Besides reading and re-reading the book
Heart of a Soldier by James B. Stewart, I took inspiration from a variety of other sources. Here are just some of the additional works that lent their weight as I wrote the libretto.
For the Vietnam section, I was haunted by Yusef Komunyakaa's poem Facing It and, of course, Tim O' Brien's iconic book The Things They Carried, which echoes in a duet using Dan's own words to his grieving friend, "It's too heavy for anyone to carry." [Below: Yusef Komunyakaa reads his own poem, Facing It]
War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges
From Chivalry to Terrorism: War and the Changing Nature of Masculinity by Leo Braudy
United States Army Field Manual
The Secrets of Training as a Navy Seal
The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
The Qur’an
The Man Who Would be King by Rudyard Kipling
[Right: Rudyard Kipling]
Terrence Malick's 1998 film, The Thin Red Line [Below: The theatrical trailer for The Thin Red Line]
The 9-11 Commission Report [The complete report is available
online]