"A memoir"--Dust jacket.

Also published: London : Jonathan Cape, 2014.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 203-208)

"In this ... memoir, award-winning poet Brian Turner retraces his war experience--pre-deployment to combat zone, homecoming to aftermath. Free of self-indulgence or self-glorification, his account combines recollection with the imagination's efforts to make reality comprehensible. Across time, he seeks parallels in the histories of others who have gone to war, especially his taciturn grandfather (World War II), father (Cold War), and uncle (Vietnam). Turner also offers something that is truly rare in a memoir of violent conflict--he sees through the eyes of the enemy, imagining his way into the experience of the 'other'"--Provided by publisher.