A former State Department official, J. Kael Weston spent some seven years working with American soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan — longer than any other diplomat spent in the warzones — service for which he won the Secretary of State’s Medal for Heroism. Taking his book's title, The Mirror Test: America at War in Iraq and Afghanistan, from the heart-stopping moment when a patient recovering from face wounds looks in the mirror for the first time, Weston delivers a comprehensive and unflinchingly honest look at post-9/11 America. Focusing on the Marines, diplomats, Afghan and Iraqi leaders, and many others he met while overseas — from truck drivers to law students to imams — he complements these experiences with stateside visits to families and colleagues of soldiers abroad, astutely detailing America’s image and self-image today.

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