Afghanistan veteran to launch wartime memoir in DUMBO with NY Times’ James Dao
Brooklyn BookBeat
In his new book “Afghan Post,” The New York Times blogger and veteran Adrian Bonenberger conveys the unforgettable emotional reality of his military experience through the cracked lens of his wartime correspondence. On Jan. 28, Bonenberger will appear in DUMBO at powerHouse Arena to discuss his book with New York Times deputy national editor James Dao. The program is being co-sponsored by Words After War, an organization dedicated to building a community of thoughtful, engaged and skilled veteran writers.
“Afghan Post” begins in 2001 with the attack on the World Trade Center and follows Adrian Bonenberger’s journey from Yale English major to U.S. Army captain in letters and journal entries. Over the course of the memoir, under the strain of war, Adrian’s identity splits and splits again as he maintains different correspondences with friends and family, fellow veterans, and himself. The tectonic shifts in relationships, mental states, and levels of physical danger cause Adrian to reevaluate his rejection of the many paths that were available to him post-graduation in favor of volunteering for military service. He left the army as a decorated captain in 2012 after two tours.
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