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). Free of self-indulgence or self-glorification, his account combines recollection with the imaginations efforts to make reality comprehensible. In this breathtaking memoir, award-winning poet Brian Turner retraces his war experience-pre-deployment to combat zone, homing to aftermath. Now he lies awake each night beside his sleeping wife, imagining himself as a drone aircraft, hovering over the terrains of Bosnia and Vietnam, Iraq and Northern Ireland, the killing fields of Cambodia and the death camps of Europe. In 2003, Sergeant Brian Turner crossed the line of departure with a convoy of soldiers headed into the Iraqi desert. Inspired by that reciprocal relationship, Turner offers readers a window into not only his family's experience of war, but also the imagined perspectives of bystanders and enemies: bomb-makers in Iraq, families caught in the crossfire, the kamikaze pilots who fought his grandfather.About the Book A war memoir of unusual literary beauty and power from the acclaimed poet who wrote the poem The Hurt Locker. The poet adds, "Of course, the contract that goes with that is that others will hunt for our own."
Turner tells NPR's Arun Rath that his squad leader once said, " 'Men, we're in the job of hunting for people's souls.' "
In his memoir, My Life as a Foreign Country, the poet turns to prose, using fragmented, lyrical language to explore his inheritance of war and what it means to be a soldier today. His work includes the award-winning piece " The Hurt Locker," inspired by his service in Iraq. Turner himself, whose Army deployments included tours in Bosnia-Herzegovina and in Iraq, is a poet as well as a soldier. And the family's warrior tendencies went beyond deployments: Turner's dad built a martial arts studio in the garage, and the family mixed napalm and blew things up for fun. His father served during the Cold War, his uncle fought in Vietnam, his grandfather fought in World War II and his great-grandfather in World War I. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title My Life As A Foreign Country Subtitle A Memoir Author Brian Turner
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