In January 2025, World BEYOND War will be holding a weekly discussion each of four weeks of Sacred Soldier: The Dangers of Worshiping Warriors with the author Robert F. Keeler.
When you register for the club, we'll send you a PDF of the book. Or if you register a friend or loved one we'll send it to them!
We'll let you know which parts of the book will be discussed each week along with the Zoom details to access the discussions.
When: For one hour on four Wednesdays, January 8, 15, 22, and 29, 2025 at 00:00 UTC.
That's Wednesday at 2 p.m. in Honolulu, 4 p.m. in Los Angeles, 6 p.m. in Mexico City, 7 p.m. in New York, and
Thursday at 8 a.m. in Beijing, 9 a.m. in Tokyo, 11 a.m. in Sydney, 1 p.m. in Auckland.
Where: Zoom (details to be shared upon registration).
This is a small group series with limited space of up to 18 people.
Sign up to reserve your spot. We look forward to reading and discussing
this important book with you!
About the Book:
A
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and military veteran examines both
the realities of the U.S. military and the worshipful attitude of
members of the U.S. public
toward it. How can the United States stop fighting
needless wars, if it keeps worshiping the warriors? Why do presidents so
easily fool people by using “support the troops” to justify war? Is
“Thank
you for your service” merely meaningless, or a meaningful sign of a
dangerous modern idolatry? Are today’s soldiers truly defending freedom,
or suppressing the freedom of other peoples? If the U.S. military is so
powerful, why has it not definitively won a major war
since 1945?
These are questions we seldom hear. Instead, what we
see is ballplayers wearing military-style camouflage caps, baseball
teams handing out a flag to the “veteran of the game,” and the Pentagon
paying the National Football League to stage elaborate military displays
like fighter-jet flyovers.
Sacred Soldier: The Dangers of Worshiping Warriors
offers a more clear-eyed, warts-and-all view of the U.S. military. It argues
that we owe warriors more than those five empty words of gratitude.
We owe them honesty as they enlist; we owe them protection from rampant
sexual abuse by other members of the military; hesitance to shed their
blood in multiple deployments to unwinnable wars; and the highest
possible quality of care when they return from battle, wounded in mind,
body, and spirit.
Praise for the Book:
“This clear, concise, and highly
readable book is a must-read for anyone wanting to understand the true
nature of war and of military service. Well written, extensively
researched and documented, with Keeler’s experience as a journalist, it
provides the reader with a broad range of insights and information
regarding the mythologization of the warrior, so critical a part of the
era of perpetual war in which we live.” ―Camillo “Mac” Bica, Vietnam
veteran, VFP member, author of Worthy of Gratitude? Why Veterans May Not
Want To Be Thanked for Their “Service” in War
“In
Sacred Soldier, Bob Keeler wants us to reconsider our veneration for
military service on the ground that fighting wars is largely a very bad
thing to do. The result is a scathing indictment of American militarism
in the post–World War II era. The book’s damning bill of particulars
calls on all of us to reconsider the role of our armed forces in the
life of our country and the larger world.” ―Daniel Akst, author of
War by Other Means: The Pacifists of the Greatest Generation Who
Revolutionized Resistance
“A
scathing, impassioned, and deeply personal critique of contemporary
American militarism. Sacred Soldier unpacks in rich detail the
contradictions and hypocrisies that beset the relationship between
Americans and their armed forces. Robert Keeler has written an important
and compelling book.” ―Andrew Bacevich
“The writer writes,
the peace warrior nonviolently fights. In the Orwellian tradition, Bob
Keeler's words in Sacred Soldier come from a writer turned peace fighter
who is writing truth to power, both to the policy makers and those on
the margins, in hopes of a better humanity going forward. May we heed
Bob's clarion call. We are what we do.” ―Jonathan W. Hutto
About the Author
Robert F. Keeler is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and military veteran who spent more than 45 years in journalism. At Newsday
on Long Island, he wrote about town, county, and state politics and
spent a decade covering religion. He served as Albany bureau chief,
editor of the paper’s Sunday magazine, and member of the editorial
board. His previous books are Newsday: A Candid History of the Respectable Tabloid; Parish! The Pulitzer Prize-Winning Story of a Vibrant Catholic Community; and, with co-author Paul Moses, Days of Intense Emotion: Praying with Pope John Paul II in the Holy Land.
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Special Secret for Readers to the Bottom of Emails:
We promote monthly book clubs by email the month before they happen, because that's when most people like to register (and often they then quickly sell out, leaving some people disappointed). But if you register two or three or four months ahead, you'll have a lot more time to read the book, and the book clubs for many months to come are always available for registration at this super secret location:
https://worldbeyondwar.org/bookclubs
