The Family Business: A Genealogy and Mythology of My Family at War

Abstract

The Family Business is a series of first-person creative nonfiction stories exploring the genealogy and mythology of my family’s multigenerational history of war. I trace the genesis of my family’s warrior ethos from medieval Ireland to modern Afghanistan. I examine family stories, photographs, and objects, reflecting on universal —and paradoxical—themes of belonging, loyalty, patriotism, and violence buried in these deeply personal artifacts. The stories also provide a framework to describe the rich, distinct, and often troubling sense of cultural exile that is the inheritance of military children growing up in a chaotic and violent world.