You have no idea what it was like. For us. The women, I mean. The wives. American women—American wives—have been mostly minor characters in the literature of the Vietnam War, but in Absolution they take center stage. Tricia is a shy newlywed, married to a rising attorney on loan to navy intelligence. Charlene is a practiced corporate spouse and mother of three, a beauty and a bully. In Saigon in 1963, the two women form a wary alliance as they...

Beyond Belief : Susan Retik and Patti Quigley are two ordinary soccer moms living their American dream until both husbands are killed by terrorists. Rather than turning inwards, grief compels them to travel to Afghanistan and help empower Afghan women whose lives have been ravaged by decades of war, poverty and oppression, factors they consider to be root causes of terrorism. As Susan and Patti make the courageous journey from their comfortable suburban...