W. D. Ehrhart, called one of the great poets and writers of nonfiction produced by the Vietnam War by The Nation, here presents 42 essays, whose topics include not only the Gulf, Vietnam, and Korean wars, the conflict between Israel and Palestine, war and journalism, and American war poetry, but also junk mail, the Internet, the IRS, tugboats, drawbridges, race relations, the justice system, health care, small town life in America, nicotine addiction, the bravado of youth, honesty and American culture, the rhetoric of national mythology, and presidential isolation, among others.