Customer Reviews

Heaven in the Midst of Hell: A Quaker Chaplain's View of the War in Iraq

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Reserve Chaplin Snively leaves home and family to be with "her Marines" in the depths of the conflict in Iraq. With elegant pictures she serves up a series of vignettes of daily life in the war zone with the delicacy of an artist. Glimpses of nature, of human warmth and interaction which appear woven into the accounts of death and carnage give way to finely rendered extended episodes revealing how Chaplin Snively served to open the doors to spiritual support and healing which reveal the presence of the Divine in the most mundane events and even among the truly tragic events which unfold in war. It is impossible to finish the book and not find oneself wishing we had more Americans with the perspective and spirit, both active and passive, she brought to the front. It is a welcome reminder that not all American military efforts have been tarnished.

This inside look into the hell that is our war in Afghanistan is incredible. I like the first hand account of what's going on. Set in the hospital, this chaplain retells the stories of suffering and miracle in short easy to read anecdotes. Not just your average "war memoir". It is a look from a different perspective, from that of a "woman of the cloth" a lady preacher ministering to the wounded in a war zone. Blood, guts and miracles.