"With a world full of foolishly dangerous men, what's a mother to do?... Edward was my only living child, Private Edward Marcus Gaines of the 108th Infantry, 27th Division, Company such-and-such. I had it written down in his letter. In a trench in a place in France..."
     -From Mother in the Trenches by Robert Olen Butler

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.

Track Listing:

Disc 1

1. Mother in the Trenches by Robert Olen Butler
   Read by Kathleen Chalfant
   A desperate mother will do anything to find her son in the melee of World War I.
2. War Wounds by Tom Bissell
   Read by Oskar Eustis
   On a trip to Vietnam, a son gets closer to his traumatized Viet-vet father.

Disc 2

1. A Soldier for the Crown by Charles Johnson
   Read by Ruben Santiago-Hudson
   A slave fights for freedom by taking up arms with the Redcoats.
2. The Tings They Carried by Tim O’Brien
   Read by Dylan Baker
   Tim O’Brien’s Vietnam classic.

Disc 3

1. Red by Maile Meloy
   Read by Keith Szarabajka
   An American headed for the front lines of World War II spends his last night in London with a beautiful stranger.
2. Refresh, Refresh by Benjamin Percy
   Read by Ted Marcoux
   In present-day Oregon, teenage boys wait for news from their fathers in Iraq.

About Selected Shorts

Selected Shorts is an award-winning series of classic and contemporary short fiction read by acclaimed actors. The readings are recorded live at Peter Norton Symphony Space in New York City and on tour around the country. The Selected Shorts radio series is a co-production of Symphony Space and WNYC, New York Public Radio, and is heard on public radio stations nationwide.