"As a veteran, I always knew that each time I volunteered for a deployment, I was also volunteering my wife and parents. With some guilt, I recognized I was asking them to do the hardest job. Through her stories, Bárbara Mujica becomes an eloquent spokeswoman for those who did that job. Veterans and civilians alike owe her a sharp salute." Tom Young, Washington Independent
"This spellbinding collection will break your heart and help you to understand the complexities of having a son or daughter at War. With powerful and candid prose, Mujica invites the reader to accompany her into a world of fear, hope, and resilience. Imagining Iraq is among the most powerful collections I have read on Iraq and on war in general. A brave and splendid collection." Marjorie Agosín, author of The White Islands, Braided Memories, and Maps of Memory
"Authentic and affecting. A bracing literary investigation of war and its emotional ramifications." Kirkus Reviews
"Wow, amazing! These stories blew me away. Should be required reading for all Americans so they can appreciate our veterans." Netgalley
For centuries, war-writing has been the domain of men, but Barbara Mujica brings a different perspective. In Imagining Iraq, a collection of eighteen beautifully crafted, interwoven stories of danger, daring, and sacrifice, she focuses on how war affects not only combatants but also their loved ones. Drawing from her own experience as a military mother and her work as a veterans advocate at Georgetown University, Mujica raises important questions about the consequences of war.
