Powder: Writing by Women in the Ranks, from Vietnam to Iraq

Description

Nineteen women who have served in all branches of the United States military lend their voices in the poetry and personal essays of this collection. They have seen conflicts from Somalia to Vietnam to Desert Shield, and many are authors and winners of writing awards and fellowships or hold MFAs from some of the country s finest programs. The essays and poems here are inspired by an attempted rape by a Navy SEAL; an album of photos of the enemy dead; heat exhaustion in Mosul; a first jump from an airplane; fending off advances from Iraqi men; interrogating suspected terrorists; the contemplation of suicide; and a poignant connection with women and children in Bosnia. Their writing exposes the frontline intersection of women and soldiering, describing from a steely-eyed female perspective the horror, the humor, the cultural clashes, and the fear.”