Valediction

Seen through the author's eyes, the Afghan conflict was a crusade in which the United States set out to defeat the Soviet Union and reshape the world in its own likeness. He contends that this episode exposes where the American ideal has led, turning a hopeful vision into something far darker.

Many Americans now crave a renewal of the spirit, one that rejects the idea of war as a noble sacrifice and embraces a peace meant to benefit everyone. So far, though, no one has managed to steer the country toward that goal.

Across four decades, the author built a working understanding of how to move from war toward peace, and he sets it down in a novelized memoir titled The Three Nights of Desmond at the Kabul Hotel.