Here, Alex Vernon looks backward through the 20th century in order to confront issues of self and community in veteran's literature, exploring how war and the military have shaped the identity of Ernest Hemingway, James Salter and Tim O'Brien, three of the 20th century's most respected authors. Vernon specifically explores the various ways of war and the military, through both cultural and personal experience, have affected social and gender identities and dynamics in each author's work. Vernon's own experiences as a soldier, a veteran, a writer and a critic inform this critique of American literature, offering students and scholars of American literature and war studies a tool for understanding war's effects on the veteran writer and his society.
