May 27, 2013
Although it may be the unofficial start to summer, the day to fire up the grill and really start complaining about the weather, Memorial Day honors Americans who died in military service.
Here are some nonfiction books by Pacific Northwest authors to help remember those who served:
- After the Flag Has Been Folded: A Daughter Remembers the Father She Lost to War— and the Mother Who Held Her Family Together by Karen Spears Zacharias. This memoir by an Oregon author who lost her father in Vietnam when she was nine shows the long-lasting repercussions of war and the special heroism of the families that war heroes leave behind.
- What It Is Like to Go to War by Karl Marlantes. The Oregon author of the novel Matterhorn and Vietnam veteran explores the history, mythology, psychology, and after-effects of combat in this honest and thought-provoking book.
- On American Soil by Jack Hamann. Hamann uncovered the story of one of the biggest military court cases in US history in Seattle, his hometown: During World War II, 43 black soldiers were tried for lynching an Italian prisoner of war at Seattle’s Fort Lawton army base. This book prompted Congressman Jim McDermott to reopen the case over 60 years later to correct the injustices committed.
What books would you recommend as Memorial Day reading? Please share your thoughts in the comments.