Synopses & Reviews
In 1998, Andrew Carroll founded the Legacy Project, with the goal of remembering Americans who have served their nation and preserving their letters for posterity. Since then, over 50,000 letters have poured in from around the country. Nearly two hundred of them comprise this amazing collection—including never-before-published letters that appear in the new afterword.
Here are letters from the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea, the Cold War, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf war, Somalia, and Bosnia—dramatic eyewitness accounts from the front lines, poignant expressions of love for family and country, insightful reflections on the nature of warfare. Amid the voices of common soldiers, marines, airmen, sailors, nurses, journalists, spies, and chaplains are letters by such legendary figures as Gen. William T. Sherman, Clara Barton, Theodore Roosevelt, Ernie Pyle, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Julia Child, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, and Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Sr. Collected in War Letters, they are an astonishing historical record, a powerful tribute to those who fought, and a celebration of the enduring power of letters.
Review
James Bradley It was a letter that moved me to write Flags of Our Fathers. A letter my dad wrote four days after he helped raise the flag on Iwo Jima. My father honored his country. And Andrew Carroll honors us all with his gift to the nation of the superb War Letters.
Synopsis
With the drama of history and the intimacy of memoir, Andrew Carroll's landmark anthology encompasses every conflict, from the Civil War to Desert Storm. Presenting 175 letters, this book captures vivid depictions of famous battles, profound reflections on the nature of warfare, gripping tales of rescues and escapes, and many more unforgettable expressions of fear, loneliness, love, and patriotism.
About the Author
Andrew Carroll, age thirty-two, also edited the bestselling Letters of a Nation. He is the executive director of the American PoetryandLiteracy Project, a nonprofit organization he co-founded with the late Nobel laureate Joseph Brodsky, which distributes free books throughout the country to promote literacy.