A beginning

Call this a first venture into blogging. What follows was originally posted as a comment to my dear cousin's 17 Dec blog at http://enrevanche.blogspot.com/2006/12/writers-and-books-on-war.html. Barry's been at this a while. Not so his older, but less technically adept cousin. To understand what follows, you must first read what spawned it. Again, see http://enrevanche.blogspot.com/2006/12/writers-and-books-on-war.html
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See. That's why I love you, man. :-)

For those who might be interested, though, here's two recommendations from what too many of my Officer Performance Reports refer to as a "Warrior/Scholar."

On war, as the endless, essentially human and divine (yes, divine) thing is is: read Cormac McCarthy's, _Blood Meridian_. It is also (PhD'ed scholar speaking now) the best book written by an American in the last half of the last century. "War is God." 'Nuff said.

On the current war, as the conflicted, heartbreaking, occasionally beautiful, intensely personal experience that all wars are (been there, done that, warrior speaking now), read Brian Turner's poems in, _Here, Bullet_. I read them, last year, to my lit classes at the USAF Academy--on the days I thought I could get through them without too much embarrassment. They affect me. Maybe because I've been there (in Afghanistan; not Turner's Iraq). Maybe they're just that good. Maybe they're just that good because I've been there.

I hope to interview Turner in California during our Christmas trip. If it happens, and it makes it into our journal, I'll send you a link.

Merry Christmas, from one pedant to another.

cdc