Writing the War

The demobilized hero is a very American literary figure, haunted by the horror of what he’s lived through, shadowed by Hemingway-esque regrets, publishing his first short story in Granta, essays in Esquire, and, with enough talent, setting to literature. Elliot Ackerman is a 42-year-old New Yorker who spent 10 years in the Marines and Special Ops for the CIA; got all the Silver Stars, Bronze Star for valor, Purple Hearts; and served the end-of-epoch Obama White House and the most prestigious think tanks in Washington D.C. He is becoming one of the masters of the genre. His seventh book, from Penguin, is titled The Fifth Act: America’s End in Afghanistan.