What happens to people's lives during times of battle and strife? From the American Revolution to the ongoing war in Iraq, the subject of this collection is how people cope with the dramatic shifts that come with war. Before Independence, a slave fights for freedom by taking up arms for the British; in WWI, a mother goes to the front lines to see her son; and in our time, a teenager in Oregon waits for e-mail from his father in the Middle East.

Robert Olen Butler's "Mother in the Trenches"
performed by Kathleen Chalfant
A desperate mother will do anything to find her son in the melee of World War I.

Tom Bissell's "War Wounds"
performed by Oskar Eustis
On a trip to Vietnam, a son gets closer to his traumatized Viet-vet father.

Charles Johnson's "A Soldier for the Crown"
performed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson
A slave fights for freedom by taking up arms with the Redcoats.

Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried"
performed by Dylan Baker
Tim O'Brien's Vietnam classic.

Maile Meloy's "Red"
performed by Keith Szarabajka
An American headed for the front lines of World War II spends his last night in London with a beautiful stranger.

Benjamin Percy's "Refresh, Refresh"
performed by Ted Marcoux
In present-day Oregon, teenage boys wait for news from their fathers in Iraq.