Abstract

Kevin Powers was deployed as a machine gunner in Mosul and Tal Afar. His novel, The Yellow Birds, was a finalist for the 2012 National Book Award. David Abrams was a public relations officer in Iraq in 2005. Publishers Weekly described his novel Fobbit (2012) as the “Iraq War’s answer to Catch 22.” Finally, the poet Brian Turner, author of two poetry collections including the award winning Here, Bullet, spent seven years in the US Army, one of which he acted as an infantry team leader in Iraq. Each of these writers in his own way has answered Wilfred Owen’s famous challenge to all writers choosing to evoke what he called the “pity of war”: warn and be truthful. Furthermore, each addresses the problem of what Abrams calls “America, the beautiful ostrich,” his metaphor for folks on the home front blind to the costs and realities of war.