THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE

Every politician must read this book before sending their country's soldiers into battle. Dear soldier, before going to war, read this book. To understand the damage done by war, read this. --Barry Heard 'I'm urging everyone I know to give Thank You for Your Service just a few pages, a few minutes out of their busy lives. The families honoured in this urgent, important book will take it from there.' --Katherine Boo, National Book Award - winning author of "Behind the Beautiful Forevers" 'Thank You for Your Service is one of the best and truest books I have ever read. David Finkel cuts through all the spin, the excuses, the blowhard politics and mind-deadening metrics to discover the cost of war for the soldiers who fight it and the families they come home to. This extraordinary book will piss you off and break your heart. It will shame you and lift you up. It will bend your mind to the reality of an American war that is now well into its second decade.' --Ben Fountain, author of "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk", winner of the National Book Critics' Circle Award and finalist for the National Book Award 'In this incredibly moving sequel, Finkel reconnects with some of the men of the 2-16 - now home on American soil - and brings their struggles powerfully to life ... Told in crisp, unsentimental prose and supplemented with excerpts from soldiers' diaries, medical reports, e-mails, and text messages, their stories give new meaning to the costs of service - and to giving thanks.' --Publishers Weekly (starred review) 'In a series of interconnected stories, Finkel follows a handful of soldiers and their spouses through the painful, sometimes-fatal process of reintegration into American society. The author gives a clear-eyed, frightening portrayal of precisely what it is like to suffer with post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury and what it is like to have the specter of suicide whispering into your ear every day.' --Kirkus Reviews (starred review) '[A] heartbreaking book ... The stories of the soldiers and their families portrayed in Thank You for Your Service possess a visceral and deeply affecting power ... that will haunt readers long after they have finished this book.' --Michiko Kakutani, New York Times