Un-American: A Soldier’s Reckoning of Our Longest War

Edstrom, a former U.S. Army infantry platoon leader in Afghanistan, debuts with a searing indictment of American militarism grounded in his transformation from gung-ho West Point plebe to embittered PTSD sufferer. Interspersing his account with song lyrics, novel excerpts, statements from U.S. military leaders, and media reports, Edstrom describes the war in Afghanistan as “morally dubious, illegal in its scope, and unjust in terms of its proportionality.” He reveals numerous instances in which U.S. military leaders covered up civilian casualties, and laments the futility of expecting poorly trained national guardsmen “to fight a politically sensitive, ethnically charged guerilla war.” Documenting the war’s physical and psychological effects, Edstrom describes his driver “shaking with adrenaline” after their armored vehicle was hit with an improvised explosive device containing “bits of bicycle chain,” and notes that one of his soldiers committed suicide after returning home; another is currently serving life in prison for murder. He bolsters his antiwar arguments with an impressive array of evidence, and bemoans the trillions of dollars devoted to U.S. military interventions around the world, which he feels would be better spent to combat climate change and economic inequality. This outraged, well-informed jeremiad will galvanize readers who agree with Edstrom’s assessment that the “war on terror” is “self-perpetuating, self-defeating, and immoral.” (May)