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The Nevada Review is a journal dedicated to Nevada: it aims to
enhance understanding of the state as a geographical, social, and
political unit and a microcosm of the West in the broader
historical and political development of the United States.
Recognizing the distinctive geological, environmental, social and
ethnographic characteristics of Nevada, the Review seeks
contributions that examine these features and investigate how they
have contributed to the shape of its political institutions,
demographic profile, and cultural mores. To this end, the Review
encompasses studies from a broad range of disciplines and
perspectives, including, but not limited to, history, political
science, economics, and literary criticism and also accepts
literary contributions of short fiction that concern Nevada, its
people, and their way of life. No unsolicited poetry submissions
are currently being accepted.
Desert Mementos is a collection of loosely connected short stories
set during the early stages of the Iraq War (2004 and 2005). The
stories rotate from battles with insurgents and the drudgery of the
war machine in Iraq to Nevada, where characters are either
preparing for war, escaping it during their leave, or returning
home having seen what they've seen. Cage captures similarities in
the respective desert landscapes of both Iraq and Nevada, but it is
not just a study in contrasting landscapes. The inter-connected
stories explore similarities and differences in human needs from
the perspectives of vastly different cultures. Specifically, the
stories deftly capture the overlap in the respective desert
landscapes of each region, the contrasting cultures and worldviews,
and the common need for hope. Taken together, the stories represent
the arc of a year-long deployment by young soldiers. Cage's stories
are bound together by the soldier's searing experiences in the
desert, bookended by leaving and returning home to Nevada, which in
many ways can be just as disorienting as patrolling the Iraq
desert.
Since the end of the draft in the United States, the nation's wars
have been fought by all-volunteer forces, creating an enormous
divide between the civilian public and its military. Recent wars
have taken place during the information age, allowing cable news
and the ""new media"" of the internet to change, sometimes on a
daily or even hourly basis, the way wars are understood. As a
result, a multitude of competing and often flawed narratives have
emerged that, ultimately, merely explain events in terms of
self-serving political and cultural perspectives. Author Caleb S.
Cage, a veteran of the war in Iraq, brings a unique perspective to
the understanding of how we talk about war. Why does the American
public believe that those who served are somehow both heroes and
victims, while the typical service member rarely embraces either
identity? How does what happens on the front line get communicated
to those back home, and what happens to that information as it
travels? Is it possible that works of fiction are telling the most
""real"" versions of what is happening ""over there""? War
Narratives is a tightly packed and provocative book containing a
series of connected essays on the many competing narratives-both
fiction and nonfiction-that are used to explain recent conflicts in
Iraq and Afghanistan, how those narratives are perceived through
preexisting social, political, and literary lenses, and how they
often fall short. As Cage points out, narratives are not merely the
stories shared or even how they are told; these expressions reflect
choices.
In March 2004, Caleb S. Cage and Gregory M. Tomlin deployed to
Baquba, Iraq, on a mission that would redefine how conventional
U.S. military forces fight an urban war. Having led artillery units
through a transition into anti-insurgent rifle companies and
carrying out daily combat patrols in one of the region's most
notorious hotspots, Cage and Tomlin chronicle Task Force 1-6 Field
Artillery's year on the ground in Iraq and its response to the
insurgency that threatened to engulf their corner of the Sunni
Triangle.Rather than presenting a snapshot dominated by battle
scenes, ""The Gods of Diyala"" presents a wide-angled view of the
experiences of Cage and Tomlin and their comrades-in-arms. They
assess the implications of their experiences, starting with their
pre-deployment training in Germany and ending with the handing over
of duties to their replacement brigade at the close of their tour
of duty. They discuss frankly their impressions of the benefits and
liabilities of working with embedded journalists and relate both
their frustrations with and their admiration for the fledgling
Iraqi security forces. From chaotic security planning to personal
debates on the principles of democracy, both authors discuss how
Iraqis perceived the value of their first post-Saddam elections and
the political future of their country as it tries to reinvent
itself in the wake of a dictator's fall.""The Gods of Diyala""
gives a new and personal perspective on the second stage of the
ongoing war in Iraq. Students and scholars of military history will
find its insights meaningful and informative, and general readers
will enjoy its thoughtful, well-measured narratives of a year spent
trying to protect a fragile nation as it struggled toward
democracy.
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