Those words haunt a novel that brings spirited, illuminating context to decades of conflict. Graham emphasizes, through the experiences of Charlotte and also fascinating chapters digging into the life experiences and political development of both Kissinger and Ho Chi Minh, how the roots of the Vietnam War were nurtured long before the bumptious 1960s, and how thinking like Charlotte’s—and possibly her doomed acquaintance Jack Kennedy—might have saved innumerable lives. The novel often eschews traditional scene-driven drama for summarizing, explanatory, and epistolary modes, though this approach is smartly controlled, never diminishing narrative momentum. He’s especially good at connecting culture, mass media, and ideology.

That’s because the suspense of Charlotte’s War is in how the globe itself will get swept up in the minds and ideologies Graham investigates. Still, his heroine is arresting, her mind a pleasure to spend time with, with deep, sometimes surprising personal connections to wars and men ravaging the globe, as well as thinkers you might not expect, like Ursula Le Guin. Graham writes movingly—and with a refreshing lightness of touch—about Charlotte’s personal life: dating in college, sorting out marital responsibilities, the challenges of being a career-minded woman in mid-century America. Her impulse toward finding solutions through our common humanity rather than a Kissningerian obsession with power burns bright.

Takeaway: This novel illuminates mid-century U.S. foreign conflicts through the eyes of a humane heroine.

Great for fans of: Elizabeth Spencer’s No Place for an Angel, Bob Shocochis’s The Woman Who Lost Her Soul.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A