Customer Reviews

Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front, in the Words of U.S. Troops and Their Families, Updated Edition (Research Division Report / National Endowment for the Arts)

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Operation Homecoming is an anthology of writings created by military servicemembers involved in the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am one of the contributing authors. The book is the final result of a non-profit writing project sponsored by the National Endowment of the Arts. NEA received over 10,000 pages of material. An editorial board spend over a year poring over the massive amount of material they received. 66 works were chosen for publication. While the writers are not professionals, the quality of the writing is uniformly excellent. Much of the writing is gritty and all of it is genuine, intense, moving and completely from the heart. The contributors, including the editorial staff, received no royalties from this book. All proceeds from this book will used by NEA for future similar projects. Operation Homecoming was on many best book lists for 2006 (the year of its release). The book was previewed as a cover story in the New Yorker Magazine in June 2006. Two films resulted from this book, one of which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2007.

Most military books are by vets, or guys observing, but Operation Homecoming is real. It's uncut. It's better than any military documentary or movie I've seen or read. It's from real soldiers, in real situations, in real places, with real feelings. I have to say some stories are more exciting than others, but they all are great. It's just soldiers sharing their experiences, feeling, lives with us.