Letters of Note

A powerful new volume of missives about combat by General Sherman, Ernest Hemingway, J. R. R. Tolkien, Kurt Vonnegut, and more, from the author of the bestselling Letters of Note collections Defeated Cossacks taunt the pompous sultan of the Ottoman Empire. A black corporal beseeches President Lincoln to ensure that his regiment receives proper payment for performing their duties. Joan Baez defies the IRS in opposition to the Vietnam War. A Vietnamese pilot fleeing the Fall of Saigon asks for permission to land on the USS Midway. This poignant collection offers a nuanced and moving look at the act of armed conflict. Each of these 30 remarkable letters sheds light on what it means for us to take up arms against one another and record a piece of that terrible deed. They encapsulate the full experience of battle, from feats of courage and sacrifice to the grief that follows acts of violence, ultimately affirming the power of the written word.