These Heroic, Happy Dead

Stories

By: Luke Mogelson

Narrated by: full cast

Length: 5 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

With his harrowing debut, Luke Mogelson provides an unsentimental, unflinching glimpse into the lives of those forever changed by war. Subtle links between these 10 powerful stories magnify the consequences of combat for both soldiers and civilians as the violence experienced abroad echoes through their lives in America. Troubled veterans first introduced as criminals in "To the Lake" and "Visitors" are shown later in "New Guidance" and "Kids", during the deployments that shaped their futures. A seemingly minor soldier in "New Guidance" becomes the protagonist of "A Human Cry", where his alienation from society leads to a shocking confrontation. The fate of a hapless Gulf War veteran who reenlists in "Sea Bass" is revealed in "Peacetime", the story of a New York City medic's struggle with his inurement to calamity. A shady contractor job gone wrong in "A Beautiful Country" is a news item for a reporter in "Total Solar" as he navigates the surreal world of occupied Kabul.

Shifting in time and narrative perspective - from the home front to active combat, between experienced leaders, flawed infantrymen, a mother, a child, an Afghan American translator, and a foreign correspondent - these stories offer a multifaceted examination of the unexpected costs of war.

Here is an evocative, deep work that charts the legacy of an unprecedented conflict and the burdens of those it touched. Written with remarkable empathy and elegance, These Heroic, Happy Dead heralds the arrival of an extraordinary new talent.

©2016 Luke Mogelson (P)2016 Random House Audio

An unrealistic worst case scenario

This is an ultra depressing book about the worst case scenario of people that come from messed up backgrounds, join the military and return to civilian life even more messed up with the addition of PTS. It's an unrealistic and awful story.