Elliot Ackerman, Green on Blue: A Novel

Former White House Fellow and Marine Corps officer Elliot Ackerman discusses with Dr. Truman Anderson his gripping, morally complex debut novel, Green on Blue—an astonishing feat of empathy and imagination about boys caught in a deadly conflict. Presented in partnership with The Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

A decorated veteran of the Iraq and Afghan Wars, Elliot Ackerman has delivered a stirring debut novel about a young Afghan orphan and the harrowing, intractable nature of war.

Aziz and his older brother Ali are coming of age in a village amid the pine forests and endless mountains of eastern Afghanistan. There is no school, but their mother teaches them to read and write, and once a month sends the boys on a two-day journey to the bazaar. They are poor, but inside their mud-walled home, the family has stability, love, and routine.

When a convoy of armed men arrives in their village one day, their world crumbles. The boys survive and make their way to a small city, where they sleep among other orphans. They learn to beg, and, eventually, they earn work and trust from the local shopkeepers. Ali saves their money and sends Aziz to school at the madrassa, but when U.S. forces invade the country, militants strike back. A bomb explodes in the market, and Ali is brutally injured.

In the hospital, Aziz meets an Afghan wearing an American uniform. To save his brother, Aziz must join the Special Lashkar, a U.S.-funded militia. No longer a boy, but not yet a man, he departs for the untamed border. Trapped in a conflict both savage and entirely contrived, Aziz struggles to understand his place. Will he embrace the brutality of war or leave it behind, and risk placing his brother—and a young woman he comes to love—in jeopardy?

"Green on Blue is harrowing, brutal, and utterly absorbing. With spare prose, Ackerman has spun a morally complex tale of revenge, loyalty, and brotherly love. The saga of young Aziz is a chilling and often disturbing glimpse into one of the world’s most troubled regions." – Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner

ELLIOT ACKERMAN served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan and is the recipient of the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor, and the Purple Heart. A former White House Fellow, his essays and fiction have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New Republic, and Ecotone, among others. He currently lives in Istanbul with his wife and two children, and writes on the Syrian Civil War.

TRUMAN ANDERSON, PhD, is the executive director of The Stuart Family Foundation in Lake Forest, Illinois. During his twelve-year tenure with the foundation, he has overseen the development of grant-making programs on national security, the media, federal elections, and civic education. He was previously a lecturer in international history at the London School of Economics, specializing in German history and the World Wars. Dr. Anderson is a former Marine Corps infantry officer and holds a doctorate in international history from the University of Chicago.