November 15-16, 2025: Veterans’ Stories: Three 21C Stories

[For Veterans Day, I’ve AmericanStudied five examples of texts that can help us remember and engage with veterans’ experiences from five of our defining wars. Leading up to this weekend post on 21^st century veterans’ stories!]

Three texts and voices that can help us commemorate 21^st century veterans’ communities:

1)      Miyoko Hikiji’s memoir All I Could Be: My Story as a Woman Warrior in Iraq (2013), on which see that hyperlinked post;

2)      Phil Klay’s short story collection Redeployment (2014), on the stunning and heartbreaking title story of which see that article;

3)      and Ross Caputi, Richard Hil, and Donna Mulhearn’s The Sacking of Fallujah: A People’s History (2019); Ross is an Iraq War veteran as well as one of my favorite former students, and this project embodies veteran critical patriotism amazingly well;

Next series starts Monday,

Ben

PS. What do you think? Veterans’ stories and/or texts you’d share?