War Is...: Soldiers, Survivors, And Storytellers Talk About War (2008) - Plot & Excerpts
If you’re judging the book by its title, and upon reading it you decide that this is a book discussing what war is, then you’re absolutely right. However, the way the book is crafted is fantastic. The two editors, Campbell and Aronson, compiled a book full of war stories that show readers another side of war. What I found to be extremely interesting about these two editors, is that they share different opinions and views on war, and I think that’s what makes this a brilliant book – you get war from different angles, and it allows you to form or maybe even affirm an opinion on war. I personally didn’t have too much of an opinion on war – it’s such a hot topic, yet I hardly knew anything about it. I knew the basics, I had a general idea about what war is, but this book really helped me to form a solid opinion on war. I actually handed this book to my roommate who was writing a paper about war, and I told her to just flip through the book a bit and maybe get some ideas for her paper. I’m going to recommend this to my mom and maybe another one of my roommates. I would not recommend this book to my friend who comes from a strong military family. I just don’t think that would end well. However, I think this would be an interesting book for people with a military background to read. Drugs: A little bit of drugs and some drinking.Sex: Mentions sexual assault and harassment, but never goes into any details.Violence: A book about war, so duh.Language: See answer directly above. I really enjoyed this book, all the different perspectives it brought to the subject of war and what it's like. I appreciated how it was a combination of first-hand experiences and fictional representations, from the standpoint of both men and women serving in the military or affected by war in a wide range of time. I believe the editors did a great job of portraying war in a way that's doesn't condemn those that support or fight war, without glorifying it, either. This book definitely clarified or brought home certain aspects of war and the affects thereof. Though I've never been interested in joining the military, I have several friends currently serving in different branches of the military (some of which have been deployed and involved in combat), and I want to share this book with them and see what they think about it.Language: It's a book about war and the military, there's definitely some language, but not overly excessive.Drugs: No drugs that I can recall...alcohol and tobacco mentioned.Sex: No graphic instances of sex, however, references to rape and other unhappiness suggested.Violence: This book is about war. Violence is a key component of that.
What do You think about War Is...: Soldiers, Survivors, And Storytellers Talk About War (2008)?
Nice anthology of stories and nonfiction that makes you think twice about war.
—NoodleOctopus
Fabulous group of short recollections describing the true nature of war
—Ash
A really great, thought provoking set of essays and stories about war.
—dimpples
has good nagasaki personal account, has some random comments
—Reggiw
