This incendiary work by Daniel Sjursen is a personal cry from the heart by a once-model US Army officer and West Point graduate who became a military dissenter while still on active duty. Set against the backdrop of the terror wars of the last two decades, Sjursen asks whether there is a proper space for patriotism that renounces entitled exceptionalism and narcissistic jingoism. Once a burgeoning believer and budding conservative, Sjursen performed an intellectual and spiritual about-face. He now calls for a critical exploration of our allegiances, and he suggests a path to a new, more complex notion of patriotism. Equal parts unsentimental and idealistic, this is a story about what it means to be an American in the midst of perpetual war, and what the future of patriotism might look like.
“Major Danny Sjursen gives readers a right-seat ride on his transformation from a US Army commander in Iraq to a veteran truth activist. His story proves that anyone can rise from the ashes of moral injury when the nation betrays the social contract to an American soldier.”Garett Reppenhagen, executive director of Veterans For Peace, OIF veteran U.S. Army 1st Infantry Division