Home Fires Burning Married to the Military-for Better or Worse

As Taps echoes across upstate New York's Fort Drum, the military wives turn on the evening news, hoping for, and dreading, word of their husbands overseas. It's a ritual played out by women on bases across the nation. A prize-winning journalist, Karen Houppert spent a year among these women, joining them as they had babies, raised families, coached soccer-and attended funerals. Through heart-wrenching personal stories, she shows how military wives sacrifice some of the same personal liberties as their husbands do and yet garner none of the respect accorded their spouses. The army likes to say that it "recruits soldiers, but retains families," and speaks glowingly of the "Army Family Team." But this team is often deeply divided over strategy-and even goals.

KAREN HOUPPERT was a staff writer for The Village Voice for ten years, writing many cover stories on women and politics. She has contributed to a wide variety of publications, from Glamour, Redbook, and Self to Newsday, The Nation, and Salon. Her first book was The Curse. Houppert, a one time Air Force brat currently lives in Brooklyn with her family.


From the Hardcover edition.