Civilianized: A Young Veteran's Memoir

by Michael Anthony

Overview

After twelve months of military service in Iraq, Michael Anthony stepped off a plane, seemingly happy to be home—or at least back on US soil. He was twenty-one years old, a bit of a nerd, and carrying a pack of cigarettes that he thought would be his last. Two weeks later, Michael was stoned on Vicodin, drinking way too much, and picking a fight with a very large Hell's Angel. At his wit's end, he came to an agreement with himself: If things didn't improve in three months, he was going to kill himself. Civilianized is a memoir chronicling Michael's search for meaning in a suddenly destabilized world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781936976881
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/01/2016
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Michael Anthony is the author of Mass Casualties: A Young Medic's True Story of Death, Deception, and Dishonor in Iraq, which received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and blurbs from Howard Zinn, Bing West, David Bellavia, and Philip Zimbardo. He has written for the Washington Post blog, the Business Insider blog, as well as several others, including a year-long stint as a feature writer and the editor of the "War and Veterans" section of the Good Men Project.

Editorial Reviews

"Michael Anthony writes with emotional clarity, dark wit, and unpremeditated honesty.  But what stayed with me most, I think,  were the quiet punches to the gut:  That to kill oneself, one must not only feel like dying, but like killing, and the feelings could not be farther apart.  That what messed with him most was not the brutality of his foes but the moral bankruptcy of certain commanders.  That it is not so much the intensity of combat that derails a soldier but the flatness of its absence.  I won't soon forget this book." –Mary Roach, author of Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War and Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
 
"Civilianized is a remarkable account of what it's like to live inside post-traumatic stress disorder. It's also smart and mordantly funny'"—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“[T]his at-times darkly comic memoir serves as an important reminder of the human cost of America's involvement in overseas conflicts. . . An intense memoir.” –Kirkus

“Civilianized has the introspection of a literary memoir and the narrative momentum of a novel.” –Booklist

"Michael Anthony’s expressive wit and deep emotionality connect with a vital story to present an account of the veteran’s experience returning from war that is prevalent, yet far too infrequently told. Civilianized questions what it means to be a soldier, and what it then means to be a civilian. There are no easy answers, but Anthony delivers a dose of reality that can awaken the mind and provides useful information about the challenging transition soldiers face upon returning home."—Bookreporter

"Memoirs and novels about the horrors of war are far more common than memoirs and novels that explore the less recognizable horrors of slowly losing oneself to despair or addiction after the soldier returns home, which makes Civilianized an important addition to recent war literature. Whatever your opinion on the United States’s involvement in conflicts around the world, Anthony’s memoir shows that the men on the front lines in those conflicts aren’t superhuman or lacking in emotion—quite the opposite. They are people with hopes, dreams, and fears just like the rest of us."—The Rumpus

"Michael Anthony's Civilianized howls with hard-earned wisdom. An unflinching story of homecoming and the after-war, Anthony has been to the brink and back. He writes with both soul and candor, and for that, contemporary war literature is in his debt." - Matt Gallagher, author of Youngblood and Kaboom: Embracing the Suck in a Savage Little War

"Anthony navigates the dark side of a veteran's homecoming with honesty, skill, and even a touch of humor. Prepare to be disturbed and entertained in equal measures." - Brian Castner, author of The Long Walk and All the Ways We Kill and Die

"In this tender memoir Civiliaznized, returning Iraq war veteran Michael Anthony hurls us into the raw, moral betrayals of war and the awful moral dislocation of coming home.  At times hilarious, at other times harrowingly sad, Anthony's memoir screams out at us to pay attention to the needs of our veterans." - Nancy Sherman, author of Afterwar: Healing the Moral Wounds of our Soldiers and Untold War: Inside the Hearts Minds and Souls of our Soldiers.

"Important and essential, Civilianized is an unflinching look at the dark hell of reintegration. Michael Anthony's personal story provides us with a deeper understanding of the war that many of us post 9/11 veterans face alone when returning home. A must read." - Colby Buzzell, author of My War: Killing Time in Iraq and Thank You for Being Expendable

From the Publisher

03/01/2017
Teens who have grown up witnessing America's involvement in wars and who may know veterans who experienced warfare firsthand will be drawn to this raw, unsentimental memoir. Upon returning home, Anthony—who spent the previous year in Iraq assisting doctors during surgery in a combat support hospital—realizes that he misses the adrenaline rushes, sense of purpose, and camaraderie. Thinking about misguided politics invokes a rage in the 21-year-old that is channeled by putting himself in dangerous situations. But far worse is the feeling of numbness. Alcohol and drug abuse lead to suicidal thoughts and the resolution that if he doesn't recover in three months, he will kill himself. Believing that he has nothing to lose, Anthony signs up for a course on learning how to attract women. The narration has moments of levity as the instructor, whom Anthony describes as an "ape with ADD," guides a group of misfits in ridiculous exercises. Anthony has ups and downs as he copes with post-traumatic stress disorder and addictions during the allotted three months. Ultimately, his salvation comes through writing about the truths of his deployment as well as through sobriety and a romantic relationship. The author's message (that it's not necessarily the horrors of war that break a soldier— it's coming home) will resonate with audiences of all ages. VERDICT This fast, immersive work will especially appeal to reluctant readers for its grittiness and humor.—Sherry Mills, Hazelwood East High School, St. Louis

School Library Journal

2016-09-19
A young war veteran tells the story of how his tour in Iraq left him unable to cope with day-to-day civilian life.For Anthony (Mass Casualties: A Young Medic's True Story of Death, Deception, and Dishonor in Iraq, 2009, etc.), life as a soldier in the U.S. Army had its perks. The rush from constant, near-death experiences was like no other, he writes. But it also had a pronounced dark side. Days flowed together into a never-ending sameness that made remembering events difficult, and physically overtaxed soldiers, including Anthony, lived on prescribed pain medication. When the author returned to San Diego from his tour, he realized that he was addicted to painkillers and sleeping pills and that it had been two years since Id even kissed a woman. Lonely and miserable, Anthony decided that if his life did not improve in three months, he would kill himself. He began his quest for happiness by signing up for a three-day self-improvement course on how to attract women. Yet all he could manage were brief encounters that did nothing to save him from the emptiness he felt inside. Anthony then moved home to Massachusetts, where he joined a group of men who gathered together to pick up women. There, he met a fellow vet named Gunner, whose rage and addictions mirrored the authors and who would eventually attempt suicide. Anthony continued to stumble through his days and relationships, desperately searching for relief in alcohol, hypnosis, and PTSD groups for war veterans. He finally decided to kill himself by overdosing on Ambien. Catching sight of a copy of Shakespeares Henry V, however, he decided to write his story, an act that saved him from self-destruction and began to bring him back to life. Though the text moves to a conclusion that only outlines the recovery phase of his life, this at-times darkly comic memoir serves as an important reminder of the human cost of Americas involvement in overseas conflicts. An intense memoir that could have been more fully fleshed out.

Kirkus Reviews