Creatures Born of War: A Novel About The World Wars

Creatures Born of War by Bruce Wm. TaneskiPosted on December 26, 2016; VVA web site under Books in Review II Bruce Wm. Taneski’s Creatures Born of War: A Novel About the World Wars is a novel about World Wars I and II and the role of shell shock and battle fatigue. In the front of the book we are told that “coming soon is a novel about the conflict in Korea and Vietnam.” The author’s credentials are clear—he’s a U.S. Army Vietnam War veteran who has experienced first-hand the trauma of war and PTSD, having served in Recon units in the 199th Light Infantry Brigade and the 5th Infantry Division. That is not in this book.In tracing, as Taneski puts it, “the PTSD experience of fictional soldiers, like Jimmy Costigan and Mike McMullen in WWI,” he creates a realistic picture of young men growing up in the early 1900s. Then he shows us their children serving in World War II. This is the most exciting part of the novel due to the author’s skill at showing men at war. The Bataan Death March figures prominently in this fine novel. We relive the agony of 675 American troops as they take five days to die. The AuthorI collect antiwar quotations and the one I garnered from this book is my favorite: “You know the assholes that allowed the first war to happen are the same assholes that set up the one we are in now. I think we will see more war in our lives. More young men will be sent away and come home screwed up.”I couldn’t have said it better.This is a massive book. It is not a Vietnam War novel, but it prepares the way for the sequel. The book shows that war—any war—is good for absolutely nothing.There it is.—David WillsonVietnam Veterans of AmericaBooks in Review II Read more