Phil Klay's Missionaries: Violence and America's Involvement in Complicated Wars

In another guest episode of RealClearDefense's podcast "Hot Wash," RCD Editor David Craig speaks with Phil Klay about his novel Missionaries, out in paperback this fall. Klay is a Marine Corps veteran and author. His short story collection “Redeployment” won the 2014 National Book Award for Fiction and the National Book Critics’ Circle award for best debut in any genre. Missionaries is his first novel and looks at the bloody 50-year war in Colombia between Marxist FARC guerillas and the Colombian government aided by the US military. We talk about complicated wars, the use of violence, and what is it like to return home to a public disconnected from the experience of veterans. Be sure to check out the RealClearPolitics Takeaway tomorrow Friday, for a conversation about a new poll by RealClear Opinions Research looking at a divided U.S. views its armed forces and their mission.