An Alternate View of Moral Injury Introductory note: I originally composed this essay between 2022-23. I’ve gone back…
Adrian Bonenberger
New Fiction by Adrian Bonenberger: “Checkpoint”
Every two or three months Jon and Steven would meet for lunch at the McDonald’s outside the town center where Main S…
New Fiction by Adrian Bonenberger: “King Tide”
We’d been expecting the fascists for a few days but they’d gotten hung up on Newark. Usually they moved fast. C…
New Review by Adrian Bonenberger: John Milas’ “The Militia House”
In the Mind of Madness There is a nightmare I used to have with some regularity even before my time in the military, …
New Review from Adrian Bonenberger: Jaroslav Hasek’s “The Man Without a Transit Pass and Other Tales”
There are few things I like better than sitting down with a copy of classic Central or Eastern European literature fr…
New Fiction from Adrian Bonenberger: “Fort Mirror”
Getting posted to Fort Mirror was a death sentence. The most coveted of all postings, soldiers jockeyed for th…
New Review from Adrian Bonenberger: Brian Castner’s “‘Stampede’: Disaster and Gold Fever in the Klondike”
My earliest exposure to the literature of 19th century Alaska came in the form of Jack London’s Call of the Wild. An …
New Review from Adrian Bonenberger: “‘The Hardest Place’: Wes Morgan’s Post-Mortem on Americans in Afghanistan’s Pech Valley”
If I were to write a morality tale about America’s counterinsurgency efforts in Afghanistan—something in line with Ed…
New Fiction from Adrian Bonenberger: “Wonder Woman”
In Atlanta at the Ritz Carlton we stopped at the bar by the lobby on our way upstairs. Fred saw Newt Gingrich who was…
Praying at America’s Altar: A Review of Phil Klay’s MISSIONARIES, by Adrian Bonenberger
One of the first books I read was given to me by my father, who got it from his father—a children’s version of the Il…
Loyal to the Corps: A Review of Teresa Fazio’s ‘Fidelis’
The motto of the U.S. Marine Corps, or USMC, is “Semper Fidelis.” Commonly translated to “always faithful,” the motto…
Hostile Threat Detected: Adrian Bonenberger Reviews Joe Pan’s “Operating Systems”
Joe Pan popped up on many veteran writers’ radars in 2014. He had recently written the first great poem about what le…
Film Review: JOKER, by Adrian Bonenberger and Andria Williams
Andria Williams: Hey there, Adrian. Adrian Bonenberger: Hi, Andria. Williams: So, I heard you recently saw “Joker” in…
New Fiction from Adrian Bonenberger: “Special Operations World”
No more than 10 percent of the United States military was special operations when I got out. Being in special operati…
A sickness of the soul: remembering Adam and Tim Davis
Correction submitted by Delta Company paratrooper: five, not four, paratroopers died from the IED. “Matthew Tay…
Suicide, the Soldier’s Bane
Here’s how it happens: you get a text. Or you see a cryptic post about the importance of friendship and “reaching out…
New Fiction: The Sandbar
The morning of day three, Kelly decided to go out on a jet ski. She’d been resistant at first for all the usual reaso…
The Hundred-Year Itch, or Remembering The Great War
Here are some facts about The Great War. It started in 1913. We know that from books. and the scarred nobles grandma …
New Essay by Patrick Mondaca: The Hideous Hypocrisy of Himmelstoss
“At the head of the column trots the fat sergeant-major. It is queer that almost all of the regular sergeant-majors a…
Not For Sale: Private Farmland in Post-Soviet Ukraine
For those Americans who think about Ukraine at all, it is no secret that the country has faced two wars since 2014. T…
New Poetry by WBT Editors
This special September Poetry & Fiction issue brings you poetry by WBT Editors Adrian Bonenberger, Drew Ph…
On the Subject of Walls
While it’s fallen off the news somewhat, one of Donald Trump’s most conspicuous campaign-trail promises was to build …
In Defense of Writing Modern Epic
At some point during my education, I developed a powerful sense of skepticism toward the Epic. Every literary or cine…
Arms Sales, Cash, and Losing Your Religion
