Many years before the U.S. military had to deal with the repercussions of abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the U.S. armed forces were vigorously engaged in helping their Latin American counterparts to recognize the strategic imperatives of respecting human rights on the battlefield. Before Iraqi accusations of massacre at Haditha forced the U.S. military to again scramble to defend its honor and reputation, U.S. forces in Latin America were more than a decade into repairing their image after taking the blame for numerous human rights crises. Indeed, U.S. military relations with Latin America are at the center of numerous academic and policy debates, particularly regarding U.S. military assistance and its impact on human rights and broader democratic development. Until now, however, no book has focused on determining whether the U.S. military could serve as a primary source of human rights promotion. Meanwhile, U.S. military human rights promotion efforts in Latin America have become central to the Department of Defense Strategic Engagement Plan since the end of the Cold War. The significant role of the U.S. military in promoting human rights around Latin America is unmatched by U.S. military efforts anywhere in the world. This book documents an approach to human rights that could become a model for Department of Defense strategy and behavior around the world. Perhaps the most important finding of this book is that the true heroes on the human rights front are not civilians, but U.S. military officials, a conclusion that is too often ignored by activists, missed by scholars, and would have been unthinkable only a decade ago.

The irony of disease is that it often strikes the right person, not because she deserves to suffer or is unlucky, but because she can endure it. The deeper irony is that she is typically the one person who serves as a source of strength for those around her of lesser fortitude. Genevieve is a historical novel about Genevieve Patrick's trials with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), the death of her unborn child, and her triumph over the disease's damning impact on three generations of family. The novel takes place between 1937 and 1948, traversing Great Depression and World War II events that frame Genevieve's struggle with MS. The novel is based on a true story and includes short interludes of biographical nonfiction commentary from the author. When Gen is stricken with MS at age 25-newly married and pregnant-she musters the inner strength to bounce back to near normalcy only to suffer a debilitating MS attack several years later, an event that forces her husband, parents, a sibling, and the Church to fiercely debate and choose the fate of her unborn child. Near death, Gen endures an interstate voyage in the bed of her father's truck to undergo surgery that ultimately terminates her pregnancy but saves her life. Faced with a multi-year recovery, a strained marriage over the loss of her child, a husband drafted into military service, and the dispersal of her three children with family members, Gen relies on nothing more than her unyielding character to mend literal and figurative wounds, rebuilding her life and the lives of those around her.