to honor the men and women who have served in the United States Armed Forces. Young readers will learn about the soldiers this holiday celebrates and how the occasion is marked across the country on November 11th.
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