The Things They Cannot Say
Stories Soldiers Won’t Tell You About What They’ve Seen, Done or Failed to Do in War
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
American Legacy Book Awards Winner
“The harrowing accounts detail the experiencesof 11 US soldiers and Marines who have been ravaged by modern warfare and its psychological aftermath. What makes Kevin’s reporting unique and essential is that it didn’t stop on the battlefield—he followed his subjects home.” — Vice
An important look at the unspoken and unknown truths of war and its impact, told through the personal stories of those who have been there.
In The Things They Cannot Say, eleven soldiers and Marines display a courage that transcends battlefield heroics—they share the truth about their wars. For each it means something different: one struggles to recover from a head injury he believes has stolen his ability to love, another attempts to make amends for the killing of an innocent man, while yet another finds respect for the enemy fighter who tried to kill him.
Award-winning journalist and author Kevin Sites asks the difficult questions of these combatants, many of whom he first met while in Afghanistan and Iraq and others he sought out from different wars: What is it like to kill? What is it like to be under fire? How do you know what’s right? What can you never forget?
Sites compiles the accounts of soldiers, Marines, their families and friends, and also shares the narrative of his own failures during war (including complicity in a murder) and the redemptive powers of storytelling in arresting a spiraling path of self-destruction.
He learns that war both gives and takes from those most involved in it. Some struggle in disequilibrium, while others find balance, usually with the help of communities who have learned to listen, without judgment, to the real stories of the men and women it has sent to fight its battles.
These powerful first-hand accounts reveal the true cost of war:
Killing in Combat: Eleven soldiers and Marines share what it’s truly like to pull the trigger, be under fire, and live with the consequences of their actions.A Journalist’s Confession: Author Kevin Sites moves from observer to participant, revealing his own complicity in a murder in Fallujah and his personal struggle with the aftermath.Post-Traumatic Stress (PTSD): A raw look at the psychological wounds of modern warfare, from survivor’s guilt to the daily battle of returning to a world that no longer makes sense.The Power of Storytelling: Discover how sharing these long-suppressed stories can be a redemptive act, helping warriors reconnect with their communities and their own humanity.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this riveting and emotionally raw debut, award-winning journalist Sites profiles 11 soldiers (including members of non-American militaries) to explore what it feels like to kill, "be shot, bombed or burned in combat," and how one goes on living after the fighting dies down. Sites opens candidly with his own experience, describing how a moment of journalistic indifference in 2004 resulted in the murder of a captured Iraqi insurgent, a tragedy the author dwells on intermittently throughout the book. Drawing from interviews and military records, Sites goes on to tell the stories of veterans of the wars in Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Iraq, Afghanistan, and, in the case of his own father, WWII. Whether stationed in sultry jungles, urban streets, or rugged mountains, soldiers are asked to endure intense physical and mental traumas, and while common threads weave throughout these stories, each is unique: one describes the horror of witnessing the crucifixion of a deceased North Vietnamese Army officer; another tells of the guilt that accompanies friendly fire. But these gripping stories do not equal "an indictment against hope"; they are evidence of a profound desire to heal. Photos.
