American Mourning: The Intimate Story of Two Families Joined by War, Torn by Beliefs
Catherine Moy and Melanie Morgan
American Mourning is the story of two American families whose sons died in the war on terror. Casey Sheehan and Justin Johnson had been best friends since they first met at Fort Hood in Texas; they were killed within five days of each other in separate ambushes in Sadr City, Iraq, during Holy Week of 2004.
As the Sheehan and Johnson families have mourned their unimaginable loss, they have had little else in common and have taken entirely different paths as they mourned. Justin's father, Joe Johnson, followed his son to Baghdad, slogging through the open sewers of Iraqi slums to see where Justin had died and to avenge his death.
Cindy Sheehan wanted another kind of revenge. Blaming President Bush for Casey's death, she called the Muslim radicals who killed her son "freedom fighters" and brought an entourage of antiwar activists and a coalition of the willing press to the president's ranch outside Crawford, Texas. Demanding that the president meet with her in the sweltering Texas summer, she became a media phenomenon and America's best-known antiwar activist since Jane Fonda.
The Sheehans and the Johnsons represent the extremes of grief-stricken parents in war, both families reflecting the gap in how Americans view the war on terror. The Johnson family has bonded closer. Justin's parents have grown nearer; their faith has been strengthened; and their support for the war is stronger than ever. Meanwhile, the Sheehan family has fractured, and Casey's parents have divorced. Cindy says she is no longer a Christian, and her opposition to the war is deeper and more bitter than ever.
The bodies of Casey Sheehan and Justin Johnson lie in their hometown graves. Justin's final resting place is decorated with handmade flags and miniature Uncle Sams. Casey's had no marker for two years to tell the world that he lived, fought, and died a hero.
Both Joe and Cindy are shooting at ghosts. This is their story. The story of American Mourning.
Reviews:
"American Mourning is an elegantly lyrical book about soldiers and sons killed in combat. The authors compare how two American families—the Sheehans and the Johnsons—reacted to the loss of their sons in combat in Iraq, and how they are in many ways a metaphor for the country itself. The story juxtaposes the grieving process of the two families—especially Cindy Sheehan, Casey's mother, and Joe Johnson, Justin's father, showing how each reacted to the worst news a parent can receive in radically different ways. Cindy Sheehan directed her grief and anger not at the terrorists she called 'freedom fighters.' She said that she 'did not blame the man who killed Casey' but instead blamed President Bush whom she holds accountable for the lost soldiers. Joe Johnson's grief also flared as white-hot anger, and at age 45 he joined the National Guard determined to go to Iraq as a gunner and 'kill the bastards' who killed his beloved Justin. The media portrayed Cindy as 'Mother Sheehan,' a grief-stricken mother whose world had been destroyed and who wished only to be consoled by President Bush. But the authors recount a back-story that documents a massive, highly professional and well-orchestrated PR campaign backed by deep-pocketed sponsors like MoveOn.org and George Soros. At some point Sheehan morphed into an aggressive feminist who abandoned her family, ran off with another man and embraced the radical agenda that the anti-Bush movement used her to promote. Joe Johnson trained hard, went to Iraq and patrolled the deadly roads laced with IEDs and ambushes. He resumed drinking after Justin's death and reportedly continues to seek solace in the bottle, though he has given up his mission of personally avenging his son's loss by killing terrorists. Both Cindy and Joe put their spouse and families through additional stress by internalizing their anger and abandoning their families to fend for themselves. Cindy left permanently, while Joe eventually came home..." —New York Post (11/19/06)
"American Mourning exposes the raw and powerful effects of the ultimate sacrifice. Arguably the most poignant portrayal of the love, loss, and grief that polarizes our nation today. It moved and astonished me." —David Limbaugh
"American Mourning is a beautiful, raw war story that breaks the heart and strengthens resolve to protect America from her enemies. It pits Cindy Sheehan against other grieving parents who vehemently disagree with the Peace Mom. The truth in these pages is stunning." —Ann Coulter
"As a commonsense liberal who hates dictators but finds great fault with the prosecution of this war, I approached American Mourning with trepidation. I was soon moved to tears by both the Sheehan and Johnson clans, who lost sons and chose different outlets for their grief. Bravo, Ms. Morgan and Ms. Moy." —James Dalessandro
"Cindy Sheehan and Jan Johnson lost their sons in the war on terror, but the media only told the Sheehan story. American Mourning tells both sides of the story: the strength of grieving families and the personal effects of war on the country. The truth in this book will set you free." —Sean Hannity
"Catherine Moy and Melanie Morgan eloquently share the heart-wrenching and inspiring stories of two men who fought and died as heroes in the war on terror. Their stories illuminate the hell that our servicemen and women face every day in their struggle to keep that hell from reaching our homes and families." —Buzz Patterson
"American Mourning puts a face on two magnificent heroes whose great deeds and unimaginable sacrifices are all but ignored by the media, which undermine the war effort by, among other things, promoting Cindy Sheehan to the exclusion of most of the other Gold Star Families." —Mark Levin
| CATHERINE MOY is an award-winning journalist honored by prestigious media groups for her work as an investigative reporter, feature writer, columnist, political journalist, business writer, and agricultural reporter, winning the Society of Professional Journalists highest award for public service. She is a freelance journalist and a columnist for the Vacaville Reporter. She lives in Solano County, California. |
 | MELANIE MORGAN is president of Move America Forward, an organization dedicated to supporting our troops in their fight against terrorism. Every morning she cohosts one of the top-rated drive-time shows in one of the largest radio markets in the nation: The Lee Rodgers and MELANIE MORGAN Show on KSFO 560 AM, San Francisco. A frequent guest on Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, and CBS, she also has appeared on the BBC and in newspapers and broadcasts worldwide. She lives in Greenbrae, California. |
$9.99, Hardcover
ISBN-10: 1-58182-540-4 (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 978-1-58182-540-4 (Hardcover)
Hardcover Currently Available
