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Long Shadows: Veterans' Paths to Peace

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People have joined the military for a variety of reasons. In the past the draft was a major factor for involuntary servitude, but still many joined (and still do) voluntarily--to please a parent, to get out of a nowhere town, to stay out of jail, to be with a buddy and sometimes even for a specific or amorphous desire to be patriotic. And despite everything that has been said about its falsehood, sometimes because they believe a recruiter who has promised something desirable. This book presents the lives of 18 men and 1 women who joined the military through one of these paths, and who served in most of the wars of the 20th century starting with the 1930s in Spain, ending with the OIL invasion of Iraq. Most were in hot wars, many in combat, and the book shows how they struggled to survive and keep their humanity. All ended up changed by their time in uniform, and all realized that to best serve their country they had to oppose the additional wars their country/countries were embarked on. Each speaks in their own words in separate chapters, each chapter consisting of different sections roughly chronicling why they ended up in the military, their period of service, and then what happened when they returned home and tried to get on with their lives--and ended up opposing their government's further military misadventures. Well put together, decent cost.

For the past two Memorial Days I have attended the observance held by the Clarence Kailin chapter of Veterans for Peace in Madison, WI. This book contains the life journeys of members of that group describing how and why they entered the military, their experiences spanning the Spanish Civil War to Iraq, and the paths and struggles that led them to become active members of Veterans for Peace.

The accounts are almost stream of consciousness in nature and are extremely powerful and moving. Each truth teller relates their thoughts and experiences while a soldier and how their life path was affected in the years after. The sharing of their stories is a gift.

I can't imagine reading this book and not feeling in your soul the folly of war.

I recently picked up a copy of this book and am having trouble setting it down. I must confess I don't read many books in any given year but this one has me hooked. The stories of these vets and how they came to find peace all told in their own words is simply amazing. In addition some are retired military and all eloquently make the case towards peace. Recently I was reading how one vet told how the VFW was once a peace organization and after WWII became the opposite. It still amazes me that more people have not turned their opinions towards peace rather than war as these veterans have become peacemakers. The veterans in this book cover many of the wars this country has fought from a member of the Abraham Lincoln brigade fighting Spanish facism to the current Iraq war along with a story from a former Israeli military member who fought in the Yom Kippur war in '73. The Forward written by Howard Zinn (also a vet) highlights and drives the reader onward.