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Un-American : a soldier's reckoning of our longest war / Erik Edstrom.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020Description: 290 pages : illustrations ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781635573749
  • 1635573742
Other title:
  • Soldier's reckoning of our longest war
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Part I: Imagine Your Own Death -- American Boy -- West Point -- Part II: Imagine the Other Side -- First Contact -- Annus Horribilis -- Friend or Foe -- Funerals and the Tomorrow Pill -- Kill -- The Awakening -- Part III: Imagine the Costs -- What Has Been Lost? -- Costs, Opportunity Costs, and Opportunities.
Summary: "A whistle-blowing manifesto about America's unchallenged war machine, from a new kind of military hero. First: Imagine your own death. Second: Imagine America's wars from "the other side." Third: Imagine what might have been if the war were never fought. Un-American poses these startling circumstances in a searing examination of America and Americans at war. Erik Edstrom grew up in suburban Massachusetts with an idealistic desire to make an impact, ultimately leading him to the gates of West Point. Five years later, he was deployed to Afghanistan as an infantry lieutenant. Throughout his military career, he confronted atrocities, buried his friends, wrestled with depression, and struggled with an understanding that the war he fought in, and the youth he traded to prepare for it, was in contribution to a bitter truth: The War on Terror is not just a tragedy, but a crime. The deeper tragedy is that our country lacks the courage and conviction to say so. Un-American is a hybrid of social commentary and memoir that exposes how blind support for war exacerbates the problems it's intended to resolve, devastates the people allegedly being helped, and diverts assets from far larger threats like climate change. Un-American is a revolutionary act, offering a blueprint for redressing America's relationship with patriotism, the military, and military spending."-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library NonFiction 958.1047 E24 Available 33111009823960
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 958.1047 E24 Available 33111009645702
Adult Book Adult Book Northport Library NonFiction 958.1047 E24 Available 33111009007077
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

"Eloquent, devastating . . . packed with gimlet-eyed analysis -- cultural, economic, historical -- of how American life came to look the way it does . . . Edstrom's keen observational powers encompass both the physical world and social nuance." -- Los Angeles Review of Books

A manifesto about America's unchallenged war machine, from an Afghanistan veteran and new kind of military hero.

Before engaging in war, Erik Edstrom asks us to imagine three, rarely imagined scenarios: First, imagine your own death. Second, imagine war from "the other side." Third: Imagine what might have been if the war had never been fought. Pursuing these realities through his own combat experience, Erik reaches the unavoidable conclusion about America at war. But that realization came too late--the damage had been done.

Erik Edstrom grew up in suburban Massachusetts with an idealistic desire to make an impact, ultimately leading him to the gates of West Point. Five years later, he was deployed to Afghanistan as an infantry lieutenant. Throughout his military career, he confronted atrocities, buried his friends, wrestled with depression, and struggled with an understanding that the war he fought in, and the youth he traded to prepare for it, was in contribution to a bitter truth: The War on Terror is not just a tragedy, but a crime. The deeper tragedy is that our country lacks the courage and conviction to say so.

Un-American is a hybrid of social commentary and memoir that exposes how blind support for war exacerbates the problems it's intended to resolve, devastates the people allegedly being helped, and diverts assets from far larger threats like climate change. Un-American is a revolutionary act, offering a blueprint for redressing America's relationship with patriotism, the military, and military spending.

Includes bibliographical references.

Part I: Imagine Your Own Death -- American Boy -- West Point -- Part II: Imagine the Other Side -- First Contact -- Annus Horribilis -- Friend or Foe -- Funerals and the Tomorrow Pill -- Kill -- The Awakening -- Part III: Imagine the Costs -- What Has Been Lost? -- Costs, Opportunity Costs, and Opportunities.

"A whistle-blowing manifesto about America's unchallenged war machine, from a new kind of military hero. First: Imagine your own death. Second: Imagine America's wars from "the other side." Third: Imagine what might have been if the war were never fought. Un-American poses these startling circumstances in a searing examination of America and Americans at war. Erik Edstrom grew up in suburban Massachusetts with an idealistic desire to make an impact, ultimately leading him to the gates of West Point. Five years later, he was deployed to Afghanistan as an infantry lieutenant. Throughout his military career, he confronted atrocities, buried his friends, wrestled with depression, and struggled with an understanding that the war he fought in, and the youth he traded to prepare for it, was in contribution to a bitter truth: The War on Terror is not just a tragedy, but a crime. The deeper tragedy is that our country lacks the courage and conviction to say so. Un-American is a hybrid of social commentary and memoir that exposes how blind support for war exacerbates the problems it's intended to resolve, devastates the people allegedly being helped, and diverts assets from far larger threats like climate change. Un-American is a revolutionary act, offering a blueprint for redressing America's relationship with patriotism, the military, and military spending."-- Provided by publisher.

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