# Authors at War: How War Stories Shape the American Psyche

- Link: https://instituteforglobalaffairs.org/2023/09/authors-at-war-how-war-stories-shape-the-american-psyche/
- Published: 2023-09-12T14:18:52-04:00

Yesterday’s anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States has us
turning to the legacy of America’s post-9/11 wars. As veterans [reflect](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIWfH3iEgXU)
on their time in Iraq and Afghanistan, and as the country contemplates the impact
of these wars on the morale of the US military and America’s standing in the world,
literature offers a powerful way to make meaning from war’s experience. 

From Ernest Hemingway to Kurt Vonnegut and J.D. Salinger, the author-soldier has
long been a fixture in American literature. In this [episode](https://www.noneoftheabovepodcast.org/episodes/s4ep22)
of None Of The Above, the Institute for Global Affairs’ [Mark Hannah](https://twitter.com/ProfessorHannah)
is joined by two of his favorite contemporary novelists, veterans [Elliot Ackerman](https://twitter.com/elliotackerman)
and [Phil Klay](https://twitter.com/PhilKlay). Books, they argue, are more than 
a medium to unpack trauma and untangle the web of emotions war provokes: war stories
have implications for the battles we have yet to fight.

**Listen Here:** [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/authors-at-war-how-war-stories-shape-the-american-psyche/id1460825733?i=1000627590299)
| [Amazon Music](https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/3c9f0bfa-8b4d-4a69-8818-a8d4cbfd8ced/episodes/588da190-9e70-487c-8276-9aa300bf8ed4/none-of-the-above-authors-at-war-how-war-stories-shape-the-american-psyche)
| [Libsyn](https://noneoftheaboveegfpodcast.libsyn.com/authors-at-war-how-war-stories-shape-the-american-psyche)
| [Radio Public](https://radiopublic.com/none-of-the-above-60QLD7/s1!86c87) | [Soundcloud ](https://soundcloud.com/noneoftheaboveegfpodcast/authors-at-war-how-war-stories)
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**This podcast episode includes references to the Eurasia Group Foundation, now 
known as the Institute for Global Affairs.**