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Published Apr 2009
368 pages
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Publication Information
A former stripper with a penchant for fishnets and anarchist politics, Lily's lacerating wit and rebellious past never would have suggested a marriage into the military. But then she met Major Mike, a Military Intelligence officer and professor at West Point, and fell hopelessly in love, resulting in a most unorthodox fairytale romance -- poignant, sometimes painful, and utterly unpredictable.
After Lily and Mike tied the knot, life as an Army wife proved to be a rough adjustment for authority-averse Lily. When Mike was deployed in the War on Terror, Lily was suddenly left to endure his absence alone, with no friends, no support system, and no knowledge of the vast and confusing military world into which she had married.
Upon Mike's return from the war, the couple moved to historic West Point. With the support of the other military wives, Lily worked through the daily struggle to find her way and came to know and love a group of unlikely friends. Together, Mike and Lily suffered through the nightmare of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, while Lily suffered bouts of depression that nearly ended their marriage. Through it all, Lily struggled with her preconceptions about the military and coped with being married to a good soldier fighting a brutal war.
From harrowing emotion to the dishy details of being an Army wife, Lily Burana bares her heart and soul as a modern military spouse. I Love a Man in Uniform is a profoundly moving story of how a woman can locate, and heal, her true self.
"One of those rare memoirs that both teach and make us laugh." - Kirkus Reviews.
"The War on Terror, post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression all rear their ugly heads in a work that will no doubt attract other military wives and husbands." - Library Journal.
"Lily Burana is as American as apple pie, dazzling as a Fourth of July firecracker, and smarter than a lash from a Senate Majority whip. Equal parts Cultural Studies professor and bombshell geek, she teases words into impossibly satisfying configurations. Her sparkling prose is like brain tonic served in a coconut shell - it's packaged so whimsically we forget we're being schooled." - Diablo Cody, screen writer of Juno.
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Lily Burana is the author of the acclaimed Strip City and the novel Try. Her writing about the domestic side of military affiars has been published in the New York Times Op-Ed pages and Slate. Other features and criticism have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, GQ, Glamour, Self, The New York Observer, The Village Voice, Slate, Entertainment Weekly, Salon, and many other publications. She has been a contributing editor at New York Magazine and SPIN.
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