The lucrative Arms Sales market exists in the exact place where rational self-interest intersects with humanist ideal…
Tomorrow Ever After: A Kinder Future
Here on Wrath-Bearing Tree we write a lot about ways in which things are imperfect—culturally, politically, instituti…
Such Modest Proposals, And So Many
Most schoolchildren in the English-speaking West read Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal in high school or college. S…
1917: Ukraine’s First Bid to be Independent
This February marks the 100 year anniversary of an event that transformed Europe, brought the US into WWI, and nearly…
Hierarchy and Americans, A Long Love Affair
We have leaders, in the USA, it's always been that way. I don’t believe in some magical, fairyland communal…
Against NATO: The Other Side of the Argument
Since 1989-1991 when every country in the USSR or the Warsaw Pact (save Russia) jumped ship at the earliest oppo…
World War Two Never Ended
World War Two never ended. It sounds like the plot of a dystopian science fiction novel, right? Either the bad guys w…
Dunkirk: the Bravest British Retreat
Whatever one might think about the United Kingdom’s recent behavior toward Europe—its antagonism toward the European …
Last Week This Week: 6-26-16 (Brexit and Michael Herr)
Since the last time we conducted a wrapup, the following has occurred: NATO finished the largest joint exercises in o…
Scrabble Can Build or Break Friendship
My Sunday morning began with a Wall Street Journal article about Scrabble. The story, which featured scrappy young Ni…
The Bloodiest American War Many Americans Have Never Heard Of
The title, which I selected myself, is a trick. Most citizens of the United States of America know their war his…
Rise of the Robots – Downfall of Humans?
What purpose does our economy serve—why do we seek greater profit? What does profit do for an individual, an in…
The Unusually Literal World of Bowe Bergdahl
Military hyperbole is at the heart of Serial’s second season. Sarah Koenig has gambled that she can take a simp…
Wrath of UCMJ: Against Crushing Bowe Bergdahl
Americans have become jaded by injustice. Wealthy and elitist citizens like Robert Durst and John du Pont bully, rape…
Star Wars: The Force Awakens–It Will Be Watched
By Adrian Bonenberger I wrote a long essay about Lindsay Graham’s candidacy a few months ago, when Craig Whitlock br…
Killing is Easy
Killing is the easiest thing in the world, easier than sex. Easier than raising a family or bringing a child into the…
Do Nazis Dream of WWII Dystopian Future Pasts?
The tired, simplistic, bargain-basement Cold War narrative of WWII sucks and it’s time we got over it. Accordi…
The Racist Arguments For, Against Gun Control
Gun violence is deeply entrenched in America. Chances are, if you’ve spent any time outside the Upper East Side of Ma…
Thoughts on the Zombie Apocalypse
A piece about who finds zombie narratives compelling and why.
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Berlin, and the Trip East
They’re rebuilding Prussian Berlin. Not exactly the way it was before World War II, but Prussia is unquestionab…
Curzio Malaparte: Great & Anonymous WWII Writer
How World War II gets remembered isn’t accurate, and for Curzio Malaparte, it's not even true. Not the …
Why Don’t Afghans Love Us: Elliot Ackerman’s Green on Blue
There aren’t many “literary” fiction books out about Afghanistan, and almost none authored by…
Preparation For The Next Life – What We Want Is Not What We Will Get
After war, most societies look for love. Instead of dealing with the various manifest issues that remain after y…
Top 4 Contributors on Wrath Bearing Tree, 2014
With so much incredible, breakthrough writing happening at The Wrath Bearing Tree this year, the editors wanted to se…
Brad Pitt and the Myth of the Wehrmacht
Brad Pitt loves playing in WWII movies. He loves fighting Nazis, who, incredibly, really existed, and were (if a…
Against Obvious Racism
Let’s be honest about racism. It’s here. And it’s not going anywhere. But its prevalence is surpris…