Warbody: A Marine Sniper and the Hidden Violence of Modern Warfare

Howe (Behind the Curve), a professor of environmental history at Reed College, and U.S. Marine veteran Lemons team up for a searing mix of wartime memoir and scientific analysis. The narrative follows Lemons from his tours in Iraq through his 2009 discharge, when he began experiencing strange gastrointestinal symptoms, brain fog, and insomnia. After a urine test revealed lead and mercury poisoning, he began a grueling treatment regimen involving chelation therapy (which uses chemical solutions to remove heavy metals from the body), supplements, and endless doctor’s visits. That medical odyssey, and harrowing glimpses into the war that caused it, are interspersed with scientific research on the “slow violence” wrought by toxins he encountered, from tiny fragments of lead bullets that linger in the air and attack the nervous system to burn pits that spew foul-smelling smoke containing heavy metals, dioxins, and other chemicals. In the process, the authors astutely explain how the complexities of toxic combat ecosystems are ignored by an American military that thinks in myopic, “compartmentalized” ways about the places where wars are fought, the effects of those conflicts on civilians, and how veterans should be medically treated when they return (the VA medical system acts “as if Marines went to war in test tubes rather than in... actual war zones,” Howe writes). The result is both a gripping war narrative and a sobering indictment of the American military. (Mar.)