The new book While They're At War is the product of dozens of interviews with the husbands and wives of those serving in the U.S. military. The stories collected by journalist Kristin Henderson, herself the wife of a veteran, describe wives waiting at home in a haze of anticipatory grief.
But the accounts also detail how the electronic age -- the culture of email, cell phones and 24-hour news networks -- has changed the experience of having a loved one abroad. The book's subtitle is "The True Story of American Families on the Homefront."
Henderson's writing appears in The Washington Post magazine and other journals. A Quaker, her husband is a Navy chaplain who has served in the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan. Her previous work includes Driving by Moonlight: A Journey Through Love, War, and Infertility.
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