THE WARS OF THE LITTENDAHL MEN tells the story of Jakob Littendahl, who comes to Wisconsin from Norway in 1896, his son Lars, and Lars' son Paul. Each struggles with moral and ethical questions and often their resolutions cause them to forsake things dear to them: Jakob sells his beloved farm, moves to town and manages his brother's store; Lars stops flying for a fledgling airline in order to care of the store and his widowed mother; Paul gives up the camaraderie of his high school friends and becomes a school artist. Later Paul volunteers for the draft during the Korean War and dies in combat, ending the WARS. Some readers may see a kind of existential absurdity in Paul's death and the end of the Littendahl heritage of self-sacrifice; others may see in their lives a thread of honor whose maintenance is a sufficient reason for their being.