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Getting Shot At: Essays on War, Conflict and Culture Clash

By Joe Miller (reviewer)

Getting Shot At: Essays on War, Conflict and Culture Clash
by W. D. Ehrhart
(McFarland, 2026)

I want to mourn the loss of John Ketwig, a great writer of reviews for The Veteran. He would likely have been the reviewer of this work.

How does one write a coherent review of a book of 81 essays that span the worlds of politics, history, and art from November 11, 2022, to September 1, 2025? Let me tease a little by quoting from the blurb at the back of the book:

"This essay collection offers perspectives on a wide range of contemporary issues, including, war in Ukraine and the Middle East, the challenges facing American constitutional democracy and debates about what should be taught in school as well as approaches to such subject matter…."

In fact, there is so much more here. There are moving essays about being with friends, old and new. The essays about Bill's deep friendship with Daniel Ellsberg, how it began and deepened, are very powerful, describing a bond that lasted to the end of Ellsberg's life. His early connection with Jan Barry, a founder of VVAW, as they worked on the first collections of poetry by Vietnam veterans, continues to this day. H. Bruce Franklin, veteran, author, and teacher, also became a close friend of Bill's, and he is profiled here as well. I felt friendship was an important theme throughout the collection. No matter how angry he might feel about so much going on around him, the importance of friends always comes through.

Of course, the anger in many of the essays is palpable. While he is careful about some aspects of the Israel-Palestine situation, he pulls no punches in criticism of Netanyahu's continued destruction of Gaza and the Palestinian people. This includes angry references to those who mindlessly take a "pro-Israel" stance. We see this in many essays throughout the book. Several essays are about friends in Gaza, poets, and others.

Given that these essays cover the period after Trump's first term and the beginning of his second, we should expect Trump (Dolt.45, as Bill calls him) to be a central topic. The reader will not be disappointed. The anger I first witnessed in Bill at a conference in Wales in 1988 appears in most of the essays on US politics. Justifiable anger, to be sure! It is also directed at the Democrats, with powerful critiques of the Biden administration, especially on Middle East policy. He criticizes Biden for running again in '24, though he recognizes the bind the Dems were in at the time. He basically predicted that Trump would win, given what was happening in the country.

The last 23 essays were written after Trump won again. The range of despair, frustration, resignation, then the choice of "Hope" is reflected in these essays.

Bill is participating in protests, holding close to friends, and continuing to write.

The final essay here is from September 2025, but we all know that W.D. Ehrhart is still writing. Still fighting. Still a voice for the voiceless!

(By the way, Bill and I are kindred spirits…we both have flip phones - Essay 46)

If you want to hear Bill discussing this book, here is the link www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaJ8CK3TM5Y

Joe Miller is a Navy veteran, 1961-68; and a retired academic who taught politicial science.