Battle runes

the long version

"'Battle Runes' opens in a child's voice and ends with a child's concern; the book begins in horror and terror and ends with care and hope; the collection starts in darkness and ends in color. The stories and poems - while focused on war - include private and public spaces, often addressing family relationships, such as those between husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, or parents and children. While there is blood in these pages, the emphasis is on the complex psychological dimensions of war. The individual stories cohere around problems of humanity during war, questions about what is humane and what is inhumane. Wars touched on in this book (from various perspectives) include: the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War, the African Wars (South Sudan, C.A.R., Congo, Uganda), the Balkan Wars, the Iran-Iraq War, and the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In each and every case the emphasis is on the individual human element, the physical, mental, and spiritual devastation to people who fall victim to social or political forces often byond their control"--Preface, Fredericka A. Jacks, p. xi.