Fifteen-year-old Caleb's courageous commitment to justice grows as he faces a power struggle with his father, fights to keep both his temper and self-respect in dealing with whites, and puzzles over the German prisoners of war brought to his rural Georgia community during World War II.

Caleb's War is a narrative about the tribulations of Sergeant Caleb Johnson, a farmer from the Shenandoah Valley who volunteered to serve in the Stonewall Brigade to stop the Yanks invading eastern Virginia. As Caleb fought at Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, the reader will experience the gamut of emotions as he dealt with military and platoon issues and family concerns on the farm. The book is a plethora of information on the Civil War. The reader will learn about the filthy living conditions in camp, weapons, food preparation, diseases, generals, medicine, and terror and chaos of battle. A major theme throughout the book is the overpowering religious convictions of the soldiers, especially those from the South: reading the Bible, praying, and singing hymns such as "Amazing Grace" were common behaviors. Soldiers prayed before and during each battle imploring God to intervene on their behalf. Wounded warriors begged their Lord for forgiveness and end their agony and take them to his kingdom. The reader will gain a unique perspective of the battles as they first experience horrific happenings through the eyes of Sergeant Caleb Johnson, and then they join Union Private Josef Volzek and see what he perceived and underwent. The reader will be drawn into the story and feel what the soldiers endured: fear, bloodshed, smoke, terror, loss, noise, and chaos. Caleb's War is also a testimonial to all veterans. In the annals of warfare, there are no braver warriors than the men and several hundred women who served in the ranks of the Union and Confederacy during the Civil War; their courage and bravery is above reproach. Veterans are the men and women who answered our nation's call during a crisis. They remain a national treasure and merit our profoundest remembrance, respect, and support.

Caleb begins his journey with a close relationship with his father. He hopes that he will never leave his side for any reason, which helps him keep a calm temper and attitude. Having constant tension with his girlfriend, Calissa, on numerous occasions, Caleb usually ends up losing everything good that he puts into the relationship. In a continual mental fighting ring with his best friend, Simeon, Caleb has to be stable enough in various nuances of his relationships with people as he tries to navigate the unsuspecting, unpredictable, unyielding, and relentless attacks in his life. It appears that hes always battling or fighting for survival in all his surroundingspressures from his career, his close friends, colleagues, and everyday functions. Carrying all his problems, issues, and stresses on his shoulders, Caleb begins to lose hope, but he still waits in expectation for a greater outcome. Not sure if he will make it.

In Allegories of the Anthropocene Elizabeth M. DeLoughrey traces how indigenous and postcolonial peoples in the Caribbean and Pacific Islands grapple with the enormity of colonialism and anthropogenic climate change through art, poetry, and literature. In these works, authors and artists use allegory as a means to understand the multiscalar complexities of the Anthropocene and to critique the violence of capitalism, militarism, and the postcolonial state. DeLoughrey examines the work of a wide range of artists and writers—including poets Kamau Brathwaite and Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner, Dominican installation artist Tony Capellán, and authors Keri Hulme and Erna Brodber—whose work addresses Caribbean plantations, irradiated Pacific atolls, global flows of waste, and allegorical representations of the ocean and the island. In examining how island writers and artists address the experience of finding themselves at the forefront of the existential threat posed by climate change, DeLoughrey demonstrates how the Anthropocene and empire are mutually constitutive and establishes the vital importance of allegorical art and literature in understanding our global environmental crisis.

Chace and Carr present a splendid and often entertaining account of the American pursuit of invulnerability and how this intense drive for security has shaped our 200-year history.

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.

Sometimes, grace gets messy. Caleb Kaltenbach was raised by LGBT parents, marched in gay pride parades as a youngster, and experienced firsthand the hatred and bitterness of some Christians toward his family. But then Caleb surprised everyone, including himself, by becoming a Christian…and a pastor. Very few issues in Christianity are as divisive as the acceptance of the LGBT community in the church. As a pastor and as a person with beloved family members living a gay lifestyle, Caleb had to face this issue with courage and grace. Messy Grace shows us that Jesus’s command to “love your neighbor as yourself” doesn’t have an exception clause for a gay “neighbor”—or for that matter, any other “neighbor” we might find it hard to relate to. Jesus was able to love these people and yet still hold on to his beliefs. So can you. Even when it’s messy. “Messy Grace is an important contribution to the conversation about sexual identity for churches and leaders. Caleb's story is surprising and unique, and he weaves it together compellingly. He states his views clearly, leaves room for disagreement, and champions love no matter where you are in this conversation.” —Jud Wilhite, Sr. Pastor, Central Christian Church